To be honest, I'm not really sure why I make mayonnaise anymore.
Perhaps it's because everyone says that I make it best.
Maybe I have a quest, a magical thing involving great luck and bait and my prince on the other side.
But really? It's a habit. I make mayonnaise for Alex. He really likes the stuff.
Alex has also been gone for almost half a year now.
I don't know where he is, why he left or how he did it, but Alex vanished after three years of marriage. I miss him terribly.
I remember when I would smile at him and he would smile back and hand him the jar of mayonnaise, squeezing a silent "I love you" into the palm of his hand along with it. He used to squeeze my free hand with a silent "I love you" back.
Now, I sell the mayonnaise. Every day. Mayor Lewis always gives me just a little bit more money than he should.
My days all go the same way now. I get out of bed, water my plants, tend to my chickens and then go talk to Granny for the rest of the day. Evelyn is only my relative by law, but I love her as though I've known her my whole life.
We never, ever talk about Alex. Ever. Even though it's been half a year, the wound is still so fresh.
I don't expect today to be any different. My plants are watered. I'm awake.
This time, however, Evelyn brings up Alex. Indirectly, but still Alex.
"You should marry Elliott," she says while we make cookies. "I know you want to wait, but Alex would want you to live life to the fullest you could get. Besides, you dated Elliott before you met Alex."
I stop. "What?! Marry Elliott? No. Oh Yoba, no. I'm nowhere near ready for a commitment like that!"
"Will you ever be, dear? It's been half a year and you've had your time to grieve, but now it's time to get back to life again," Evelyn says gently. "I'm not by any means saying to marry him right now, but you really care about Elliott. You dated him before you dated Alex and you broke up on good terms. You take care of your relationship, even now. I really just want you to be happy again. You've seemed so- so distant since my grandson vanished."
I can feel tears pricking my eyes. "I know. But I can't let go of Alex. I love him so much that it feels like I'm swimming in my love for him."
Evelyn wraps her arms around me. "Shh, dear, it's okay to miss Alex. I miss him too. We just have to keep going, even if we don't have him with us. We can't cling to the hope that he'll come back forever."
I cry into Evelyn's shoulder. She holds me and I let her. Please, Yoba, if you're up there, bring me back my Alex.
_oO- Time Skip -Oo_
I lie in my bed, waiting for sleep. I want to just sleep, to not have to think, to not have to remember. It takes much longer than normal, but I finally feel the pull of my eyelids and a place that isn't here or there calls me to join the other people in their rest. My eyes slide shut, but then I know something's wrong. I'm asleep, but this isn't where dreams exist. This is one of my visions that come true.
My dream-self opens their eyes and a wave of shock and delight smashes into me. It's Alex. His clothes are battered beyond belief, his face is covered in dirt and scratches adorn him liberally, but it's Alex and Alex is alive.
But then I see his eyes. They're full of misery and self-doubt, not the usual determination and care that ends up spilling over Alex's whole face. They tell me that something is very, very wrong with my husband.
The next realisation is where Alex actually is. This is the Witch's Hut and in front of my beloved Alex is the Witch herself.
No, no, this is not happening. Not now, not ever.
"Please. Please, just make everyone forget me," Alex is saying, but I've entered a state of horrified shock. I'm sure these are my husband's last words. "Especially them. I never deserved them. They… They're more than I could have ever hoped for, but I tore them away from what they deserved. Maybe they'll be happier without me. Maybe they'll marry Elliott and not be chained to someone who can't even think about making their dreams a reality."
The Witch cackles. I can't look but I have no choice. I'm sure the Witch summoned me here. To make me watch the end of the person I love. "You know the price! It's irreversible, so choose wisely… of course, you could walk away, but then you'd have everyone still remember the pathetic being that is Alex Mullner…"
I want to scream, to cry, to pin Alex to the ground and force him to come home, to do anything even though I know I can't.
A steely determination comes over Alex. "I'll do it. They deserve better."
A sly, evil grin comes over the Witch's face. She suddenly started chanting in strange words that made my head spin in two different directions at once. Then, when she stopped, Alex fell. There was no more life in his eyes, in his body, in his presence. Alex, my wonderful, charming, sweet Alex was dead.
Then I woke up and there was no more- there was no more-
I was forgetting something. It was important, incredibly important. I thought. What could it be? Then I hit the memories. There was a warm being, but that being wasn't there. I couldn't remember their face, their name, their gender, their race, anything. I look at pictures. They had all burned, the ones I knew were supposed to have the being in them.
I panicked. And panicked. And panicked. And panicked.
_oO- Time Skip -Oo_
I'm happily married to Elliott and have been for half a year. Evelyn is my grandmother, but I'm not sure how. There are memories and pictures missing from everyone in Pelican Town and even outside of that. We're all okay, we're sure of it, so we never mention The Being, as we call the thing that's vanished from our minds. I take care of my chickens and my cat But why do I have chickens again? I can't quite remember. and the other farm animals. Elliott is going through the process to adopt a child Have I done this before? Someone else filled out these questions… No, wait that's impossible. There was no one before Elliott. because we don't really want to have a child biologically. I am a they-them and my body's gender doesn't really matter to me. Everything's fine and going well. I know it is.
But I have a few habits that unnerve me. I don't know why, but they do. I know think I know why I do most of them, so I just keep going.
But to be honest, I'm not really sure why I make mayonnaise anymore.
Perhaps it's because everyone says that I make it best.