distant memories | garmau au

four | SO THAT EXPLAINS

Her again.

Garroth was getting real sick of this girl showing up everywhere. He knew that he was being very unreasonable and sounded like a whiny child, but he couldn't help it. There was something about this girl that was strange, yet subtle. She seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. It wasn't her face that he slightly recognized- as weird as it sounded, it was more her voice and her silhouette. Like a figure in a flashback, whom you can't distinguish, but you still remember them.

And it was getting on his nerves.

Clearing his throat, he apologized for his tardiness. "Sorry I'm late." Though he was displeased by Aphmau's presence, he had manners and knew that drawing attention to the problem would only make matters worse. All he had to do was sit through this boring dinner, and hopefully, that'd be the end of it.

His mother waved off his apology. "No, no! Your father hasn't gotten home yet, so we're still waiting for him." If his father wasn't at home yet, then it was probably 6pm. He usually got home sometime between then and 6:30.

Before he could sit down, a familiar woman who looked strikingly like Aphmau walked out of the kitchen. "Hey, Zianna, I-" She stopped as he made eye contact with Garroth, and her mouth fell open in shock. "Oh my Irene! Is this Garroth?"

The woman seemed to have the same cheery, excited nature that his mother had as well. He figured she was an old family friend- he'd seen his fair share of them over the years, an example being Katelyn's dad, or Dante's mom. "Yes, it is!" His mother answered proudly, in the same manner she always did in these situations. "He's grown quite a bit, hasn't he?"

The familiar woman and his mother seemed like sisters in terms of expression and actions. "The last time I saw you, you were up to my hip!" She pointed to her hip to prove her point. "Now, look at you! You're towering over everybody in the room!"

That was an exaggeration, but he didn't mind it. It was a compliment, after all. "Thank you?" He replied, but it was more of a question by the way he said it. The whole situation had him confused, as he still didn't know this woman's name, and he had just woken up from a dream that he didn't even get the chance to think about. It all left him feeing strange and a little out of it.

Luckily, his father arrived just in time to save him from this mess of a conversation. "Zianna, I'm home!" if anybody could bring stability to a conversation, it was his father. Soon enough, he'd start talking about business, politics, and the usual adult stuff.

His mother seemed to perk up even more at that, if that was even possible. "Oh, Garte's here! I'll be right back." Removing her apron, she put it aside and went to greet her husband. It left Garroth and the woman alone together, but luckily, he didn't have to deal with awkward small talk as his parents came back just moments after.

It seemed that his father knew her too, as his face seemed to lift at the sight of her, even going in for a friendly hug. Though, the ghost of a tired man's face was still visible, like it usually was. "Sylvana! It's been a while since we last saw you!" Sylvana. He pondered at the revelation. So that's her name. It still doesn't ring a bell, though.

Sylvana returned the hug, replicating the same glee that his father had. "I know, it's great to see you again!" Garroth wondered how long it had been since they had seen her. He didn't remember her, and his brothers most likely didn't either, so where had she seen him before?

The two pulled away, and as Garte's eyes scanned the room they landed on the raven-haired girl sitting at the dining table. "And is that Aphmau? She's grown so much!" So even his father had seen her already. Huh. "Last I saw her, she was taller than my boys by a couple inches. They used to fight over it a lot, didn't they?"

It took a few seconds for the teenagers in the room to process his words, so right as Sylvana was going to respond, a series of "What?"s and "Wait, what?"s were exclaimed simultaneously in the room.

Zianna looked at them with a slightly bewildered expression, "Oh, don't tell me you don't remember." A smile started to form on her face, though this one was of amusement instead of nostalgia.

It was the first time he had heard her speak all this time, but even Aphmau seemed confused at this. "Remember what, Mom?" Oh, no. Garroth could see where this was going, and he didn't like it one bit.

He brainstormed, trying to think of any other explanation than the one that was most likely, but it proved to be useless, as Sylvana explained, "You and Zianna's boys used to be playmates!"

His little brother, Zane, was as shocked as him, if not more. "Wait, what?!" Garroth was tempted to laugh at his high-pitched voice, but reminding himself of the situation, he didn't.

As he was about to ask for an explanation, it seemed that his youngest brother had beaten him to it. "How come we don't remember any of this?" Unlike the others, Vylad was mostly calm, taking the situation lightly. Garroth couldn't imagine how, as it's not everyday that you find out you used to be playmates with such an annoying girl.

His father laughed at their reactions, "Well, it has been a while. I guess it's not too shocking that you've forgotten."

Vylad's face contorted into a focused one, stroking his imaginary beard, as he tried to search his memories for any trace of the girl. "Now that I think about it, Aphmau did seem familiar-" Then a lightbulb seemed to appear above his head, signaling that he had figured it out. "-wait, was she that girl in the red dress? The one we'd all play soccer with?"

That triggered the Aphmau's memories as well, as her face turned into one of disbelief. "Hold on, you were those three boys I used to play with?" When the two freshmen had mentioned it, it seemed to rekindle Garroth's memories as well, as he recalled a little girl furiously kicking a soccer ball around.

It didn't take very long for Zane to remember, either, since in a matter of seconds he was already taunting Aphmau about things he had just recalled. "Ha! If I remember correctly, I kept beating you at soccer!"

Her face twisted into one a irritated one, as she retorted, "Well, it seems that you don't remember correctly, because I significantly remember causing the demise which you call your right eye!" Now that she mentioned it, Garroth did remember, significantly. He would never be able to forget the day Zane finally got a taste of his own medicine- he used to hit them all with baseballs, soccer balls, you name it, he probably threw it.

Zane's teeth gritted, recalling the day karma had gotten to him. "Why, you-"

Zianna laughed nervously, cutting him off before he could say anything foul to the girl. "Now, now, kids!" She panicked. "I know it's just friendly banter but I don't any fights erupting at the dinner table! Sylvana and I will be getting the food, and when we come back, we expect to see that you've settled this."

But as the two women disappeared into the kitchen, they most certainly did not settle this, even after they came back. They started eating, and while Garroth wanted to use this time to analyze the dream he just had, he couldn't. He couldn't stop recalling all these memories that had been buried away through time.

And all the while, he thought, So that explains.