ghost

[shesepankh]

Kindergarten teacher Renée Higgenbotham Swan (36) was killed in a car crash one mile from her residence in Phoenix, AZ, January 9, 2005. She is survived by her daughter Isabella (16). Her service will be held at -

Bella has the entire obituary pasted into a page of one of her compilation notebooks but tends not to re-read past the first lines. It's repellent. The concept of obituaries is repellent. The funeral is over. Renée's vibrant brief life has been summed up over the course of a paragraph, and is also over.

Bella pretends to sleep on the plane. Her neighbor is talkative and she doesn't want to say shut up, my mom just died, because - what if it doesn't work? What if this news doesn't have the power to bludgeon everyone else into stunned silence the way it does Bella?

Charlie collects her. Charlie hugs her. Charlie doesn't make her talk. Good wonderful understanding quiet Charlie does not say a word. He takes her home. Her room's where she left it last August.

It's raining.

Bella stays home, moving in, moping, for a day, and then she shows up at school, gray-faced and withdrawn. First class is English. Okay, whatever.

The teacher wants her to introduce herself. Bella wants to yank on the skinny end of his tie until he regrets making her.

She stands at the front of the room and says that her name is Bella Swan and she's moved here to live with her dad. The teacher makes an impatient go on gesture and she stands there for a moment before robotically saying the same thing she produced at the beginning of the year in her old school in Phoenix when they were doing go-around-the-room-and-share-facts. "I'm one of those people who actually likes Shakespeare."

He lets her sit down.

She sits.

Comments

[sundayfish]

"Cost me about a minute, I called your phone before coming to get you 'cause I figured it was a prank, but he answered your phone too."

[castmyown]

"... Sorry," says Darren.

[shesepankh]

"...At least you didn't wind up with him convinced that you had harmed me? I guess? Because that would have been hazardous to your health?"

[castmyown]

"Yeah, that's something. I probably could have handled it better, though."

[steppingup]

Vernon claps him on the back. "Hey, kiddo. It happens. You did what you thought was right in a freaky situation where you didn't know what to do and it worked out okay. Calling that a good day."

[shesepankh]

"But really you probably should've just told him that I was in trouble and waited to mention the wings until they were provably there."

[sundayfish]

"Nobody teaches crisis management in schools," shrugs Charlie.

[castmyown]

"Yeah," he agrees. He does look kind of guilty about it, though.

[shesepankh]

Bella stretches out a velvet paw and pats Darren on the knee with it.

[castmyown]

He smiles, a bit. "Having fun with magic?"

[shesepankh]

"Yeah. Haven't managed to get the fur to come in stripewise, let alone anything more complicated, but I'm getting more of a sense of what I'm being and how to stay put or not on purpose."

[castmyown]

"Good. You should also probably run around as a sphinx to get used to it, along with flying."

[steppingup]

"... Don't jump off a cliff. Some gryphons I know like to get newbies to fly through that method, and other options are safer."

[shesepankh]

"I do not plan to jump off a cliff. I might run down a hill, if it turns out I can run better on four feet than two."

[steppingup]

"Good. Making sure."

[shesepankh]

"When should I start magic lessons, Darren?"

[castmyown]

"Probably after you get shifting down, I think. Because while magic's fantastic, that one's more important - school and not getting wings randomly, and all."

[shesepankh]

"Okay. After school Monday, maybe? I'll spend all weekend messing around with shifting."

[castmyown]

"Sure," agrees Darren. "That's fine by me."

[shesepankh]

"Okay. I usually take the bus home, is it okay if I just go with you instead and stay until Dad can fetch me?" She manages to change the bend of her knees without sprouting fur or adding claws, and as a result keeps the jeans; it looks kind of weird.

[castmyown]

Darren looks at his dad!

[steppingup]

"Yeah, it's fine. I've got room in the car. I drive them. Don't sprout wings in it, there ain't room, but other than that you're golden."

[shesepankh]

"Sure," says Bella. She starts flickering her wings into and out of existence, rather quickly.

[steppingup]

Vernon looks at Darren. "Well, go on. I know you're barely holding it in."

[castmyown]

Darren grins, then - he bursts into maniacal giggles.

He's going to be a while.