Forgotten Ties (Ties, Book 3.5) | ✓

Chapter 4

Nim crept out of his bedroom late that night, but a sniffle from the living room interrupted him on his way to the front door. He poked his head in to find Marigold curled up on the couch.

"Oh, hi Nim," she said, quickly rubbing tears from her eyes as she sat up.

Nim shook his head and held up a hand. "You don't have to put on an act for me. I know you're not as okay as you like to pretend."

She offered Nim a sad smile. "Are any of us?"

Nim walked over and sat down. "I wish I was. It looks so much easier in the movies. Just be a tough guy who doesn't have feelings about things."

"Oh, Nim. Men like that still have feelings, they're just awful at expressing them which actually just makes everything worse. Then they become alcoholics and die at forty-five."

"Forty-five seems ambitious at this point, and alcoholism has nothing to do with it."

"It feels that way, doesn't it? There's so much hate, in both directions, and it's only growing. I try to discourage the kids from blind hate, because I don't think it helps no matter how reasonable a response it is, but it's getting harder and harder. Some days it's hard to even believe in these things myself."

"I guess it's not great for them to hate all humans when we live with Joanne and Peter. They're not perfect, but they're not evil, either."

"And don't forget, Nim, that most of us aren't like you. Most of us were born human. Some of the kids had only stopped being human right before joining the household. They remember being human and hating our kind and now that hate is gone and they think, well, there you go. Humans are inherently hateful. That's not really how it works, though. The really fresh ones come here and they're still afraid of our kind and they feel much safer around Joanne and Peter because they're human. They learnt to hate us and, over time, they come to realise that they've switched teams and their feelings change."

"Do you remember being human?"

"Oh, barely," Marigold said. "I remember I lived with my grandma and I remember everyone was scared because one of the fae had been seen around the neighbourhood. Other than that, all I remember was the day I died."

She didn't look upset by that, so Nim asked, "What happened?"

"My grandma had left me at home alone while she was out, which in retrospect was wildly irresponsible because I was four. The problem was that, like most four year olds, I was extremely stupid. My grandma was an avid knitter and I got hold of her wool and decided to decorate the tree outside."

"I'm sure she was thrilled about that."

Marigold offered him a smile. "Fortunately, I died before she could find out. I climbed up into the tree and strung the wool all about in the branches, and I ended up tangled up in it too. I slipped and the wool caught around my neck."

Nim made a face. "Oof."

"Mm." Marigold looked away. ""It takes a long time to suffocate. Minutes of just hanging there, uselessly kicking your legs as you slowly grow weaker and more desperate. And then, right before you die, peace. Acceptance."

"Well, there's something to look forward to."

"I don't remember anything after that. Not for a long time. What I know is that I was essentially in a vegetative state to start with and everything came back very slowly over the course of years. I don't know if my grandma isn't in the picture anymore because she didn't want me or because I was taken away from her after what happened. I guess I'm too afraid to ask. I also don't know why I wasn't living with my parents to begin with. Are they dead? Were they abusive? Did they just not want me? Who knows. It would probably be healthy to ask these things and get closure, but I never have the extra bravery to spare."