Tell the Truth

Earl Nelson POV

The doorbell rings. "Could you get that?" Katsumi calls from our bedroom.

I walk down the stairs toward the front door. Oh, crap. I rush up behind Wendy. Why does she always answer the door? It's dangerous for her to do that. It would be so easy for someone to just grab her and take her away. "Wendy, what are you doing? We told you not to answer the door without one of us." I pat her shoulder, and she bounces off into the kitchen.

I look at the young woman standing in front of me. She has dark hair and dark eyes, her features almost a blend of Asian and Caucasian, very similar to Wendy's. "Yes?" I ask. She's so small. How old is she? How did she get here? I don't see a car, not that I'm entirely sure she's old enough to be driving alone.

"Earl Nelson?" she asks.

"Mm-hmm." How does she know who I am? What is she after? She isn't selling anything; I would have heard about that by now. So why is she here?

"Is Katsumi home?" Oh. Katsumi. She probably just forgot to tell me someone was visiting today.

I nod. "Come on in." I take her to the kitchen. Wendy stares up at her. Huh, they look so much alike. Ah well. "You can wait here. She's upstairs, I'll go get her. Who should I tell her wants to see her?"

"Anna. She'll know who I am." Hm. That's odd. It sounds as though they haven't seen each other in years. Yet she sought Katsumi out. What is going on? Is this girl a niece of hers or something? Her accent is strong; perhaps she moved here from Japan only recently.

I go up the stairs and grab Katsumi. "Who was at the door?" she asks mildly, brushing her hair.

"A teenage girl. She's in the kitchen and wants to see you. She says her name is Anna."

Katsumi freezes. "No. You're lying."

"No…why would I be lying?" What is there to lie about? The girl walked in and wanted to talk to her.

"Never mind." She stands and leaves the room. I follow. There is far more going on here than I understand at the moment.

She enters the kitchen and says, "Anna." She doesn't say anything else, but Anna seems to get a whole message from the one word.

She asks, "Why did you leave?" Leave where? When? She hasn't gone anywhere for a long time, not since Wendy was born.

"I didn't love him anymore." Love who? What's going on? How long ago are they talking?

"You were married to Earl less than three months later. I can do the math." Her tone is very accusing. But they're talking that long ago. We've been married seven years now. So this isn't something I need to worry too much about. But who did she leave.

Katsumi sighs. "I fell in love with Earl. Your father was never home. He didn't love me. Earl gets home every night, and he takes care of me!" I try my hardest. But did she say father? What's really going on here?

I don't have a chance to ask before the girl begins to get angry. "I was twelve. I remember everything. I wasn't some little kid whose memories you can mold to fit your purposes, your agenda." Suddenly she is shouting at Katsumi in Japanese, so loudly that Wendy runs to me and hugs my legs. Dear God, please don't let her use any language Wendy doesn't need to be hearing, no matter what the language.

Katsumi just screams right back, easily switching to Japanese. I pick up a few words I understand, but not enough to be able to understand what she's saying. She shouts the girl's name, and silence falls over the room.

Then the girl begins to whisper. After she finishes speaking, Katsumi's face is completely shocked. Suddenly the girl, Anna, turns to me. She's addressing me, now speaking English as though the Japanese never passed her lips, "Take care of Wendy. With a mother like that, she'll need it."

What is she saying? Katsumi is a good mother. She takes good care of Wendy. "Don't talk about my wife that way," I warn her.

She nods and replies simply, "I wasn't talking about your wife. I was talking about my mother." What? Anna is Katsumi's daughter? What's happening? Katsumi said she left Anna's father… The girl turns to my wife and says, "I stopped thinking of you as my mother long ago. This was just the closure I needed. Goodbye Katsumi." Then she turns on her heel and walks out the door.

When I finally find my voice, I ask, "What is she talking about, Katsumi? What does she mean you're her mother? You're Wendy's mother."

Katsumi just looks at me. Her eyes aren't quite sad, but they aren't expressionless either. Regretful, perhaps. "I got married when I was eighteen," she answers. "Eighteen. That's too young to plan a life. I was pregnant three months later. Then eleven months after Jake was born, Anna came. I met you when I was starting to realize that I never really loved Jeremy like I thought I did. In fact, I resented him. I resented him and Anna and Jake for taking my life from me. When you came along…you were kind to me. And then you asked me to marry you…so I divorced him. I have only rarely thought about any of them since. I don't know where Jake or Jeremy may be. I had no idea Anna would ever come to see me. And honestly, it pisses me off that she did."

She doesn't look to angry. She doesn't even look regretful anymore. "It pisses you off?" I whisper. "What about me, Kat? What about Wendy? I have two stepchildren I have never seen before today, Wendy has a half-sister and a half-brother. How could you not tell me something like this? How could you not tell me that the entire time we were dating you were married to another man?"

"I love you, Earl. Why does it matter how we got here? I love you, and I love Wendy, and that's all that matters."

"Tell the truth, Katsumi. Can I ever trust you again?"

So, there's the next chapter/oneshot. I felt like this chapter was important to understanding Runaway Train because I never felt like Earl was a bad guy, but I also felt like he was portrayed a bit that way. I don't know when the next part of this story is coming, but it could very well be Katsumi's take on this bit. This story...it's going to be very, very odd, I'll tell you that.