Chapter 275: Sinking Ships
Sunday, January 29th, Evening
(Song lyrics in italics)
The evening sky showed the spectrum's various colors, red, orange, purple, and blue. The sun was calling it a day, and soon the moon would rise to take up it's watch at night. From the first days of man's racial memory, this happened, recorded in the oldest documents of our shared history, myths, legends, and religion. The only difference between the three was who held power chose what was what.
Kelly leaned down on the rail and overlooked Murphy Inlet. Her guitar was inside; it's too late and too cold to play. This fact saddens Kelly, but what hurt more was the waiting.
"You like the cold," Andrew said, from the partially opened door.
"In or out, heat is expensive," Kelly said.
Andrew opened the door the rest of the way and stepped out. Reaching in and he brought out two cups of coffee. Andrew handed one to Kelly and kept the second. He closed the door behind him. "I choose out," he said.
Kelly warmed her bare hands on the warm cup. "I like being outside; you should know that after how many years of marriage?" Kelly replied.
"Yeah, I know," Andrew said and sipped his coffee.
"It's been a good week," Kelly said and sipped at her coffee.
"How so?" Andrew said, warming his hands on his mug.
"You've been home to see the kids off to bed, which they love," Kelly said and took another sip of her coffee.
"There have been no ships in port, nor any others have been in trouble," Andrew said and knocked on the wood railing with his empty hand.
"Yeah, and that's a good thing," Kelly said and leaned over to kiss Andrew.
"Big day is coming up," Andrew said.
"Bigger week with most of the Scotts in town," Kelly said and smelled her coffee. Her breath was making steam off the warm liquid.
"What could happen?" Andrew asked sarcastically.
"It's the Scotts," Kelly said, dryly.
"True," Andrew said, and looked to the nearby radio, "She's a good singer."
Kelly looked over the lip of her mug towards her radio. "Yes, too bad she died before she could see the album released," she said.
"True story?" Andrew asked.
"Yes," Kelly said and nodded.
Andrew looked at the radio again, shook his head, and looked back up at Kelly, "Sad," he said.
"Yes, it is," Kelly said and kissed Andrew again.
To know her is to see
That nothing is as it seems
She'll show her true face when you're
The sky turned purplish red, and the air remained crisp as she walked through the rows of stones. The brownish-brunette woman came to a simple single stone. She stood there and rubbed her hands together to keep them warm.
Fallon looked down at the headstone and nodded. This marker is the simple stone she and Brooke chose sixteen years ago; it did fit how he saw himself. He wanted to have this impression in life, so why not in-depth as well.
Slowly, Fallon walked over to the stone and brushed off a few leaves. Next, she bent down and placed some flowers down in front of the tombstone. Straightening up, Fallon took a few steps back and took in the whole scene before her.
The stone simply said:
Baldwin Stafford IV
Beloved Husband, Father, and Son
Gone too soon.
Fallon was sixteen when his brutal murder happened during a failed robbery. She, Brooke, and Lucas chose to bury him in Tree Hill instead of New York. Fallon decided that her secondary home would be here since Keni was here. It's also fitting so Keni could visit her Dad's grave.
Fallon reached into her pocket and pulled out a tissue. She dabbed her eyes to dry her newly forming tears. Fallon didn't mind crying when she was here; she thought it was healthy. The weather was too cold, and she didn't want her tears to freeze to her face.
The wind picked up just a bit. Fallon felt the cold fingers of the wind nipped at her exposed flesh. Slowly, she pulled her scarf to cover her nose and mouth. The weather would force her to leave, but Fallon wanted to stay as long as she could.
Looking past the headstone, Fallon saw the horizon had started its full shift from red to purple. The day was almost over, and she would have to leave soon, but she wanted to wait here as long as she could.
Turning to one side, she noticed a lone headstone which said, Edgar. Fallon lowered her head and shook her head in slow motion. Fallon moved her eyes back to the gravestone that said, Stafford. That was why she was here.
Stripped of all belief
Sweet tyrant, laying out the course with what you need
To send you through the veils
Of Eternity
She stayed later than she planned—some things needed to be collected and brought to her room. Sorting through the stuff, she packed them into various bags.
Brett zipped up one of the bags and put it aside. She looked over to the other two bags and the stuff laid out before her. Why so many bags for a regular trip? It's been the weather; she didn't have enough cold weather clothing to have some at both houses. So, what delayed her was doing her laundry to pack it to move between the homes.
She sighed and took a seat on the bed. With a free hand, Brett grabbed a shirt from the pile on the bed. Finally, she dropped it and looked around her bedroom. Brett closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, feeling the air inflate her lungs. There was a slight sting of the coldness in the air.
The heat had yet to kick in, Brett noted, as she got up and started to pack again. This time it's her basketball gear. She opened up her jersey and looked at it, and its number, thirty. There were only a handful of guaranteed games left in her Tree Hill Career. She folded up the jersey and put it in the pile of her gear.
Scooping up her gear, she put it in another one of her bags. After zipping a bag closed, and turned towards the door to see her Mom standing there.
"I didn't expect you to be here still," Ashlyn said.
"Laundry took longer than I expected," Brett said.
"Eilish will be here soon, and I'm heading over to Beaulieu," Ashlyn said.
"Okay, I'll stay until Eilish gets here," Brett said.
"Good," Ashlyn said, "I see you were looking at your jersey."
"Yeah, making sure it's clean," Brett said.
"It's finally getting to you," Ashlyn said.
"What is?" Brett asked.
"The end, your time at Tree Hill," Ashlyn said.
"Yeah, a little," Brett said.
"Hopefully, your last game is like your Dad's or Auntie Tall's, and not mine," Ashlyn said.
"But, Mom…" Brett said.
"That's an official game, the last one I played, as you know, they carried me off. Well, I have to go, you know Brooke and being tardy," Ashlyn said and left the door.
Brett looked at the door; her stuff, then shrugged and returned to packing.
Crack me open or I'll go down
On this sinking ship, don't leave
Me to drown
Kay looked at herself in the mirror and touched up a bit of her makeup. She looked over as Ivy stood by the trifold mirror. Kay smiled a bit; Ivy looked stunning; as always, Brooke hooked them up. Kay turned back to the vanity mirror and sighed.
"What do you think, Kay?" Ivy asked.
Kay turned around, again, to face Ivy. "You look stunning, Babe," she said.
"Thanks, I can't believe Brooke had so many dresses on hand," Ivy said.
"I don't know either, but she does, which worked out for us," Kay said.
Ivy nodded, "Yes, it does. I never thought I would ever wear a dress like this in my life," she said.
Kay stood up and walked over towards Ivy. She wrapped her arms around Ivy from behind. Kay nuzzled her face into Ivy's neck. "You look like you were born to wear that dress," she said.
"Thanks, I think we need to take a selfie to remember this night," Ivy said.
Kay nodded, "Okay," she said.
Ivy slipped out of Kay's arms and retrieved her smartphone. When Ivy returned, they posed and took several pictures. Ivy looked through them to find the best, sending them out to her family and posting them on Instagram. After that, Ivy had Kay take a picture of just her, and once Kay returned the smartphone, Ivy started looking at the picture.
Kay looked into one of the pains of the trifold mirror. She held her sigh and looked into the reflection of her own blue eyes. Tonight is the night she's going to have to face her nightmares.
Shaking her head, Kay looked at Ivy and smiled. Yes, tonight, she'll face the email issue first, though she had the team dinner downstairs.
"Did I mention you look beautiful, as well," Ivy said.
"Thank you," Kay said.
"So, what to expect tonight?" Ivy said.
"Just a bunch of people that haven't seen each other in years," Kay said.
"Oh, like a high school reunion," Ivy said.
"Yeah, pretty much," Kay said.
"Okay," Ivy said.
"Let's go," Kay said and led Ivy out of their room.
Still the water bears the sound
Of my eternal plea
And all I found
Standing at the head of the table, she looked down to the foot; down the table's sides were the players and the significant others have taken their seats. At the foot of the table sat Lucas. Brooke smiled and looked over the many faces, several of the faces Brooke knew very well and considered family. She named them off in her head, scattered around the table at various points: Angela Scott, Ashlyn Pierce-Scott, Kay Scott, and Kelly McMichael.
Brooke studied each of these women, many now in their late early thirties. Most of the women either attended alone are with partners. They were each a study in who they brought or didn't bring with them. Angela was accompanied by her daughter Jess, who was the youngest person at the dinner. Ashlyn came alone, while Kay brought her girlfriend Ivy with her. Andrew, Kelly's husband, accompanied her.
Slowly, Brooke held up her glass from her special supply and clinked it with her knife. That quieted down the group, and they all looked to the head of the table. Brooke lowered her glass and knife and looked them all over.
"Thank you for coming here tonight. I know I'm not the one you expected to be hosting this dinner, but circumstances decided differently. I'd like to welcome back personally all you beautiful, strong women and celebrate the championship you won together.
"When I heard that they were bringing y'all back for this honor, I wanted to make sure you were treated right. The year you won this championship was also the year I returned home and reforged some important family ties. Many of you have become friends or even family.
"Three of my granddaughters look up to you and what you've accomplished. So, please, if you've ever doubted what you did matter, it does. My three granddaughters are proof of that.
"On a final note, I would like to propose a toast and a moment of silence for absent teammates. May they be kept in our hearts and for continued success for us all," Brooke said.
Everyone at the table raised their glass. Finally, the guests turned away from Brooke and glanced to one spot at the table before turning to their plates. They started to eat slowly. They all looked to an empty place, which in front of was a place card that said "Faith."
And all I will...
The routine of patrolling during the day and taking up positions in the field at night has long since settled in. Once settled into their positions, they would refuel and check their armaments. Once that was over, next fed the crews and would deliver mail, if any. Once finished, the crew started their watches for the night.
Letty slid into the loader's hatch and looked across the gun breech at Tarheel. He looked at her and shrugged.
"It's my watch," Letty said.
"Okay, nothing been going on," Tarheel said.
"Get some sleep; I got this," Letty said.
"Surprisingly, I'm still awake," Tarheel said.
"I heard we're heading in for a maintenance standdown," Letty said.
"From your lips," Tarheel said and started taking off the CVC.
"Get some sleep, you big lug," Letty said.
Tarheel climbed out of the commander's hatch, which Letty replaced him in. He slowly moved along the turret to the bustle rack on the rear of it. In the bustle rack, Tarheel found his sleeping bag and pulled it out. Looking back on the engine deck, he saw his space.
Slowly, carefully, Tarheel climbed down onto the engine deck and unrolled his sleeping bag. Slowly and carefully, he got ready and crawled into his sleeping bag, ready to sleep.
After a few moments, he settled in and found himself staring up at the star-filled sky. He breathed out and watched the steam. It's a crisp night out here on the plains of Central Europe.
Tarheel adjusted his watch cap and settled in some more. It's going to be a cold night. Looking up at the stars still, he looked for the brightest star in the sky. A friend told him that the star is called Sirius, and also, it's known as the dog star. The star had a long history with the people of Earth.
Tonight, Sirius acted as a beacon for Tarheel to send, in his mind at least, a message to his wife. At least for his piece of mind, Tarheel thought. Once finished with his thought, Tarheel sank into his sleeping bag for warmth and sleep because of the cold air.
She calls you with a mirage
Of what you want to see
You fall into her arms
On one of Beaulieu's many balconies, four women stood in the cold and looked up at the night sky. They stood in order by height and divided into two age groups, with roughly two years between the two groups. One on the shortest end of the spectrum, and yet of the older age group, looked up at the night sky.
"Thinking about Keith?" Trin asked, looking to the person to her left.
"I know he's out there; I just wish I knew he's safe," Izzy said, turning away from the night sky and looking to Trin, who was to her right.
"You know Keith, he can pull a rabbit out of his butt when most of us can only crap out of it," Candi said, from her end of the line, which was two spots down from Trin.
"That's an interesting description, especially when it comes to our brother," Ellie said, from her spot between Trin and Candi.
"Is it not true, Izzy?" Candi asked.
Izzy nodded, "Yeah, it's true," she said.
"I miss the idiot, too," Ellie said.
Candi nodded, "I think we all do," she said.
"I'll admit it, sometimes, I miss him," Trin said.
"You mean the free tickets," Ellie said, tease Trin.
"Not just that, the free downloads too," Trin said, with a laugh.
"Yeah, and thanks, guys," Izzy said and grabbed Trin's hand, squeezing it.
"Guys? Where do you see guys here?" Ellie asked, teasing her sister-in-law.
"Yeah, Iz, where are the guys?" Trin asked.
"Okay, girls, or do you like ladies?" Izzy asked back, and they all laughed, "Happy now?"
"Yeah," Ellie said.
"Sure," Candi said.
"I'm not so sure," Trin said, to which Izzy gave her a playful punch.
Izzy looked back up to the sky. "Hey! What's that really bright star called?" Izzy asked.
"No clue," Ellie said with a shrug.
"Don't look at me," Trin said.
"I have an app for that," Candi said.
"Of course you do," Trin said.
"I like to know what I'm looking at when I look out from the observation deck over Hermosa Beach," Candi said.
"Bragging that you live on the beach?" Ellie asked.
"They're called men, or beefcake. Do I have to explain that to a doctor?" Trin responded.
"Yeah, why not?" Candi asked as she held up her smartphone. "The star is called Sirius," she said to Izzy.
"Sirius," Izzy said, contemplating the name
"The Dog Star," Candi said.
Izzy nodded and looked at the star, "Keith's alive," Izzy proclaimed.
"How do you know?" Ellie asked.
"I just do for some reason," Izzy said and nodded.
As she shatters all your dreams
Sweet violence, aimed to crack the shell from which you bleed
And send you through the tree of Eternity
The kids in residence were in bed, and the oldest has left to spend her week at her Dad's. This loneliness left Ashlyn standing in her bedroom staring at the California King size bed and it's almost emptiness.
Ashlyn looked down at her uninspired bedroom wear. She slept alone most nights and felt since she's alone, who does she have to impress. Every so often, one of the twins or even more rarely, Maeghan would crawl into bed with her for various reasons.
She liked some of her kids still needed her. Ashlyn shook her head; what was the melancholy? It's been years, and James always had the same job; that can't be it. It wasn't this hollow honor they are giving her on Tuesday.
Ashlyn shook her head and walked to her bed. She pulled down the covers on one side and dropped her robe. Crawling into bed, she pulled the covers over her.
She reached over to her nightstand and went in it for something. Ashlyn pulled out some pictures and looked at them. She shook her head.
"Savannah, we were just getting to understand each other, but that accident took your life, Mike's and Dave's as well. We were just beginning and ripped away from each other again." Ashlyn said.
Tears welled up in her eyes. Ashlyn flipped the picture to a picture of four children, well two were tweens, and now one of those tweens is a teen.
"Savannah, I was building a relationship with Joplin, and AB like you were with my kids. Now, Mom won't let me see them, says she has no daughter named Ashlyn. I don't get her, Savannah," Ashlyn said.
Tears were streaming down her cheeks now. Ashlyn flipped the pictures and looked them over, and shook her head.
"Joplin and AB don't even get to see their cousins. Mom sent them to a private school, Savannah, a religious private school. I know Joplin is older than Maeghan, but Ab is the same age as the boys. They should have a relationship, but you know!" Ashlyn said and threw the pictures in the drawer, closing it roughly.
Ashlyn turned off the light and buried her face into her pillow to cry herself to sleep again.
Crack me open or I'll go down
On this sinking ship, don't leave
Me to drown
It had been a long day, and Ivy fell asleep early. The jet lag is still getting to her. Kay slipped out of bed and left a note for her telling her where she went, but not why. Kay quietly dressed, not anything special; if anything, she dressed not to attach attention.
Kay slowly and silently slipped out of the bedroom she shared with Ivy. Carefully, she walked down the galleries to one of the staircases and found her way to the East Range Foyer. After taking a few deep breaths to center herself, Kay walked outside and to the car, her Dad kept for her.
Starting the engine, Kay drove out the rear entrance to Beaulieu Manor. Once out on the road, she started looking around to make sure no one could see her. After a few more deep breaths, she got onto the road to her ultimate destination.
Kay listened to the radio, and for some reason, the overnight DJ was playing a dark doom metal sounding song, but with angelic female vocals. But the music's melancholy feelings added to her anxiety as she drove into the dark night.
Finally, she turned off the road and drove down a narrow, dark drive. Kay slowed her speed down because of the turns in the drive. The memories of the past, the first time she drove down this drive, which was also at night.
Finally, she slowed down and stopped at the gate. Lowering the window, Kay leaned out and put in a code into the keypad. Surprisingly, the gate started to open; they hadn't changed the code.
Driving through the gate, she is now no longer in Tree Hill. Kay found herself on the grounds of Fantasy Hall, the home of the Drake Family, the wealthiest local family.
She found herself in the area inhabited by "small" cottages. Kay drove by them, looking at them and the various styles and ages of the buildings. Finally, she found one on a triangle piece of land where three of the roads met. This building is Tri-Angle Cottage, the home of the oldest daughter and favorite child of the late Eli Drake.
Kay parked her car, shut it off, and got out of the vehicle. Cottage is a misleading term for these buildings, as they were mansions in their own right. Slowly, Kay walked down the front walk to the front door.
Her Dad once handed her a book to read over the summer. Kay, the dutiful daughter, read the book and initially didn't understand it. What stuck in her head was in the section called Canto III, the gates, and the sign; she also learned to pronounced for some reason the foreboding tone stuck to her like a nasty rumor or smell.
"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate," Kay whispered to herself.
After three more deep breaths, Kay steeled herself and walked to the door. Finally, Kay rang the doorbell. After a moment, the door opened, and a woman about the same age as her Dad stood before her.
This woman was almost as tall as Kay, five inches shorter, her dirty blonde hair is now lighter, her blue eyes dulled, and her face showed the ravages of time on it. The most recent years especially were engraved on this once beautiful face. All Kay felt were the daggers from the woman's eyes.
Kay slammed her left hand against the door to prevent it from being closed. The two women were in a staredown.
"Kay, what are you doing here?" Carrie Garland asked.
"Because you kept emailing me," Kay said.
"I thought you moved on," Carrie said.
"I had to," Kay said, "Things weren't great and ended even worse."
"So, why are you here?" Carrie asked.
"Simple, to put the harassment to an end," Kay said.
"While you get a reward," Carrie said, accusingly.
"I came back to end this," Kay said, her voice getting louder.
"You don't have to get loud," Carrie said.
"Are you going to leave me alone?" Kay asked.
"Yes," Carrie said.
"Good, you better," Kay said and started to turn away. Before Kay totally turned away. Carrie spoke up.
"You're not even going to see her?" Carrie asked.
"Is she even awake?" Kay asked.
"Yes," Carrie said.
Kay slowly turned around; she looked at Carrie and nodded, slowly, "Okay," she said.
Carrie stepped aside and let Kay in. Together, they headed to a small room on the first floor. Carrie slowly opened the door and stepped aside. Kay walked through the door, paused, looked over her shoulder, sighed, and turned back.
The room was bland in color, a surgical white color, and commanded by a hospital bed. Located on the wall is a flat-screen TV, where a TV show was playing. In one of several upholstered arm-chairs, a dark-haired nurse sat with a magazine open. In the other chair sat a woman around Kay's age.
Kay studied the woman; her pale platinum blonde hair was cut short, her skin was gaunt. There was once a light behind her violet eyes, but it now is extinguished. Slowly, Kay walked over and slowly bent down on one knee. In her hands, Kay slowly took her gaunt figure's hand. There was no reaction from the person in the chair.
"I'm here, Connie," Kay said, to a silent reaction, which Kay pulled the hand to her mouth and gently kissed it.
Still the water bears the sound
Of my eternal plea
And all I found
(BLOG Post in italics)
Winter is an interesting thing, as it's considered the opposite of summer. Poetically, Summer is described when used in love and passion, but Winter, poor Winter is used for someone that is cold and uncaring. I know someone who has a woman that's works for her named Winter. Sometimes she can be cold, but others she can be fiery. There is a saying Winter in my Heart, it could mean something very cold, and loveless, but for me Winter will always have a special place in my heart. That could just be me. Do you think winter has been given poetically a bad rap? Please let me know below.
RavenHussar
T3 Collective
Author's Notes
Welcome to the end of Episode Six (Winter in My Heart). This episode is one of, so far, three episodes that take place over fifty chapters. Why is that? The first two, Episode One and Episode Two, were part of me establishing the world after eleven years and filling in the first three days of the story. It just ballooned from there, and originally every episode was going to be that length. All I have to say to that is hell no! I needed to find a more sustainable number of chapters per episode. When first planned out, Episode Six was even larger fifty-eight chapters, during my small break over the end of November. A leave taken for r&r, and me having some family issues I needed to attend to. During that time, I didn't stop writing; I just stopped posting. It gave me the clarity to fix some problems, and I came back strong during December. The significant change was I dropped out one day from Episode Six to form a new Episode Seven, more on that in Episode Seven Author's Notes.
I set a goal to have Episode Six finished and ready for posting by 2021. I finished the last chapter in first draft form on December 20th and edited it on December 21st. That is a very short delay between the two, as I prefer to have a week between writing and editing to have fresh eyes when I edit. Now enough with me talking about my process.
This episode is, for lack of a better term, the gathering of the fellowship episode. Everyone mostly is returning home for the "big" honor for the girl's first championship team. This episode is also the final climb to the end of several storylines and the beginning of new ones. Many chapters were hard to write, just because I didn't know how to start them; you always need to know where you're starting from. The final push after my November Break gave me clarity on getting those done.
Personally, the hardest scene to write was the last one. Overall, it's an important scene, and I had been building towards it, slowly and carefully since Episode One. More so in this Episode than others. Though the reveal and the secret being out, there is more to this secret that will come out throughout the next few episodes, at the most. I'm just not sure how much will come out, but details should finish before Episode Ten at the latest.
So, yeah, Connie is in a permanent vegetative state. For those who think this came out of left-field, the car accident starting hinted at the back in Bless the Broken Road. Connie was nineteen years old, driving a European Super Car recklessly. Kay didn't enjoy riding with her, and Kay doesn't like driving either way. This secret scares me because of tropes. It will surprise you, maybe not, that I study the craft and watch Youtube videos on writing. What scared me about this was the "bury your gays" Trope. When I started formulating this story, I didn't know this trope existed. Connie wasn't going to die, but I didn't want a backlash to happen either. I needed a reason why Kay's shoulder was injured, and she wasn't with Connie anymore. Also, knowing the buzzword is the mechanism of injury, Connie would have to be seriously hurt, as she was the driver and would have eaten the steering wheel.
On the same subject, I still have no clue what Ivy does for a living.
If you are reading this when first published, thank you. If you aren't, thank you as well, now onto Episode 8.
The Annus Horribilis Secrets
1. Carson Murphy has passed away. (Episode 2)
2. Spencer Churchill "Church" Grady was killed in action as a US Navy Seal and buried in Arlington National Cemetery (aka The Garden). He is also Jessica Ashlyn Scott's Dad. (Episode 4)
3. Constance "Connie" Garland is in a permanent vegetative state. (Episode 6)
4. X
5. X
6. X
Playlist
Chapter 230: I Will Be Heard by Hatebreed.
Chapter 246: I Will Be Heard by Hatebreed.
Chapter 248: Killing My Dreams by Elysion
Chapter 254: I Will Be Heard by Hatebreed.
Chapter 256: Her Black Wings by Danzig
Chapter 258: Dig Up Her Bones by Michale Graves
Chapter 262: Broken Mirror by Trees of Eternity
Chapter 265: On the Turning Away by Pink Floyd
Chapter 271: I Will Be Heard by Hatebreed.
Chapter 275: Sinking Ships - Trees of Eternity
Poems
Translation Guide
Chapter 239: "Kochanie" – Polish for "My Darling" (Or similar)
Chapter 275: "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate" is Latin for "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
Quotes
