Midnight After Midnight - Nanowrimo 2022

Chapter 14 - His And Theirs

In Ravenseye, nothing had improved since Adelaide left. Rather, it had become noticeably worse. It wasn't that way for everyone, but for the Hughes family, it was a fact they couldn't ignore. Simon and Elizabeth had remained in Simon's father's house, which was still in the exact sorry state Adelaide had first seen it in. With all that's been happening to him - the stressful task that was being a single father in an impoverished family, his own father not being a shining example of one - he himself had resorted to alcohol, which was part of the reasons he still had to wear the same plastered glasses he did when everything had begun even when Elizabeth had reached the age of fifteen. At thirty-two, he would've thought that at least something would change for the better, but alas, it only got worse, way worse than he'd expected at his age.

For years, he'd imagined leaving his miserable father, who he knew would never recover from his eternal grief that seemed like a cheap, lousy attempt at imitating the elevated drama of the Romantic era, partly due to his undying love and partly due to certain problems that couldn't be fixed in a regressive place such as Ravenseye. He'd begun to resent the town for all of it, as well as another reason that couldn't be forgiven.

Its residents had never particularly liked his father, talking all sorts of unsavoury things behind his back and giving him the reputation of the local madman ever since Simon was a little child. The man pretended not to notice it, but Simon knew that he did, and Simon knew that it sometimes haunted him for hours until he fell asleep. Although it was silly, Mr Hughes already had more than enough reasons to resent the world, and those vile words only added more fuel to the fire.

On Elizabeth's fifteenth birthday, it was he who woke up the first, shaking Simon so that he'd wake up as well at five in the morning. The roosters were voicing themselves in the distance, the sun only beginning to rise, and a glance at the clock on the wall across his bed told him so. He yawned for several seconds before expressing his utter confusion by blinking rapidly, making his father reluctantly sit on the edge of his bed.

"Father, what's going on?" Simon asked, his mouth agape.

"My son," the other man said gravely. "I'd like for the two of us to go for a brief walk. I'd love to spend some more time with you, and well, talk with you there, if you know what I mean."

Simon waved his hands in the air. "But why did you wake me up so early? Besides, we can spend time and talk to each other here. I've still got to finish the cake, and if you want to help me, that would be perfect. Elizabeth's going to be so excited if she wakes up early."

Mr Hughes shook his head. "She never does, which she inherited from you, and I don't like that about her. After all, I want to spend time outside and see the cliff. It's close to the sea, and it's the best part of the town, which I'd love to see with you today."

Simon nodded energetically. "I too love that part of the town, Father, and if you're so excited at the prospect of seeing it right now, I can't tell you no. In fact, we can go right now."

As his father beamed at him, he quickly got out of his bed, and they were heading for the cliff in no time. With much happiness, they talked to each other for half an hour without any interruptions, immensely glad that no one else was awake. His father told him funny anecdotes from his childhood, which were mainly about him stealing fruit from his neighbours' orchards with close friends. Other such stories included vandalism, skipping classes, breaking legs from carelessly jumping over fences, and how he began drinking at thirteen. He was quite the rascal, which wasn't surprising to Simon in the slightest.

"These are all the stories I can remember right now," his father said as they stood over the cliff.

Simon hadn't been there in a while, so he studied his surroundings carefully to see what they were like. It was no wonder why his father called it the best place in the town. The cackling of the seagulls, the cool sea waves that could be heard from afar, the withered trees with black branches that were all over the terrain, and the grey clouds through which sunlight faintly shone - they all painted a pretty picture. For a moment, Simon felt like he was the protagonist of a novel that belonged to the fabled Gothic movement, and he stood like a statue for several seconds until his father nudged him back to reality.