Work Text:
I am sitting at my kitchen table with a glass of tea in my hand. I’m staring blankly at my typewriter trying to figure out what to say. What could I even say? This night was a whirl of emotions and adrenaline. I could type out what happened or, I could never write down those events and pretend it never happened.
Less than five hours ago, I thought I was doing something for the greater good. And now, sitting here, I realize how wrong I was to help Snicket. I helped him…I shudder at that thought.
My thoughts aren’t on him though. I’m thinking of someone else. She is locked up in the prison car of a train, on her way to the city. I don’t know when I’d see her again. I don’t know if I’m going to see her again.
I few more minutes staring at my typewriter before a knock on my door. I stand up. I have no idea who it could be, and at this hour. It is three in the morning. There are people I hope for it to be, and there are people I’m hoping it isn’t.
I open the door, and to my surprise, it is the one person I want to see.
“Ellington!” I gasp.
“Moxie,” she says and wraps me in a tight hug.
I don’t realize till I’m in her embrace how tense I am. I almost melt in her hug. It feels good. I thought I had lost her, but here she is.
I let her go. “Come inside, you’re probably freezing.”
She nods and I show her inside. We go into the kitchen, and I sit down in the stool I was in a moment before. She sits across from me. We both stare at each other. And then I remember that I should probably say something. “Do you want coffee?” Is the first thing that comes to mind.
“Yes please,” she responds. I stand up and start fiddling with the coffee machine.
I start to let my mind wander. My thoughts keep drifting back to Snicket. What if we just told him about our relationship instead of acting like we hated each other. Ellington came to the lighthouse one day (before Snicket came along) and asked for a place to live. I gave her the keys to Hankerchief Heights, and the rest is history. We decided that it was safer to not let Snicket know about our relationship. We kept it to ourselves.
I pour the coffee into two cups and give one to her. I sit back down in my stool and look at her again. God she’s beautiful. And then I become conscious of my own appearance. My hair is probably a mess, and I look like I haven’t slept in ages. I also remember that my tie is around my shoulders. I took it off when I got home, and just forgot it was draped over my shoulders. I quickly take it off and put it in my lap.
“I would kill for a hangtown fry right now,” pipes up Ellington. “Well maybe not kill.”
“Yeah I get what you mean…” It gets silent again. Why are we being so awkward? I remember that she just watched her father get murdered, and that I’m supposed to be a good girlfriend. “Are you okay?” I ask.
“I just watched my dad get murdered. What do you think, Mallahan?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, and try to figure out what to say next. What is the right answer? “You’re a strong person…” is what I come up with.
She snaps at me. “You know, I am a strong person, but every once in a while, I wish someone would hold my hand and tell me that everything is going to be okay.”
I look at her and grab her hand from across the table. “It’ll be okay.”
Her gaze softens. “Sorry.”
“No, no don’t be sorry. You just watched your dad get murdered. You’re allowed to feel those feelings.”
“I thought I trusted Snicket. I didn’t think he’d do something like that.”
“Yeah…”
It gets quiet again. Ellington takes a sip of her coffee, and I try to swallow mine down. This time, Ellington breaks the silence. “Where’s your dad?”
“Left town a week ago, hasn’t been back since.”
“What?” She looks at me like how one might look at a sick puppy.
“Yeah…”
“And your mom?”
“Still gone. El, I don’t think she’s coming back. I don’t think either of them are coming to get me…”
“Oh.”
Now I feel bad. I just unloaded my thoughts onto her when she just had her father murdered in front of her.
“Moxie, can I go use your shower?”
“Uh, yes, of course,” the question catches me off guard.
She nods and heads upstairs and I stay sitting on my stool. My eyes go back to my typewriter. My fingers hover above the keys and I type:
“Hangfire, dead. Murdered by, L. Snicket and Bombinating Beast. L. Snicket disappeared.”
God I was so naive. It made me sick to my stomach, or maybe it was the coffee.
I stand up and try to tidy up the kitchen as best as I can. I finish with the dishes and try to tidy myself up as best as I can. I just brush my fingers through my hair, which is my meager attempt to flatten it. I shut my typewriter and head up the stairs to my bedroom.
I pass by a photo of me, and my parents. They really are never coming back, no matter how much I wish they would.
I finish my climb up the stairs and hear the shower running. I walk past the bathroom and into my own room where I change into an old t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. I sit on the edge of my bed flipping through the pages of The Portable by Dorthy Parker. It’s one of my favorite books. It was my mothers favorite book. My mind starts to wander to thoughts of her.
My thoughts get interrupted when Ellington walks into my room. Her hair is wet and she’s in a towel.
“Do you have something I can wear?” she asks timidly.
“Yes, uh yeah, totally,” I stumble over my words, and stumble over my feet trying to get over to my dresser. I pull open a drawer and hand her the first thing I find, trying not to look at her. She just stands there awkwardly holding her towel up. She takes the clothes and goes back to the bathroom. When she leaves, I collapse on my bed. God why am I acting so flabbergasted. Me and my stupid gay hormones.
Ellington comes back into my room, this time dressed. I move over in my bed and she gets in next to me. We lay on our backs looking up at my ceiling, on our respective sides of the bed.
A question comes to my mind. I prop myself on an elbow and look at her. “How did you get out of the prison car? You were locked up.”
She chuckles and turns her head to look at me. “I’m surprised that wasn’t the first thing you asked. How do you even know it’s me? What if I’m just an impersonator?”
“Oh… well are you?’
Ellington laughs. “Yes it’s me. Kit picked the lock and we just walked out. The Mitchum Officers were too distracted.”
“Kit, as in Kit Snicket? Like Snicket’s sister?”
“Yeah. I know. There’s at least one decent one in the Snicket family.”
“Well, Snicket’s not necessarily bad. He just did a bad thing for a nobel reason.”
Ellington gives me a sidelong glance. “He killed my father.”
“But your father also killed a lot of people…” I don’t really know what to say, but a tiny part of me wants to defend Snicket.
“Well…” She starts to speak but then doesn’t continue her thought.
I know it’s best to leave the conversation where it is. I decide to change the subject. “So, what’s our next plan? What’s next in life?”
“We could go to the city. Get an education? A house could be nice.”
“Yeah, yeah we could.” I smile at the thought. Maybe we could do that. And maybe, just maybe, I’d find my mother. Just maybe.
We’re quiet for a couple more minutes. I can tell she's trying to sleep. I can hear her breathing slow down. I roll over to look at her.
“Hey, El.”
“What?” she mumbles.
“I love you.”