cycleofages | 01 | Saying Goodbye Is Never Easy

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grace

01 | Saying Goodbye Is Never Easy | Aug 27th – 31st

Grace was running towards the arrival bay the moment she heard that more people were appearing on the platform. She didn’t know if her father might be there but she hoped. He would be there and she’d be there to greet him with a smile. She didn’t know why or how he had left. She woke up one morning and found him gone.

He would never leave without saying goodbye. Grace was sure of it.

She can be found at the arrival platform for the next few days. She took up a post by the door wearing a new dress but the same red hood. Depending on the time of day she can be found sleeping in the same spot and after a few days she’s trying her best not to cry. Her father wouldn’t want her to cry but she missed him so much.

He’d been here, for a few weeks, they had been together and they were happy. Was she a bad girl? Why would he keep leaving? Did something happen to him? Was he okay? Why couldn’t she protect him? Was she too weak? She was only just a child.

As the arrivals stopped appearing she realized that her father was really gone and she was alone again. She curled up on the floor and cried on that final day not caring who saw her.

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Grace had her head bent, her face obscured by her hood. It's the only shield she has as her fingers quickly try to wipe away the liquid staining her cheeks. She sniffles once before trying to speak.

"Papa, he's gone." She didn't know what happened. One day he was here and the next he vanished, she'd asked but no one had seen him. "I-I thought..." Her voice stammered and spiked as she tried to stop herself from crying. Good girls don't cry. "I thought he'd be here."

Her head remained bent and her small frame unmoving. "But he didn't arrive."

"Hey, now. Don't do that." He reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder, something he couldn't have done a month ago. It was a nice touch, and it was a connection he hadn't felt in a long time. He smiled gently. "I bet he'll be back, and in the meantime, you're gonna be just fine, alright?"

Grace snuffled and tried once again to stop her tears. She turned and looked up at Joey. Her eyes were puffy and red and her cheeks stained with the remnants of her crying but the tears were trapped within her watery hazel eyes. She snuffed once using the back of her hand to wipe at her eyes.

She knew that he'd be back. She had to have hope.

"Yeah and when he comes back I'll be here with a smile because he deserves that." She didn't think it was his fault but it hurt so much for him to be gone again. She wanted to find him. "Do you think I might be able to find him if I look?"

His heart went out to the kid. If he was honest, he wouldn't mind looking for someone himself, but he knew, just deep down in his gut he knew, he wouldn't find her. He smiled that same, somewhat comforting smile at the girl and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Sure, kid, we can take a look around, but dry those eyes, alright? You wouldn't want your dad to see you sad, would you?"

Grace nodded her head quickly. "I don't." It was difficult to stop crying but Grace put all her effort into the task. She wiped her palms on her cloak and then wiped her cheeks again. It took a few minutes but she eventually began to look more like herself. There was no getting rid of the puffy and red around her eyes.

"Do you think what Professor Rieben said was true? That my dad turned into something we can't see? He said essence that coalesce. Is he just essence again or is he back home?" She wondered if her father was looking for her.

Truth be told, that vampire guy had said a lot of things Joey didn't understand. Like the being a vampire part. While he'd been a spook for the better part of 70 years, and while he'd also been a spirit guild for the better part of 40, he'd never met anything that wasn't human. Now there were people left and right telling him they were this or that or the other thing, and he really didn't know what to think of it.

He offered the kid a gentle shrug. "I don't know, kid. All I know is none of this is simple, but if your dad's around, we'll find him, alright?"

The shrug did little to calm Graces nerves but she knew that he didn't want to say anything that would upset her further. He was honest and in his own way kind. She was thankful though there weren't many ways that she could show that.

Grace nodded her head before looking back up at Joey. "And he's still looking for me." She said this as if she knew it was true. "We'll find each other again."

She continued to look more like herself though after a few seconds a loud grumble echoed from her stomach. She'd been standing near the arrival bay for the last week and while people have brought her food she didn't remember the last time that she ate.

Joey smiled again, reaching out to give her shoulder a gentle squeeze before standing and holding a hand down to her to help her to her feet.

"That's the spirit, kid. Come on, let's go get something to eat, okay?"

Grace took his hand and rose shakily to her feet. She felt exhausted but too hungry to think about anything other than food. She nodded in confirmation before falling in step beside him. She occasionally stumbled into him but she was to small to do any real damage.

"Do you think I could ask Gus to make me soup with mushrooms?" It reminded her of home and what little her and her father lived off of. They would eat the common mushrooms or vegetables from the garden and then sell anything that was more rare. Things were tight but Grace never minded. She had her father, that was all she needed.

Joey wasn't one who commonly looked after kids. He'd never had any of his own, life just hadn't had that in the cards for him, but they were alright. He wasn't exactly great with them, but they were...innocent, something like pure.

He smiles down at the kid before nodding. "I bet he will if you ask nice."

Grace nodded her head looking very enthusiastically at Joey. "I will and if not I'm sure the menu will be very good too." She had found that she really liked Gus's food even though she wasn't familiar with a lot of it.

"Are you hungry?"

Joey smiled down at her, taking her hand because it just seemed like something you'd do with a little girl who'd been sobbing about her missing dad just a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, sure, kid. Apparently, I'm always hungry."

Grace was thankful that he was willing to hold her hand. She wanted to just pretend that everything was okay. That she could smile and be happy even if she was alone. It hurt but not as much as other things and there were others alone too. She wanted to be there for them, help them smile.

"Are you really always hungry? That sounds troublesome."

"I think so," he accentuated his response with a nod. "It's hard to tell, though. See, I just got my stomach back not long ago."

Grace's brow furrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"

"That's...a long story, Bright eyes." And one he wasn't sure he should explain to a kid. "But...let's just say I haunted a lot of places for a while."

"Haunted? Like a ghost does?"

Her head tilted to the side, her curiosity not yet sated.

Joey nodded, smirking slightly. "Just like that, kiddo, because I was a ghost."

"How were you a ghost then but you aren't now?"

Grace did realize that he had to die to be a ghost but he wasn't dead now which was peculiar. She wanted to know but at the same time she didn't' want to be insensitive. "If it's upsetting you don't have to tell me."

In case he didn't know that.

Suddenly not being a ghost wasn't exactly traumatizing, unless you counted having a problem with cold water, or temperature in general. It was more of a relief than anything, a reminder of what it was to be human.

"That's the question, ain't it kid? I have no idea. One minute, I'm haunting the latest broad who inherited me, the next, here I am."

"Do you miss her?"

She asked suddenly, her head tilting to the side.

"The woman who inherited you?"

Joey blinks down at her for a moment. That had not been a question he'd been expecting.

"Uh...yeah. Sure. I guess. I mean, she's a sharp kid, you know?"

"She's your friend or like your family." She said this as if she knew that to be true.

"Missing them just means that you love them."

He'd actually been a little heartbroken to be trapped in a mental hospital and not having been there to watch Red grow up. He was proud of the woman she'd become, even though he'd never tell her that.

"...yeah. Family. I guess you're right, kiddo."

Grace kept her smile in place however her eyes didn't reflect any joy. "I could tell. I'm sorry you're apart." Grace knew what that was like.

01 | Saying Goodbye Is Never Easy | Aug 27th – 31st

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