Chapter Text
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▏PROLOGUE ▕
"The truth is, we all have secrets. We all hide parts of ourselves from the world."
- Eve Dallas, Secrets in Death
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ELLIE STARED AT THE WORDS ETCHED IN THE SMOOTH SLAB OF CONCRETE. She wondered if she stared hard and long enough, the words would somehow change to a different name…and it wouldn’t be her Ba’s name, placed on the small hill behind their home, with his wife and only daughter standing in silence as a shaman from the mainland and his droning is drowned out by the heavy blanket of grief hanging down on everyone.
“He wouldn’t have wanted a hill,” Ellie wept to herself. “He would’ve wanted to be buried underneath the plum blossom tree.”
He loved that tree. He planted it for her, after all. It was their tree.
Looking behind her, Ellie still couldn't believe the number of people who showed up to the service. She didn't know why she was surprised. People on the Cut loved her dad. Everyone knew Charlie Chen - not only as a beloved husband and devoted father, but also as someone who earned his place in their tight-knit community, despite not having the same roots in the island as most people in the Cut. He made friends with everyone - the surly, old fishermen who worked at the docks, the people who operated the ferries, and even the old ladies at Sunday Mass. Everyone loved her dad and always greeted him with a smile, which was evident from the sea of respectfully bowed heads and black-clad shoulders in the back. There were only two people who weren't wearing black: JJ and Logan Maybank - and Ellie knew that her dad wouldn't have it any other way. Jackson Jamie "JJ," in her dad's favorite white knit cardigan, and Logan, in the dress she wore for her high school graduation. Both siblings wore something that represented the deep connection they shared with Ellie's dad, and it made her want to cry all over again.
Ellie couldn't begin to express how relieved she was to have Logan here. It shouldn't have surprised her. Initially, Ellie was worried she wouldn't have made it. Her finals' schedule was, after all, during the same week. Biya had even promised that they would understand if Logan had to miss it, going so far as to state that her husband would've wanted it that way too. It wasn't meant to be cruel. Ellie's dad had always emphasized the importance of a proper education, doing whatever he could so that the daughter he and his wife adopted in their hearts could excel. But of course, Logan had to surprise them by showing up a week early in the beat-up yellow Jeep she had had since forever, with two suitcases in the trunk.
"I took my finals early," she announced with so much finality that neither Ellie nor Biya had room to respond. "All my classes are online. And I'm staying for the rest of the month and the rest of the summer."
From that moment, whatever Ellie or Biya needed, Logan had already checked off. It was thanks to her that the two still remembered to sleep and eat. Ellie was pretty sure that this funeral wouldn't have even been half as organized if it were for her help.
Glancing to the side were her father's biological family. She emphasizes the word 'biological' because it seemed more polite than to say 'estranged.' Ellie had no idea they would actually respond to the phone call her mom gave them when she notified them that her husband had died, and there would be a traditional Taoist funeral ceremony performed in accordance with his faith. No one on her father's biological side of the family liked that. Every single one of them protested how Ellie's mom was making a mockery of their family by not only feeding into the delusion that such an antiquated religion had no place in a family of devoted Christians such as themselves, but also by permitting two strangers with no connections through blood to wear the traditional colors of mourning. But Biya paid them no mind. For every unnecessary protest that left their mouths, a more profound and deafening silence spat in their faces.
"Don't listen to those bastards," Biya hissed when Logan brought it up. The siblings knew how difficult a time Biya Reynes was going through, and the last thing they wanted was to exacerbate any fighting between the families. But Biya shot them down. "They lost any right to make claims of 'family' when they disowned my husband for marrying me and called our daughter a 'bastard.' They shouldn't even be here at all."
Sensing her grief and anger, Bellie, their pitbull, nudged her head against Ellie’s legs in a show of comfort. Whispering a small thanks to the pup, Ellie turned to her mom and felt her heart breaking all over again. Ellie couldn’t remember a time when her mom wasn’t the most beautiful person in the world. Because right now, as she stood in her wedding dress, Ellie wasn’t sure if she had ever met anyone who looked so…defeated.
Ba would often joke about how he fell in love with his wife, at first sight, the moment he heard her melodious laugh and saw her sunshine smile across Chapel Hill’s dining hall. And then he would tell her the story of the very moment he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
✩
School was over, and there was no club practice that day, so Ellie decided the best way to spend her time was to help her dad harvest the ube[i] and 甜土豆 (Tián tǔdòu)[ii] from their small backyard garden. Well, it was more like he was harvesting the tubers, and she was sitting on the back porch steps blowing bubbles.
“What was meeting Nanay[iii] like?” she asked. Her dad pointed to the water bottle next to her feet, and Ellie opened the lid before handing it to him.
“Why do you want to know?” he questioned after taking several big gulps of cold water.
His daughter shrugged and softly bobbed to the breeze with a cheeky grin. “I dunno, just ‘cause.”
Charles “Charlie” Chen wiped off the sweat on his temple before sitting on the same steps where his lil’ 噗噗 (Pū-Pū)[iv] was just sitting. He patted the spot next to him, and Ellie dutifully sat down. She proceeded to lay her cheek against his leg with an expression that only meant, “I’m waiting.”
Ellie’s Ba chuckled before looking up at the clouds with a nostalgic smile. “It was like magic. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She still is.”
Ellie gave a toothy smile. “How did you know you wanted to marry her?”
Charlie looked at the little girl with knowing eyes. “It was a month after our first date. We planned a picnic under the pavilion at the Old Well. All of a sudden, it started raining! I was so mad because the weatherman said it was going to be sunny! But your mother…ai-yah…she just laughed. Even soaked, she was so beautiful! But it was what she said next that made me realize that I would only ever want her as my wife.”
Ellie’s eyes grew wide and shone with excitement. “What was it?”
He leaned in close. “She said, ‘I hope our daughter gets to do this with her future boyfriend.’” He leaned back with a wide smile. “And here you are.”
It was only until much later when he told her that the Old Well was the first place they visited as fresh alumni, again when Ellie was still in her mother’s belly, and finally…when they got married and after Ellie was born.
✩
These past few weeks took their toll on them, with contacting relatives, scheduling funeral appointments, and preparing his corpse for cremation before pressing the button to watch his body burn.
That wasn’t even taking into consideration what to do with check burning a hole in the bottom of her mother’s drawer in what used to be their bedroom. The check that was given to the beneficiaries of Charles Chen upon his death from the life insurance company. Getting that check was like getting hit with a fifty-foot-tall typhoon wave.
That flimsy piece of paper, displaying all those zeros, showed the monetary value of her dad’s life as if something as common and simple as money could compare to the life that was lost. Seeing it, holding it… It made Ellie a wreck, but her mother was ruined.
Shifting the white chrysanthemums bundled in her arms, Ellie held her mother’s hand even tighter than before when the shaman began his prayers. Biya turned to her daughter with a grateful smile and gently kissed her knuckles.
“Salamat, Taba[v],” she whispered.
“Walang anuman, Nanay[vi],” Ellie replied.
To the crowd behind them, it looked like a daughter reaching out to her mother in comfort, when in reality, it was the daughter who must remain strong for both of them.
Because Ella-Mei Reynes Chen lost a father, this is true. But Biya Reynes lost so much more. Not even forty, and already she lost the love of her life, her eternal partner, and her best friend.
And now, more than ever, Ella-Mei had to be strong enough for the both of them. Because who else could?
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
After the service and speeches were spoken, everyone gathered inside the house for the funeral reception. Ellie and her mom placed the urn with her dad’s ashes, along with his photograph, on the altar. They lit two joss sticks before putting them on the altar beside his photograph. After the sending-off ceremony, Ellie told her mom she was going to the bathroom before dashing upstairs and locked herself in her room. Flinging herself onto her bed, she could finally let herself grieve as her comforter soaked up all her tears. It was selfish to want to be left alone, especially knowing that her mom needed her today of all days…but it was too hard.
How could she hope to be there for her mother when it felt like her chest was collapsing in on itself?
If only Baba were here, he would know exactly what to do. If Baba were here, he would come into her room and call Ellie by his special name, the one only he used for her.
✩
“Baba?” she asked while on her father’s lap.
“Yes, 噗噗 (Pū-Pū)?”
“Why do you call me ‘美-美’(Méih-Méih) [vii]outside but ‘噗噗 (Pū-Pū)’ at home?”
The older man chuckled. “Because ‘噗噗 (Pū-Pū)’ is my special name for you. Do you not like it?”
“It sounds like poo-poo!” The young girl puffed up her chubby cheeks angrily at her baba’s laughter. “And poo is stinky and gross! You’re calling me stinky like poop!”
“Oh? But you make very stinky poo-poo.” He pressed a loud kiss on his daughter’s chubby cheek. “Your poo-poo is much stinkier than mine!”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yuh-huh!”
“Nuh-UH”
“Yuh-HUH! It’s why your bum-bum is so smelly!”
Ella-Mei’s chubby cheeks puffed in anger. Her eyebrows furrowed into an adorable scowl before pouting below her breath. “You don’t love me anymore.”
Her Ba threw his head back and roared in laughter. “干嘛 (gōn má)[viii]! What are you talking about? You think I don’t love you?”
Ellie ‘hmphed’ away. “No! I don’t!”
Charlie sighed deeply. “Fine. I don’t love you.”
The. Gall.
On the top of her lungs, Ellie called out for reinforcements. “Nanay! Ba said he doesn’t love me!”
A loud “Ay?!” came from inside the house before Biya Reynes marched through the back door. She wore her favorite orange duster dress with green leaves cinched under her chest. Her hair was gathered in a loose braid flung over one shoulder, and the silver bangles on her wrists clinked as her hands were placed firmly on her hips.
“Ay! How could he not love this cute girl?!” She shook her head in disappointment at her husband. “Very bad. Come here, Taba.”
Ellie gladly crawled out of her Ba’s lap to enter her Nanay’s arms. She closed her eyes and smiled at the whiff of jasmine and cinnamon as Biya covered her daughter's face in kisses. Meanwhile, the recently abandoned man, who was her husband, felt very unloved at that moment and decided to put his acting skills to the test.
“Boo, no one loves me,” he cried. “I work so hard, and my daughter thinks I don’t love her. Boo-hoo! I am so hurt!”
Ellie turned to her mom. “…Nanay, baba likes to cry a lot.” She faced her dad with a scolding frown. “Baba! Stop being iyakin[ix]!”
Biya’s face lit up. “Ay! How did you learn that word? You’re so smart!”
Ellie beamed at the praise. “I heard it while you were on the phone with Lola Mari! A baby was crying in the background, and I heard her say it and figured it out!”
Biya kissed her daughter on the cheek before holding her close. “Oh, my little girl is so smart and clever!”
“噗噗 (Pū-Pū) is so smart and doesn’t think I love her,” whined Charlie. “I am so hurt!”
Ellie threw her head back and groaned. “哎呀 (Āi ā)![x] Alright!” She went back and hugged her old man. “開心 (hōi sām)[xi]?”
Charlie Chen let out a genuine smile before hugging his daughter back. “好開心 (hóu hōi sām)![xii] You agree that I love you?”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
“And you smell like poo-poo?”
“BABA!” “CHUCK!”
✩
Before she even realized it, Ellie’s cries turned to giggles as her mind replayed the memory like an old favorite movie. But the giggling slowly ceases as she hears four distinct voices behind her door who are doing an abysmal job of keeping their voices down.
“She good? She’s gigglin’ like some pothead.”
“Jesus – JJ, shut up.”
“Guys, we’re being really loud right now. Wait, Kie, hang on–”
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
“Ellie.”
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
“Ellie.”
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
“Ellie. It’s Kie, we’re coming in.”
Ellie barely had enough time to shift on her back before her friends came in. She quickly wiped the tear streaks on her cheeks and tucked her knees under her chin. If there was anyone barging in her room right now, she was glad it was these four and no one else.
“Hey, guys,” her voice warbled. “What’s up?”
“Oh, bubbie,” Kiara whispered before immediately crossing the room and throwing her arms around her best friend. It didn’t take long before Ellie broke down again. Hiding her face in the crook of her friend’s neck, she let grief take over, and the floodgates were open once more.
Kie's heart broke when she saw how small and miserable her Ellie was. In all their years of friendship, Ellie was definitely the more shy and meek type of the two girls. But when you got her out of her shell, Ella-Mei was like sunshine incarnate. She was simply too sweet to hate and too good to dislike. Kiara Carrera couldn’t remember a single moment when her friend and her family weren't the most wonderful people in the world, which made today all the more unfair and cruel.
A consensus that was reached not just by her but by all their friends.
“Thanks for coming, you guys,” she whispered. “It means a lot for you guys to be here.”
Pope was next to hug Ellie. “Of course, we’d come. That shouldn’t come as a surprise.”
Ellie scoffed, bitterness mixed with venom filling her tongue. “The real surprise is how almost everyone here is a person we haven’t even invited.”
John B. sat at the foot of her bed. “Damn, I was wondering who everyone was. I thought I was at the wrong place.”
Kie rolled her eyes. “Wait, so who are these people? I mean, I recognize your Lola[xiii] and some of your aunties and uncles, but other than that… Wait, you didn’t invite these people?”
“Nope.” Ellie groaned and flopped on her bed. “Dad’s side of the family caught wind of the insurance money. Guess who’s the new favorite cousin?”
Silent this whole time, JJ balked at the news. “Hold up, so your dad’s entire side hopped the Pacific because they think they can nab whatever the hell’s in your dad’s will?”
Without looking, the girl pointed to her favorite shaggy-haired, blue-eyed miscreant. “Ding, ding, ding…ten points to Gryffindor.” She leaned back to Kie’s shoulder. “It’s bad enough that this is the first time I’m meeting any of them, but more so when almost none of the relatives I actually like were able to make it.”
Pretty much all of Mom’s side of the family lived in Raleigh. It killed them not being able to come when one of their own was in need, but because most of them were nurses and the shortage was still going on, leaving the city wasn't an option. While they couldn’t make it to the funeral, Ellie and Mom got wave after wave of carefully wrapped care packages, bundles of funeral money, and enough home-cooked meals to feed the entire island. It was a welcome surprise to have Mom’s sister, Nena, and her wife come and help however they could before they had to leave for an important conference.
Filipinos…they will bury you in love, whether you want it or not.
Ellie’s dad never talked about his family, and for good reason, too. His parents disowned him after he announced his intention to marry Biya Reynes, a poor immigrant woman with no promising future and no prominent background. According to her mother, her father had broken a previously set arrangement with one of Charleston’s most prominent families, and by marrying her, he had severed any remaining ties to his family.
He was dead to them, and as a result, Ellie was never even a forethought to them.
Until now, it seemed.
JJ scoffed. “Well, shit. No wonder the spread downstairs looked gross.”
Pope and John B. swatted the Maybank boy. “JJ!”
“God, J.” Kie was especially irate at the blonde's callousness. “Seriously?”
“Pfffft…”
But JJ didn’t even bother to hide his smirk when he saw his sunshine girl finally smile and laugh. Seeing Ellie frown gave him the worst feeling in the world. It was a universal truth in JJ Maybank’s book that someone as sweet and good as his Ellie deserved to be smiling and laughing for the rest of her life. God may have given him a shit hand at life, but he’d be damned to let the Big Man in the sky do the same for his girl. He already took away the only man he loved enough to call his actual dad; he wouldn't let him take anything more. Both he and his sister made an unspoken oath that they'd do whatever they could to make the next few weeks as easy as possible for the Chens. Charles Chen, forever "Chucky" to JJ, was as close as a true father could be to them, despite no biological ties. Charles had been there for the siblings. Every sniffle and scraped knee. From teaching them how to ride a bike to late nights helping them prepare for tests, he was one of the rare few who didn't write off the siblings as lost causes for just being related to the deadbeat known as Luke Maybank.
Ellie wondered if it was bad karma to laugh when one of her best friends made fun of her recently deceased father’s relatives and their culinary choices, but she couldn’t help it at that moment. Besides, whenever she stared into JJ’s crystal blues, she always felt better. JJ Maybank was the resident class clown, a mild kleptomaniac, and the Cut’s biggest Kook hater. But he was also one of Ella-Mei’s closest friends and the most loyal person she had ever met. Whenever she was around him, anything felt possible, and nothing was ever too terrible.
More importantly, of all her friends, if there was anyone who could understand her pain, who was hurting as much as her, it was him. Ellie knew JJ was hiding his pain behind slightly crude jokes and light jabs. JJ was the one she knew her dad loved enough to be considered his own son. The two shared a bond that was uniquely theirs, with their trips to the marsh since JJ was a baby, and her dad imparting so many lessons on the different species of plants and animals that made that uniquely strange land their home. Charles Chen treated JJ with so much patience, granting JJ the title of "World's Greatest Assistant." In return, JJ looked up to the man with so much respect and love.
Of all the Pogues, JJ reacted the worst to her dad's death. After she broke the news, JJ disappeared for almost a full 24 hours. He took his and Charles' slightly dinky motorboat, the S.S. Ultra-Awesome, in silence and drove off to wherever it could take him. Ella-Mei had been so scared that he had accidentally capsized and drowned. Running on the fear that her best friend might be dead, she tirelessly searched for him. Even when her eyes drooped and legs felt like they were on the verge of splitting, she didn't stop. She couldn't stop. Ellie was determined to find him, if only to chew him out for selfishly disappearing like that - especially after she and her mom had to confirm that it was her dad's bruised and battered body lying on the cold, steel table in the morgue. But when she found him, all her plans of bitter words died. In the middle of a nowhere marsh, one with barely any fish to catch, floated the S.S. Ulta-Awesome in nearly flat water, and in it was JJ. Body hunched in devastating grief, with eyes bloodshot red and dead from hours and hours of crying his heart out.
Catatonic.
Limp.
It was enough to freeze Ellie in terror.
So, yeah. JJ got to make jokes. He got to make jokes if it meant Ellie would never have to see him like that again.
“I know, right? My ‘Aunt Cecilia’ wouldn’t even let my Tita Nena put out her famous pandesals[xiv] on the table.”
“Sacrilege. Nena’s rolls are the bomb.”
“None of them would even try Lani’s lumpias[xv].”
“Pfft, goes to show they dunno what good taste is.”
“And everyone else! They keep complaining that our house is too small or it’s too messy and undignified. They literally used the phrase, ‘no class for a Chen.’”
John B.’s eyes bulged. “Too small- you own like the biggest house in the Cut! You’re like…the Kook version of a Pogue!” He quickly corrected himself when he saw how his friends were about to argue. “Not that you’re anything like a Kook at all.”
“Oh, believe me, I’d take being a Kook over whoever the hell these people are.” Ellie shot up and looked at Kie dead in the eye. “One of the great-aunts on Dad’s side even looked at our garden and then at Mom and me and then whispered, ‘Oh, it’s no wonder they’re so dark.’ At least Kooks don’t pretend to like us.”
All her friends’ jaws dropped, and Kie was enraged. “What the fuck?! Who does that bitch think she is?”
Ellie nodded. “I know! It’s so crazy! Like, they're from Guangdong? A southern Chinese province with beaches? She even said it in Cantonese instead of Mandarin, thinking neither of us would know what she was saying. As if my dad didn’t wouldn’t teach me his native language! I just…ughhh.” She sighed and shook her head. “How did someone like my dad even come from that family?”
Kie shook her head. “I swear, it’s like the Twilight Zone down there. Y’know, one of them actually came up to my mom and asked if what they said about black men in the bedroom is true?”
Ellie gaped in horror. “No, stop, please tell me they didn’t.”
“Damn,” JJ walked over to Ellie’s bed and flopped on the covers. “Maybe your pop’s adopted? No way they’re the same blood. I think one of ‘em asked Mama Bi what her plans were for the house now that your dad’s gone.”
Kie turned her neck so fast that Ellie was scared her neck would crack. “WHAT?! Do they seriously expect Ellie and Biya to move? That’s such bullshit.”
“The fact that they’re here at all is such bullshit!” Ellie cried out. “Like, seriously? They stopped being his family the moment they kicked him out.” She looked at Kie and played with her fingers. The brunette quickly locked their hands together as Ellie looked at the people in her room. “You guys, though – you guys belong here. You and your families… all of you are why Outer Banks is home in the first place.”
She felt tears re-enter her eyes. “Dad loved you guys. Kie, remember when he modified my bed to make it a trundle for our sleepovers? Or when he cleared the attic for the guys to stay in when we all wanted to be together whenever the Chateau’s power got cut?”
John B. laughed. “God, remember that one storm in the summer of ’13? Dad and I thought we were gonna have to find a way to bathe in the marsh just to get clean. Next thing we knew, your dad was knocking on our door, demanding that we stay over at his place. Practically stuffed our things in some bags himself, and when we got to your place, your mom was yelling, ‘What took you so long? The food’s getting cold!’ It was like she knew we were coming!”
Ellie knew the exact memory John B. was talking about. She remembered like it was yesterday. She must have been eight…nine? She remembered Baba asking if she knew a John Booker Routledge in her grade and if he and his family were safe from the storm. Next thing she knew, Big John and his son were walking through the front door, and Nanay was fussing over the young boy like a mother hen.
All the Pogues started to list precious memories they shared with the one and only Charles “Charlie” Chen, a good man, amongst other things.
JJ lightly tapped Ellie’s arm to get her attention. “Hey, remember when I nearly flunked out of eighth grade and almost got held back because of English?”
Ellie’s face scrunched up, trying to remember. “Um…that was the year we had Miss Lee, right?
“Correcto, anyway, remember how your dad wouldn’t let me leave your house until I read the assigned readings aloud, and you’d quiz me on it afterward?”
“Oh god, those were brutal!” Ellie laughed. “And it was always after I came back from swim club, too! I thought he was trying to find a way to punish me because I kept gaining time for all my events after moving to the 13-15 age group!”
Kie groaned. “Oh my god, thank fuck you started dropping when you turned fourteen. Every time I went to your house, you basically blackmailed me into bringing you snacks that you’d hide in your room so your parents wouldn’t find out.” She turned to Pope and John. B. “Do you know how many jars of Nutella she went through each month?”
“Anyway,” JJ rolled his eyes. “When I got my grade back for our final report on a book we had to read, Miss Lee was all like, ‘Oh, JJ, the Roderick Thorp is hardly an adequate author. Such profanity is ill-fitting for young minds, meh meh meh…’ or some shit like that.”
“She did not say that,” Pope retorted. “Her words were, ‘Mister Maybank, the rubric states you have to choose a book from the list provided to you.’”
JJ dismissively waved off Pope’s input and started to play with Ellie’s hair. “Shut up, anyway – when I told you about it at your place, your old man drove me to Lee’s place and demanded why I wasn’t given a fair grade. I think Miss Lee only gave me a B+ because she just wanted him to get the hell out.”
“I read your report,” Ellie stated as she leaned back against JJ’s chest. She breathed in the familiar scent of Old Spice and faint weed. “A B+ was far too generous. Your mixing of ‘their’ and ‘they’re’ should have gotten you a B- at best.”
“Hey, y’know the telescope in my room?” Pope asked Ellie. “I saw it in a pawn shop once. I was going through this huge astronomy phase and begged my pops for extra shifts to save up so I could buy it. By the time I saved enough, it was already gone.”
“But, on my birthday, you and your dad came over to my place and told my pops that a colleague of his at UNC got this mad expensive telescope for his grandson’s birthday. The kid didn’t want it, so it was just gonna collect dust in the attic.” Pope paused for a minute before continuing. “But someone convinced him that it would be much better to donate since he just so happened to know that a certain someone really wanted one.”
JJ’s jaw dropped. “Shit – El’s dad got you a telescope?”
“Yes, he did. I mean, he gave it to me with the condition that I get a scholarship to UNC one day, but…” Pope eyed the girl skeptically. “I wonder where on earth he got that piece of information from…”
Ellie put her hands up and innocently shrugged. “I reveal nothing. Must have been something passed down from the grapevine.”
No way was Ellie going to spill how she begged her dad to let her join him when he was about to leave to have lunch with one of his favorite professors during his college years. And she certainly wasn’t going to reveal how she just somehow managed to stumble upon his Facebook page with a post wondering what to do with some old telescope his ungrateful grandson didn’t want.
And if she just so happened to up her naturally blessed cuteness when meeting the old professor…doesn’t the end justify the means?
“Man, your dad was the best,” Kie added. “Remember that play we did in the fourth grade about George Washington, and we played the cherry trees? Brody Lunt was about to cut us down, and we threw apples at him, yelling, ‘Trees are people, too!’”
Ellie almost melted at the memory. “Oh, yes! It was after I read The Giving Tree, and I felt so bad for the tree in the book!”
Kie started to bounce on the bed in excitement. “Yes! And your dad recorded the entire thing, and every time our families get together for the Fourth of July, he would always play that same video! Our moms would get so proud and say, ‘Look at our little girls; they’re going to run the world one day.’ It was so funny!”
“See? This is what I mean. You guys actually have memories of Dad that matter. And now that he’s gone…” Ellie closed her eyes and shook her head. “God, I just…I wish these past few weeks were some horrible nightmare I could wake up from.”
Of all the invaders in her home, the Pogues and their families were the ones Ellie felt had a right to be there. They were family. Her Baba loved the Pogues, especially the boys. He treated them as if they were his own. He often joked that he never wanted a son because he already had three. Everyone else…it just didn’t feel right for them to be here. Ellie could bet her left foot that the only reason so many relatives came was that somehow they got word of the life insurance money her dad left for them. They probably thought the disgraced son got back in his parents’ good graces again and somehow amassed a secret fortune.
Now, it was just going to be her and mom…wait-
Ellie’s jaw dropped. “Oh, shit – Mom! I totally left her alone with the wolves! Fuuuuuck…” she groaned in her hands. “She’s drowning in a sea of apex predators, and I basically abandoned her.” Her eyes grew wide. “Oh my god, she’s going to hate me.”
“Stop it,” Kie could tell when her best friend started spiraling, and she would not let that happen with everything already going on. “Bi would never hate you, okay? She literally tells my mom every day how you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to her. And more importantly–”
Kie gave Ellie a tight one-arm hug. “She’s not alone. Okay, my mom and Pope’s haven’t left her side since the service ended. And so is Bellie, who, by the way, is really living up to her species’ guard dog mentality because she almost bit someone after they almost lit a cigarette.”
Pope chuckled while shaking his head. “I still can’t believe you named your dog ‘Beltane.’”
“Don’t be mean!” Ellie whined. “Mama and I found her on May 1 after I placed Top 3 for the 100 Back at a conference meet. It was fate! Just like when me and Daddy found Sami on Samhain!”
“Call it Halloween.”
“No.”
“Where is ol’ Sam?” John B. asked. “I haven’t seen him yet.”
Ellie’s face dropped again. “Probably in Dad’s office. He’s pretty much lived there since we got the call.” She peered down at her toes. “I think he’s taking it harder than anyone else, to be honest.” She stands up from the bed. “I’ma go-get 'im. Pope, you comin’?”
“The office?" John B. blew out a long whistle. "Phew, you think it’s booby-trapped in there?”
She rolled her eyes and tugged his ear. “Please, don't act as if you don't take any excuse to explore that room.” She smoothed down the wrinkles on her clean white shirt as she stood. “Plus, of all the guys, Sami likes you best.”
As Ellie and Pope walked downstairs, trying to sneak past prying relatives and well-meaning friends, their efforts were in vain when Ward, Rafe Cameron, and Topper Thornton stopped before them. Ellie wondered if bad gut feelings could manifest into physical beings. She didn't need to look behind her to know that Pope was panicking as much as she was in that moment. All three were dressed in freshly ironed black suit jackets with slacks, and the cuffs and collars of their crisp white shirts were smooth and wrinkle-free. The only one missing was Kelce Tompson, every Kook's go-to POC. Ellie wasn't surprised by his absence. Disgusting as Kelce was, he wasn't one to hide behind a façade.
“Ellie.” Ward opened his arms, gathered the girl into a tight hug, and stroked the spot between her shoulder blades. “How are you, sweetheart?”
Ellie awkwardly reciprocated and patted his back. “Hangin’ in there, Mr. Cameron.”
Meanwhile, Pope is hanging behind the girl, caught between the decision to break the hug or make a break for it, running up the stairs to call for backup with either John B. or JJ. When a solid minute had passed, and Ward still made no movement of letting go, Ellie turned her head to face her friend, panic painted on her face.
“On a Scale of one to ten, how badly do you need me to create a diversion for escape?” he silently screamed as his eyes darted toward the kitchen.
Ellie slightly shook her head. “Stand by, wait for further instructions.” Her gaze screamed back as she slightly nudged Ward Cameron away from her.
Ward chuckled. “Don’t you think Mr. Cameron is a bit formal for us? I didn’t know your father for that long, but I considered him a very close friend.”
“Too bad the sentiment wasn’t reciprocated,” was Ellie’s first thought. But she politely smiled and nodded. She didn’t want to give her father’s estranged family more of a reason to speak ill of her family.
“My dad was a big believer in respecting one’s elders and properly addressing them, Mr. Cameron. Respect for your elders is a huge part of my culture,” Ellie explained. “It’d be rude on my part to address you in such an informal manner.”
“Such a good girl, Ellie.” Ward smiled as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. The seemingly innocent touch sent a shiver down Ellie's spine in its intimacy. “It’s so awful what happened to your dad. Why do bad things happen to such good people, I wonder?”
The Kook King of the Figure 8 unblinkingly stared at Ellie. His hands trailed down her arms until his calloused palms stopped to hold her hands. He leaned close to her face as his thumb stroked the back of her hand.
“If there is anything–anything at all-that you and your mother need,” he whispered, his smile too tight for Ellie's and Pope's liking. “Don’t ever hesitate to ask.”
That lousy gut feeling returned once more. “I…I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Promise?”
Ellie quickly nodded. She just wanted him to go away. “Yes.”
“Good girl.” Satisfied with her answer, Ward nodded before turning to his son. “I still have some rounds left. We’ll be leaving in ten, Rafe.”
Rafe hadn’t spoken a word so far. He just stared at the girl as if trying to see the very depths of her soul and being. The way his eyes looked so dead and bleak made Ellie’s skin crawl. She knew little to nothing about the older boy - only bits and pieces of whatever his younger sister told her during their "friendship." Although looking back, Ellie wondered if that part of her life was even true from the beginning. Sarah Cameron said only awful things about her brother. Drug addict. Manwhore. Lost cause. Everything and more that her parents would want to avoid. After a few moments of awkward silence, she nodded her head in acknowledgment before trying to move past him. But the older Cameron boy quickly clasped his hand on her wrist to keep her from going anywhere. He leaned down and brought his lips near her ear.
“Hey,” he lowly whispered, the slurred, low drawl telling Ellie that he’d been drinking. That...and the distinct smell of tequila that made Ellie's face visibly sour. “Can we talk?”
"We?" God, when did her voice sound so small?
"You, me, and Top," Rafe nodded back to Topper, who gave a short, tense wave. "Just for a lil' bit."
“Uhh…” Ellie owlishly blinked and felt her mouth moving, but no sound came out. She turned to Pope, who was frantically shaking his head.
Run. Abort. Get Away. But just as Ellie was about to shake her head 'no,' Topper seemed to finally find his voice.
“It’ll be quick, we promise. Pope can come too if you don't believe us.”
“I…uh…eh-I-I…okay.” Figures that the short and sure ‘no’ she meant to say somehow became a stammering ‘okay.’
With his hand still tightly grasped on her wrist, Ellie led the Kook prince and his favorite fanboy through the back door and into the backyard, where her family grew their chaotic vegetable garden. Pope closely followed behind her, not trusting for a second that the eldest spawn of Ward Cameron and his groupie wouldn’t take advantage of one of his closest friends. Topper Thornton could mask enough to show an ounce of fake sympathy, but all bets were off with Rafe Cameron. The guy was volatile with a capital 'V.' He made a mental note to text JJ and John B. down if Ellie wasn't done with whatever business they had within the next five minutes.
It wasn't until they were far enough from the house that they were right on the edge of the massive forest that bordered her house. The odd-looking trio stood across from one another in uncomfortable silence for thirty seconds before Ellie tried to break the ice. But Rafe broke it first by slapping a hand on Topper's shoulder.
"All you now, Top," he drawled before stepping away, a weird stagger in his walk. "I'm gonna take a quick smoke before we leave."
And just like that, there were only three. The mood was somehow even more uncomfortable, despite how hard it was to believe.
“…I’m a little surprised you haven’t put a cigarette in your mouth and pulled out a lighter yet,” she jokingly jabbed at the Topper, recalling all those times she spied him in the parking lot next to the dumpsters when they were in middle school. “Believe me when I say you wouldn’t be the first person today to try it.”
Topper gave a crooked grin and lightly scratched his nose. “Yeah, well…I think your mom’s got enough on her plate. Plus, Rafe told me that Ward took ‘em and stashed them in his glove compartment before they left the driveway.”
Ellie sagely nodded. “Ah, that explains it.” She started to rock back and forth on the heels of her feet. “So…what did you want to talk about?”
“Right, so, um…” Topper was trying to find the right words to say. I just wanted to tell you…your dad was a really great person, Ellie. Like, an honestly good person. I mean, just all these people here, right now—” He referred to her house that was overflowing with OBX residents and…unexpected guests. “Everyone loved him.”
Ellie smiled warmly before looking down at her feet. “Thank you, Topper. It means a lot to hear that from Kooklandia’s ‘Resident Bad Boy.’ No, but, um…that really is nice to hear. So…thank you.”
“Charlie really loved you, y’know?”
Her head shot up. “What?”
“Charlie- your dad. It’s…kind of what we all called him,” Topper explained, the tips of his ears turning the slightest twinge of red. “Uh, Dr. Chen seemed too weirdly formal for such a laid-back guy. He let us call him that, by the way. I wasn’t making fun of him – if that’s what you were worried about.”
Ellie shook her head, lightly laughing, honestly relieved for being caught off-guard. It was a more than welcome feeling compared to the unending grief she's been blanketed under for the past month. “No, no—it’s just…I never really knew anyone else who called Dad that except Mama. Everyone else called him “Dr. Chen” or “Charlie” or “C-man,” which I’m…pretty sure the last one was a phonetic pun for his job, I think, because of his research. Or maybe…punny racism…because he’s from Guangdong province in China.”
Topper tersely nodded, unsure of how to respond. “Right, well, anyway…I just…wanted you to know that. He loved talking about you. I mean, whenever we hung out, you were pretty much the only thing that came out of the guy’s mouth. He’d let me come on his boat, and we’d see a fish. He’d be all like, ‘See that fish? See how fast its tail goes? That’s how fast my little Pū is with her underwaters.’”
Ellie’s face turned as red as a fire hydrant. “Oh my god," she covered her face with both hands. "He told you my nickname?”
A genuine smile spread across Topper's face. “Yeah, among other things. Like…uh, your plan to get generators for all the Pogues on the Cut for storms. Or the one where you propose a community center for Kildare’s southside? All very wholesome.”
“Don’t think that just ‘cause they aren’t patented, you can steal them,” Ellie quipped. “Unless you want me to send a hit out for you.”
“Who’d your guy be?” Topper teased, the red from his ears now barely visible on his cheeks. “Bellie?”
“Sami,” Ellie corrected, her voice uncharacteristically cheeky in its teasing. “A true master of viciousness and sneakiness.”
A loud car horn is heard around the house, effectively interrupting the conversation while startling the three teenagers.
“Shit, that’s Rafe,” Topper cursed under his breath. He let out a dry cough. “Um, I’ll see you around, Ellie. Don’t be a stranger.”
As he was about to leave, Ellie grabbed his hand. “Topper?”
“Yeah?” He softly whispered, locking his face to be as impassive as possible - not wanting to reveal how pleasantly warm her hand felt in his.
“…Thank you," Ellie took a deep breath before looking up at the older boy with a kind, gentle smile. Whatever differences they had or will continue to have, it meant a lot to her to know that someone was willing it put it aside. However short it would be. "I'm glad you came."
Topper quickly gathered his shock. Ella-Mei's eyes were filled with so much unspoken gratitude and genuine sincerity. A trait so low that he could count on one hand how often he's seen it. It made his heart squeeze. He looked away in embarrassment, “Can’t imagine why.”
“Because you cared,” Ellie began. It was important that she properly thank him. “Enough to come, and enough to remind me exactly the type of person I'll always remember him to be.” Despite the hurt, her smile remained as bright as ever. "You can't know how much that means to me."
Topper stood silent. In a moment of grand impulsiveness, he quickly pressed a light kiss on Ellie’s cheek. When his lips touched her skin, he felt her body paralyzed under his touch as her jaw dropped. The older Thornton boy stared at the girl with flushed cheeks and clammy palms. As she stood frozen in shock, he hoped she’d understand the words he couldn’t speak and could only convey as his dazed slate-blue eyes gazed into Ellie’s dark umber-browns.
“See you ‘round, El’,” Topper mumbled before quickly turning around and disappearing around the corner to the driveway.
Ellie didn’t even register his goodbye until Pope shook her out of her shock with a look as confused as hers, albeit with much more disgust.
“Uh, okay? What the fuck was that?!”
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
The walk to Ellie’s dad’s office was mostly uneventful. It would have been silent…had Pope not insisted on interrogating her the entire time from the garden to inside the house.
“Look, all I’m sayin’ is that if you even think of ending up with Brooks and Brothers, I'm officially calling for an intervention.”
“Oh my god, Pope, can you please not?!" Her cheeks were still red. "It’s not even that big of a deal!”
“Not a big deal?!” The whispers were nearly becoming screeches. “He kissed you!”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “Cheek-kissed me, and I could smell the tequila and whiskey in his breath, so it counts even less because he was drunk. He’ll probably forget it happened by tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, Ellie. Sweet, innocent, vanilla-minded Ellie,” John B. shook his head. “You clearly don’t understand how the male brain works, alright? There is no way that Rafe Cameron kissed you on the cheek: at your dad’s funeral, not caring that one of your best friends saw the whole thing, and after…whatever the hell that thing was with Ward, and not think he has some weird, pervy claim on you!”
If Ellie could roll her eyes further back into her head, her optic nerves would snap.
“And it is as my duty as your elder–”
Ellie turned around with an incredulous look. “Eld– Pope, you are literally not even a full year older than me! We’ve been in the same grade since I moved here, plus- I’m pretty sure the title of ‘elder’ gets taken away if said elder needs to copy a younger person’s homework so they don’t land in detention again.”
Pope rolled his eyes. “Okay, well, I was born in 2003, and you were born in 2004. Therefore, I am your elder. And, as your elder, you cannot, in any circumstances, date Rafe Cameron.”
Ay, suskupo[xvi], how long was this damn hallway?
Ellie shook her head. “I’m not stupid, Pope. I know better than to date a Kook, let alone Topper Thornton of all Kooks. We were talking about my dad, and he misread it as a moment. End of story.”
“Whatever,” Pope muttered. “I’m still gonna tell JJ and John B. after we get Sami and get back upstairs; get the intervention out of the way today.”
Ellie was ready to weep tears of joy when she saw the door to her dad’s office. “Fine by me – just don’t smoke in my room.” She grasped the handle. “I just got rid of the smell from last time he and JJ decided–”
“No,” came from the other side of the door. “I won’t entertain this.”
Nanay? Ellie quickly dropped her hand.
A second voice joined in, a much deeper one. “Bi, please. We were so close. If I could just figure out what Chuck meant in his last email–”
Shit, Big John.
“I said ‘no.’” Ellie’s blood felt cold. She never heard her mother speak so coldly, so apathetically. Biya Reynes was a woman emboldened by life and the passion of the world around her. It was what made her such a phenomenal singer. Whatever was happening inside was not good. “You already got my husband wrapped in your foolish game chase for the Royal Merchant, and now you want to involve my daughter?”
“Ellie,” Pope whispered. “What’s going on? Who’re the two people in there?”
Double shit, Pope.
“Um, I think some relatives on my mom’s side,” she quickly lied. “They’re speaking in Spanish.”
“Oh, fu– are you sure Sami’s in there?”
Ellie felt her palms sweat. “Uh, yeah, I’m sure. Let’s just wait for them to finish.”
Was it wrong to eavesdrop on your mother’s private conversations? Yes…
Was Ellie going to do it anyway because she felt entitled to do so after Big John said something about an obscure email her father had written? Absolutely.
“It’s not a game!” Big John yelled. “It’s real! The gold’s real! I know it, you know it, and Charl–”
A loud, resounding *SMACK* echoed into the hall where Ellie and her oblivious friend stood. Ellie put her hand over her mouth to hold her shock while Pope winced and silently cursed at the sound.
“Don’t say his name,” Ellie heard her mother’s order. She felt her chest tighten at the slight warbling and heartbreak that soaked her mother’s words. “Don’t you ever say his name! You have no right to! You took advantage of him.”
“No, Bi, that’s not true–”
“Stop it! YES, YOU DID! You knew who he was, how big his heart was, how much he cared about you and your son—our daughter’s friend! You knew he would agree, and you…you,” Ellie heard her mother break entirely down from all-encompassing rage to desolate anger to excruciatingly grieving sobs. “You took advantage of his kindness, of his friendship, of his selflessness!”
It took all of Ellie’s self-control not to burst into the room and comfort her mother. It took all of her willpower not to cry next to John B. as he stood next to her, completely unaware of the conversation happening between their parents.
“He was my Charlie! He was my husband, my greatest treasure, my one and only person – and you ROBBED me of him for the rest of my LIFE!”
Ellie heard a crash from inside the room as she heard her mother pause for a moment to catch her breath, and she nearly wept from hearing her mother’s heaving gasps.
“My daughter will never have another father! She will never see him waiting in the stands for her at another meet! She will never have another one of his hugs! She will never gather another harvest in the garden with him! And beyond that? Graduation, college, her wedding, her first child – how much have you stolen from my daughter, John?!”
“She is all I have left, do you hear me? She is all I have left in this world of him. Ellie is everything I treasure and love most in this world, and I will not let you take her from me. Your greed and selfishness may have taken my husband from me, but my body will be cold and dead before I let you use my daughter.”
“…I’m sorry,” Big John whispered. It was so soft that Ellie had to strain to hear it. “Biya, I’m…I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry doesn’t bring back my husband, John,” she replies. “And it certainly won’t bring back Ellie’s father and all the memories they were supposed to make – memories that you stole from her.”
The silence that echoed felt so loud and thick that Ellie could feel herself choking on it.
“…Please don’t hate my boy,” Big John begged. “Please, please, don’t take your hatred on my son. You’re the closest thing he has to a mother. He can’t…he can’t lose you. Not the way…”
“I love that boy,” her mother replied, and Ellie released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “Charlie loved your boy. We used to say we’d never need a son…because we already had three. But you? You, I do not care to see again…dead or alive.”
“Sami!” Pope exclaimed. “There you are!”
Ellie felt like she had somehow returned to the living when she heard Pope’s voice. She looked down and saw Samhain, her beautiful boy with sleek black hair and gorgeous golden eyes, strutting up to her and her friend, softly mewing before lying on his back for tummy rubs.
She watched as Pope quickly gathered her cat in his arms before turning to her. “Alright, let’s go. Any longer, and I’m pretty sure JJ and the rest will be going through your secret tentacle porn stash.”
“Well, I hope he’s prepared to be very disappointed.” Ellie let out a particularly inelegant snort. “Unless he gets his rocks off in reading some very interesting ‘x reader’ fanfics I downloaded and printed for emergencies.”
Pope smirked as they began to walk up the stairs. “Any that look like me?”
“Not unless you're secretly white and Scottish,” she groaned. “But that would require your own intervention.”
── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
After she and Pope returned upstairs, it wasn’t long before Big John tried to leave. He insisted that JB stay, though, much to the agreement of her Nanay. He only managed to stay for dinner after Ellie begged him. She pretended not to see the brief, silent exchange he shared with her mom when he relented.
All of the Carreras stayed for dinner and decided to spend the night. Anna and Mom had been there for each other during the most important and life-changing moments since they became best friends in that cramped college dorm room at UNC, and this was no different. Mom told them they didn’t have to stay and watch over her and Ellie. However, they had already decided not to open the Wreck due to a family tragedy. Mama eventually relented, and Ellie was filled with comfort. She didn't want to spend the night alone.
Mr. and Mrs. Heyward had to return to the shop because a shipment was coming in tomorrow in the early morning. But Pope was allowed to stay over and even got permission from his pops to take tomorrow off in case Ellie needed him. And with Pope and John B. both staying, it went without saying that JJ was also staying over. But that was already a given. After all, Logan had already decided to stay for the rest of the month to help with Ellie and her mom with whatever they needed. Any protests her mom had were put to rest when Logan put her foot down. There was no way in hell Logan would ever let them be alone. Not when they clearly needed the help.
Dinner came and went. Family sitting around the table, swapping memories and stories of their recently passed friend. And before she knew it, it was time for bed. At nine, she took a shower and washed the day off her skin. It took an hour for her hair to dry before she brushed her teeth. Fifteen minutes later, she and Kie crawled under their covers. Her mom switched the lights off, and the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck on her ceiling started to shine.
Now, it was 2 am, and Ellie wasn’t any closer to getting any sleep. She couldn’t get the conversation she overheard between her mom and Big John out of her head.
The words kept replaying over and over in her mind.
Last email… gold…Royal Merchant? What did the Royal Merchant have anything to do with Baba’s death? What did a sunken, lost ship have to Baba, period?
And…what did Nanay mean when she told Big John she wouldn’t let him ‘use’ her?
Did…did Big John have something to do with Baba’s death? Were they involved in something dangerous?
Whatever they were a part of…would it come back to hurt her and Nanay?
“Whatchu thinkin’ bubbie?” Kie groaned. Sleep laced each word.
“Shit, Kie!” Ellie felt her hair stand straight. “You scared me! I thought you were asleep.”
Kie flipped to the other side with her back facing the door. “I was, and then your cat decided to grace us with his presence. He’s been pawing the door for the past ten minutes.”
“Guess he had enough of the boys,” Ellie chuckled. She flipped the covers off her body before carefully making sure she didn’t step on Kie. “What d’you think they’re doing?”
“Downloading porn, just get Uncle Sam in so we can sleep.”
Ellie rolled her eyes and carefully opened the door just enough to let her favorite feline slip through the crack.
“Come in, lovie,” she cooed. “Come cuddle with Ellie.”
Samhain gracefully saunters across the room before jumping directly on Kie’s stomach, which results in a very loud oomph. Then, he kneads his paws on the spot next to Ellie’s pillow closest to the window. The silky raven-haired cat then moves in a circle before finally lying down. It wasn’t long before Kie and Ellie heard the familiar purrs vibrating in the room.
“You gonna tell me what you're thinking about at 2 in the morning yet, or do I have to play twenty questions while you monosyllabically answer?
Ellie sighed, trying to find a way to describe the storm surging in her mind to her best friend in the world without actually telling her.
“Kie, do you think…do you think my Dad kept secrets from me? Like…do you think he was who he said he was and not someone else?”
She heard rustles from the covers and turned her head to find Kie staring at her with sympathetic eyes. “Is this about your dad’s side of the family showing up?”
“I thought I knew everything there was to know about him,” Ellie stressed. “Like, he was my dad. My dorky, bad joke-telling, nerdy dad with a heart bigger than his giant brain…and now, I–” she paused “–now I’m wondering if I really knew anything about him at all.”
“Ella…”
She started to wave her hands as she spoke. “He had this whole other life! A life I thought I knew but clearly don’t! I mean, I knew his parents were rich, but I-I-I never thought they were rich-rich, y’know?” She took a deep breath. “And then he died, and the money from his life insurance came…now, his side of the family showed up – I can’t help but feel like…like something really big is about to come. And not like, good ‘big’ – like, bad ‘big.’”
When Kiara remained silent, Ellie continued on with her rambling. “I feel like…like today was only the beginning of a long, long story. Like, it feels like today is supposed to prepare me for something I can’t see coming, and when it does happen…I’m gonna get hit – and then what?”
Kiara held her hand. “Ellie, you buried your dad today,” her soft voice was shrouded in sympathy. “You were going to have all these moments with him: meets, college tours, graduation, etc., etc.” She gripped her hand tighter. “Look, we never really know everything about our parents, and judging by the Asian peanut gallery we got today…maybe that’s sometimes a good thing.”
She started to stroke her friend’s hair in an attempt to soothe her. “El’, your dad loved you. He made sure you knew every second of every day how you and your mom were the best things that ever happened to him. And after meeting who he came from…maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t know because he wanted to protect you from them.”
Ella-Mei thought about what Kiara was telling her and slowly nodded. “Yeah…I guess I can see it when you put it that way.”
“And you’re not gonna ‘get hit’ or whatever,” Kie breathily laughed. “You still have Bi, you have me, and the guys would do anything for you.” She kissed her knuckles. “Whatever comes, we’ll be there.”
Ellie blinked back at the tears that were about to spill. “…Promise?” she quietly whispered.
“Promise,” Kie reassured her. “Now, get some sleep, you dork.”
“…Love you, Kie.”
“Love you, too, El’.”
While Kie’s words and promises did provide a huge comfort for Ellie’s turbulent mind…she still couldn’t shake the premonition of something ominous coming to the Outer Banks. That night, she dreamed of a giant hurricane—the biggest one to hit the island in decades. In the hurricane, a small white boat sailed atop the waves before slowly transforming into a massive wooden ship with giant masts and daunting sails.
And in the background, behind the howling winds and beating downpours of rain and thunder, Ellie could hear her mother’s voice whispering, “Don’t go... don’t leave…stay with me…” over and over until it melded into one terrifying symphony of the ocean’s fury and the heavens’ cries.
∘₊✧──────✧₊⋆⋅☆⋅⋆∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
[i] Ube – tuber (Tagalog; a purple yam that originated in the Philippines, different from a purple sweet potato, it has a slightly nutty and vanilla flavor with a coconut-like aroma; very popular and paired well with dessert items)
[ii] 甜土豆 (Tián tǔdòu) – sweet potatoes (Mandarin; I’m specifically using the Japanese sweet potatoes in this story, they are different from the orange variety in that they have a creaminess and have a lighter, fluffier texture and are very sweet due to its much starchier nature)
[iii] Nanay – mom (Tagalog; informal)
[iv] 噗噗 (Pū-Pū) – puff-puff (Mandarin; specifically the ‘puff’ sound you make when puffing your cheeks and blowing)
[v] Salamat, Taba – “Thank you, chubby” (Tagalog; Taba is an affectionate nickname given to babies when they are chubby)
[vi] Walang anuman, Nanay – You’re welcome, Mom (Tagalog)
[vii] ‘美-美’(Méih-Méih) – pretty-pretty (Cantonese; a pun based on Ella-Mei’s name)
[viii] 干嘛 (gōn má) – What on earth? (Cantonese; very common phrase when you’re caught off-guard or surprised)
[ix] Iyakin – crybaby (Tagalog)
[x] 哎呀 (Āi ā) – Ah! (Cantonese; an expression of surprise, shock, pain, annoyance, frustration, sarcasm, etc.)
[xi] 開心 (hōi sām)? – Happy? (Cantonese)
[xii] 好開心 (hóu hōi sām)! – So Happy! (Cantonese)
[xiii] Lola - grandma (Tagalog; casual title for grandmother)
[xiv] Pandesals – salt bread (Spanish; a very popular local bread in the Philippines but is very soft and sweet)
[xv] Lumpia – spring rolls (Indonesian; a variety of spring rolls very important to Indonesian and Filipino cuisine that has a light and crunchy wrapper with savory meat filling inside. It's best eaten fresh out of the pan with soy sauce mixed in)
[xvi] Suskupo – Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Tagalog)