One Year Ago

In the years that followed, Sunny became more and more comfortable with Denizens. They may have looked strange, but somewhere in Sunny’s heart, she hoped the tense relations between humans and Denizens would ease. She kept to Papa’s rule of thumb, avoiding them whenever possible. But so long as she was calm, patient, and quiet, nothing terrible ever happened.

“I won’t be gone for more than a couple of days, three tops,” Papa said on his way out the door. Sunny had grown tired of constantly moving around, urging Papa to take more time off so they could be a family at home. At first, it was just as he’d promised. But as time went on, Sunny stayed at home and Papa continued to work on the train, sometimes for weeks at a time. “I promise.”

“You said that last time,” Sunny whined. “You were gone for almost a week. I had to ask the neighbors for sugar and flour.”

Papa averted his gaze. His eyes looked heavy, his expression complicated. “I know, sweetheart. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

His promises had become harder to believe.

Sunny didn’t believe him, but nodded regardless. “Okay.”

With his hand on the doorknob, Papa removed his cap and whipped it through the air before extending it toward his daughter. “Here, sweetheart. A small going away present.”

Sunny’s eyes lit up. Before Papa could change his mind, she snatched the hat from his hands, marveling at it as if it were made of gold. “Really? You mean it? Make sure! You can’t take it back after!”

“Yes,” he said, nodding and laughing. “It’s yours now, sunshine.”

“Thank you, thank you!”

He paused. “Say, do you want to come with me to the train station? To say ‘see you later’?”

“Please!”

It’d been months since she last boarded a train. The crowd was bustling more than Sunny had seen in some time. As she passed by the cabooses, her eye caught the strange man her father talked to from time to time. Ren was bobbing his head side to side, forward and back. Occasionally he would snap his fingers and move his lips to some unknown tune. Sunny had grown to like him, even if he was a bit strange. He was one of the few people she could count on to see every once in a while.

Ren stopped when he saw her. He mouthed something to her, but since the windows were shut, she couldn’t hear him. She put a hand to her ear and shook her head.

Ren smirked and ran the tips of his fingers down his tongue. Sunny frowned, grossed out by the gesture, then watched as Ren drew smiley face after smiley face on the glass of every empty seat’s window. The glass squeaked with his movements, and soon a giggle escaped Sunny’s lips. He had drawn as many as seven smiley faces before Sunny’s father called her over. Ren waved to Sunny as she left, returning to the private DJ session in his head.

Sunny held onto the cap as she ran to her father. Unlike the years prior, her head fit into it now. As long as she adjusted the back a bit.

“Well, I’m out of here, sunshine,” Papa said, kneeling on one knee. “Be a good girl for me, okay? You can always ask our neighbors if you need anything.”

Sunny nodded. “I know! I’ll be good!”

Papa kissed her forehead and entered the train. As she waved goodbye, she thought of all the wonderful things they would do when he returned. They’d finger paint, go to the mall, spend time at the park, just to name a few.

His face became a distant smudge of colors in the distance as she adjusted the hat on her head.

That was the last time she ever saw him.

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---

One week passed.

Two weeks passed.

Three weeks since Sunny last heard from Papa. It wasn’t unusual for his sessions to take longer than planned, but three weeks was a bit much, even for him.

“Who’s that cutie?” Sunny said whenever she caught herself in the mirror with Papa’s hat. She’d stitched black cat ears to the top to add some style to it, to truly make it her own. “That’s you!” She continued to come up with ideas to keep herself preoccupied and tried to avoid boredom like an evil shadow creeping up on her. It worked for the most part.

That was, until one day, a knock came at the door. “Sunniva, dear? Dear, please open the door.” It was the neighbor lady, Jemimah.

Sunny fiddled with her fingertips before cracking open the door. “Yes, Miss Jemimah?”

The woman wiped away a tear. “Hey, honey. Have you… have you heard about your father?”

Sunny frowned. “No. Is he coming home soon?”

Jemimah bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, dear. He… he was in an accident.” The woman closed her eyes and sucked in her lips. “He’s no longer with us.”

Sunny blinked. She understood those words, but her mind refused to translate the obtuse meaning behind them. “No, you must be mistaken. What did you mean?” she asked, shaking her head.

Jemiah let out a heavy sigh. “Oh, sweetheart. He… he’s gone.”

Sunny slammed the door shut. No, that was impossible. How could she say such a thing? Did she not know when a joke had gone too far?

Or was she telling the truth?

---

Days later, someone else was knocking. Sunny slowly opened the door. Someone’s foot slipped in, wedging the shoes between the door and frame.

“Excuse me, miss.” The man pushed the door open slightly. “You’re Sunniva Icarus, daughter of Cassidy Icarus, are you not?”

Sunny’s lips trembled. Who was this man?

“My name is Wesley,” the man continued. “I’m here to take you somewhere safe. Can you please come with us?”

Another man appeared beside him as he pushed the door open the rest of the way, each of them wearing a black suit and red tie. Wesley wore a smile while the other scowled.

“Hey, what’s going on here?” someone asked from behind them. Sunny looked past the men to see someone she recognized—Ren. “You here to take her away?”

“Young man, this doesn’t concern you,” Wesley said.

“Like hell, it doesn’t. I’m her cousin!”

The man frowned. “Cousin? So you and her are—”

“Yeah, cousins. So back the fuck off. Who do you think has been taking care of her while her pops was away?” Ren closed the distance slowly, his hands in his pockets.

“We were told—”

“You were told wrong. I stepped out to go to the store.” He gestured with a flick of his head. “Now get the hell outta here.”

The men mumbled. “Sorry to inconvenience you.”

As soon as the men were out of earshot, Ren approached. “Hey, dork. You okay?” It was no good. Something about his words struck her—relief? Sorrow? Abandonment? Tears streamed down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. Ren gasped and knelt with his hand extended. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s wrong?”

“Papa… Papa!”

“Papa?” He paused, and then his eyes widened. “Oh no,” he said in a hushed voice. “It must’ve been the stop right after mine.”

“Papa’s gone! He left me! He left me!”

“Shhh, shhh,” Ren said, putting his hand on her head. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay. Let it out. It’ll all be okay.”

“They’re… they’re going to take me away now,” Sunny sobbed. “I’m going to be stuck in some orphanage! Nobody’s going to love me anymore!”

Sunny continued to sob while Ren ran his hand against her head. The minutes continued like this for some time. When Sunny looked up, she could see Ren’s eyes glazing over. Did this hurt him too?

“Hey, look… I know I ain’t your pops, but… you could come stay with me and my sister for a while.” He massaged the back of his neck. “It’s not a super great place for a kid, but we got food. How ‘bout it?”

Sunny’s gaze traveled downward as she allowed the remnants of her tears to plummet to the soil. Slowly, she nodded her head. Ren stood up, then proffered her a hand.

“Let’s hurry,” Ren said as Sunny took his hand. “The suits are gonna find out one way or another that I lied.” He smirked, and although Sunny didn’t know him very well, it looked forced. “Sooner we get outta here, the better.”

Ren turned and tugged on her hand.

“Wait,” Sunny said, letting go.

“What?”

Sunny ran back into the house, up the stairs, and into her bedroom, where her greatest treasure was. On her study desk was the cap she so dearly cherished. Snatching it, she slipped it on and left the room. With her hand on the door handle, she took one last look at her room, capturing it like a photograph in her mind.

She would never see it like this again.