Letter from home on Cascade Hall

Arista Thornton

April 23, 2013 9:35 PM

Letter from home by Arista Thornton

Arista had been relaxing right after the Final Challenge in front of one of her advanced textbooks, preparing for her RAT’s Exams when their family owl flew towards her at the table in Cascade Hall. She looked at it quizzically for a moment until it stopped right in front of her. Ris pulled the letter of its leg and saw the handwriting on the top. “Airlea?” she questioned as she opened it up, heart pounding. Usually Momma wrote her with little notes from the others to share with her younger siblings at Sonora. This time she was sure that Airlea had sent a letter without their mother knowing and sudden dread fell across her whole persona. Something must be wrong if Airlea is writing me like this… she thought as she read through her sister’s letter, biting her bottom lip the whole time as she kept back the tears that threatened her eyes. I WILL NOT CRY. Then the others would know something’s wrong! she thought as she steeled her resolve to stay calm as she read the rest of her eleven year old sister’s letter.

Ris,
Hope school is going well for you and the others. Home has been a lot crazier than normal. Momma and Dad have been fighting a lot and Momma’s being crying about it. The littler ones don’t know what’s happening and they don’t want to be soothed by me. It’s almost like they know something is wrong, but they are too little to say what. Even I don’t know what’s wrong, Momma won’t tell me. She keeps telling me that it will be okay, but I don’t think it will…

Maybe Momma will tell you? Dad’s been gone a lot more than he used to be and I asked why, but neither one of them will say. Ariel has been really mean and nasty to the others and Aislynn won’t leave Momma’s side for even a second. She knows too that something isn’t right and I don’t want it to make her sick again. She’s been doing so much better and I can’t stand seeing her sick like that. I don’t know what to do, please help…

I don’t know if the others should know yet, until maybe you talk to Momma? I don’t want to scare Addison or make her sick again either… I just don’t know what to do, I’m so scared that I did something wrong. What if Dad really just hates ME? Or what if Momma and Dad fought about something I did? What if I just didn’t do my homework just right and everything is all my fault? Ris, I don’t know what to do… I don’t know what you can do from there either, but I don’t know if I can handle this on my own.

I love you and the others more than words can say and I love all of you to the moon and back. Hope to hear back from you really soon!

Love,
Airlea

Finishing it, she pulled out another piece of paper from her notebook and scrawled a letter back to her sister quickly as the owl munched on the owl treats she’d pulled from her bag that sat beside her.

Airlea,
Momma and Dad have been fighting? Listen carefully (well, read carefully) and do as I say. Whatever happened between them was NOT your fault. It was nobody’s fault, at least not any of ours, persay. Whatever happened, happened and you, nor I, cannot change what did happen. What you and I can do, is to make the others understand that same thing. It is NOT their faults either. Show them you love them and remind them all the time that we all do from here as well. Try your hardest to stay strong, I know you can do it. I love you to the moon and back, always have and always will.

I will send Momma an owl soon, I just have to figure out how to word it. For now, be her big helper like I know you can be and keep in touch with me. I won’t tell the others just yet, I want to be sure what is going on first. Thanks for telling me, love you little sister!

Love,
Arista

The seventh year folded up her letter and wrote Airlea’s name on top and told their owl specifically to only to go Airlea when it got home. It flew off into the sunset and Arista stared after it, almost in a trance until someone sat down beside her and tapped her shoulder, asking for something on her other side.

0 Arista Thornton Letter from home 0 Arista Thornton 1 5

Clara Abernathy

April 24, 2013 12:28 AM

Hope it was good news by Clara Abernathy

Clara walked into Cascade Hall and spotted her cousin Arista sitting at one of the tables. She felt really curious when she noticed the family’s owl fly in and drop something off to Arista. Probably from aunt Alora Clara told herself. Judging from the look on Arista’s face the letter may or may not be good news. She waited until Ris had sent the owl away with its burden before walking over towards the table. She hadn’t the foggiest what she was going to say to her and had hoped that by the time she reached the table she would have an idea. Not in the least. She was still trying to think of something when she sat down next to Ris. Ris seemed to be preoccupied by something since she failed to notice when Clara sat down beside her.

She tapped Arista on the shoulder and asked her if everything was okay. “Hey Rista,” she began tapping her cousin. “I saw the family owl or what I think might have been the family owl. Is everything okay with everyone back home?” she asked, having a sneaking suspicion that the answer was going to be no. Clara had been hearing her dad talking to her Aunt Alora a lot over the phone and every time they talked Aunt Alora tried to sound happy, but she knew somehow that she wasn’t. She had asked her dad if Aunt Alora was okay, but her dad glossed over the question. He kept telling her that her aunt was merely venting. Grownups apparently needed to vent about things sometimes her dad had told her and Aunt Alora was no different. Considering the fact that she had 16 cousins in Aunt Alora’s house alone, the venting thing made sense in a way to Clara. If you added the fact that Uncle Alexander was of no help to her at all, Clara didn’t understand why she hadn’t vented sooner about things.

She smiled encouragingly at her cousin as she waited for Arista’s reply.

0 Clara Abernathy Hope it was good news 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Ris

April 24, 2013 1:21 AM

Definitely not... But... by Ris

Arista was completely beside herself that when she got tapped she wasn't ready for it and jumped a little bit. When she saw her cousin sitting next to her, she caught her breath and tried not to melt down. She hadn't wanted to tell her sisters what was going on until she knew herself, but if Clara knew there was no way that her sisters wouldn't find out too, one at a time.

The seventh year remembered what she'd told her sister and reminded herself exactly what that was. She was going to make sure that all her siblings and cousins too, were well loved and knew that whatever had happened was not their faults.

When Clara asked Ris if everything was okay at home, she felt almost like her heart stopped. "Uhm..." Ris started, not sure what to say. She searched her mind to no avail for something she could tell her younger cousin.

Clara smiled towards her and Arista tried so hard not to melt down. I'm a seventh year! Advanced student... Why is this making me melt down? she asked herself as she still searched her mind for something to tell Clara.

“Uhm, not really, but its not anything you need to worry about little cousin. It’s not for kiddos like us to worry about…” she answered.

All in all, Ris was worried, seriously worried. Her family was falling apart at the seams and there was nothing that she could do about it from there at school. She knew she couldn’t leave school to do anything about it, but she had to at least figure out what to say to her mother to sort all this out…

“No, its definitely not anything for us to worry about…” she added. “So, what do you have going on in the next few days?” she asked her cousin, forcing a smile on her face althewhile trying to decide what to say in the owl to her mother.

She hoped that she’d convinced Clara that it wasn’t anything she should be worrying about, but there was something inside her that told Ris that Clara didn’t believe her. Ris only hoped that Clara didn’t give it all away to Bri and have Bri coming to her about it all. She didn’t have an answer for her little sister and not for nothing, but Arista was a bit afraid of Bri’s reaction to this news if what Airlea was saying was right.

0 Ris Definitely not... But... 0 Ris 0 5

Clara Abernathy

April 24, 2013 2:35 AM

But what cuz? by Clara Abernathy

Clara grinned at Arista as she listened to her cousin try to assure her that whatever was going on at home was nothing for them to worry about. Hooey. Clara knew her older cousin better than the girl gave her credit for and knew that something was definitely going screwy at the Thornton house. She wasn’t at all sure what it was, but she knew it was something bad enough to be giving Arista her “worried” face. She knew Arista was trying to not look worried for her benefit. She was probably worried that if she told Clara something was wrong that Clara might run and blab it to Brielle. Normally she might have actually had something to worry about, but in this case Clara felt that if she could get Ris to open up that she could convince her that she could keep a secret, even from Brielle.

“I know that you’re trying to play big sis with me and tell me that its nothing to worry about Rista, but I know that look. You’re really worried about something and you only make that face when you are,” she told her older cousin quietly. “I might not actually have siblings, but you forget sometimes that I have 16 cousins who all treat me like I’m another sister and not their cousin.” She gave Arista her most knowledgeable look. “Besides, I’ve heard your mom on the phone with my dad a lot and she doesn’t sound happy,” she confided in her older cousin. She was pretty sure that was something Arista didn’t know about and she hated to be the one that told her, but somebody needed to.

She figured since she had already said this much about it she may as well tell Arista the rest. “I’m not really sure what Aunt Alora is unhappy about, but I have a bad feeling it has something to do with your dad,” she continued timidly. “The only reason why I think that is because my dad keeps telling her that he really should help her more with you kids. Every time he says that she sounds upset through the phone. He doesn’t know that I’ve heard parts of their conversations,” she confessed to the eldest Thornton. She felt kind-of bad that she hadn’t said anything to Arista about any of this before now. “If you’re wondering, no Bri doesn’t know anything about any of this. I didn’t want to upset her.” She knew that if she had told Brielle, Bri would have gone off the deep end. No, keeping that from her was the best thing for the family drama nut. As much as she loved her cousin, Brielle had a tendency to take things a tad too dramatically and that was the last thing anyone needed right now, especially if the letter from home was as bad as Clara feared.

There was something that had been bothering Clara herself since the break and she really needed someone to ask about it. She hoped her cousin Rista could help her with it. She hadn’t even told Bri about it yet which was very unlike her. She cleared her throat slightly and asked Ris her question. “Hey Ris,” she began. “Can I tell you something and have you not say anything to anyone else about it?” she asked her older cousin, her gaze locked on her hands in her lap. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before continuing. “I think I heard my dad and grandpa talking about betrothing me to someone, but I didn’t hear them say to whom,” she told Rista, looking up from her lap to face her cousin. “What do you think I should do?” She hoped her cousin could give her some advice, but if she understood anything about betrothals she knew that once they were set there was no way out of them. Well, usually there wasn’t. There were a few instances when they were broken, but Clara wouldn’t hold her breath for that. All she knew was that shortly her dad would be telling her who she was set to marry and she didn’t even get a choice in the matter. She could scream from the unfairness of it all. She envied her cousins since they would get a choice where she did not. She just hoped the boy they chose for her wasn’t vile and rude and said as much to Arista.

“They were talking about it when we went to visit over the break. Dad didn’t sound too happy about it, but he didn’t argue with grandpa about it either. Its like he’s okay with this sort of thing,” she complained. She tried not to pout about it, but couldn’t help herself. It was about that point she realized she had spent soo much time talking about her problem (as it were) that she almost forgot they were talking about Ris’ problems at home. “I’m sorry Ris. I’ve spent soo much time complaining about my problem we’ve been neglecting yours,” she pointed out. “So spill…I’ve confessed. Its your turn cuz. What’s really the matter?” she asked shrewdly, crossing her arms over her chest and giving her cousin a knowing look.

0 Clara Abernathy But what cuz? 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Ris

April 24, 2013 5:07 AM

But its not her fault... by Ris

Arista watched Clara's grin and she knew point blank that Clara wasn't taking her BS. I knew she wouldn’t take it… Ris thought to herself as Clara told her that she knew she was trying to get her to believe there was nothing to worry about, but Clara knew better. “I know Clara…” Ris said with a sigh before Clara spoke again. “You heard your Dad on the phone with my Mom?”

Clara went on to say that she wasn’t sure what Ris’ mom was upset about, but that she had a feeling it was about her Dad. Ris looked down at her lap and sure enough one little tear fell down from the corner of her left eye. Arista wiped it off hard, hoping that Clara hadn’t seen it but somehow she guessed that wasn’t the case.

“Don’t tell him you’ve heard them talking either. He won’t like that at all. And I’m glad you haven’t told Bri, please don’t tell her either. If she found anything out that way she’d be crushed.” Ris tried to hold it together, but her voice was cracking right there in Cascade Hall. She was glad that there weren’t all that many people around them right then because she was afraid that she was going to really start to cry.

Clara cleared her throat and asked if she could tell Ris something without her saying it to anyone. “Of course, you’re doing the same for me, why wouldn’t I for you?” Clara’s eyes locked on her hands in her lap before taking a deep breath and going on. “Betrothing you?” Ris said, slightly shocked at first, but then not as much a little bit afterwards. “Honestly, I think that your father won’t let anyone he doesn’t like marry you. He is a wonderful Daddy and Uncle too, and he would look out for you through thick and thin…” she said, trying to hold herself together as best as possible. She had even wished that Uncle Bryan was her own father many times before then, this time was no different.

“Grandpa too, he wouldn’t let anyone rotten be your husband, right? Don’t worry, really. They love you more than the skies and they wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you on their watch and nor would any of us.”

When Clara apologized about neglecting the problem at the Thornton house and told her to spill. Clara crossed her arms over her chest and gave Ris a look. Arista took in a large breath and let it out slowly. “Airlea sent me a letter, that’s the letter you saw come with our owl…” Ris said, handing Clara the letter. She knew that it was much too much for the younger ones to understand and deal with but the fact that it came from Airlea was what made it all the worse.

“She’s scared and she thinks everything, whatever that is, is all her fault… But its not…” Ris whispered to Clara. “I don’t think that Momma and Dad will be together much longer by what Airlea’s letter says…” she sighed again. “I mean, its not like he’s done much for us, but still…” she added, putting her head in her hands right in front of Clara. If she was going to cry she didn’t want anyone else to see, that was for sure.

0 Ris But its not her fault... 0 Ris 0 5

Clara

April 24, 2013 8:10 PM

I know its not by Clara

Clara listened intently as Arista finally spilled about her problem. She was a little surprised when Rista actually handed Clara the letter from Airlea. Airlea’s letter basically told Clara she had heard correctly. She handed the letter carefully back to Arista as she mentally searched for something to say that might cheer her cousin up slightly. She was kind-of at a loss for words. What could she say in that respect? She’d never experienced the problem her cousin was now. Her parents hadn’t split up…her mother had died. Not the same thing. Its not like she could look at Ris and say “Well look at it this way…at least your dad isn’t dead.” She wasn’t entirely certain, given the circumstances, that the idea of a dead parent (in Ris’ case) her father might not have been an entirely un-preferred ideal. As awful of a thought as that was, Clara couldn’t help wondering if her cousin sometimes secretly wished her father was deceased. It might have made his absenteeism make sense, but since Uncle Alexander was alive and well he really had no viable excuse for his behavior other than sheer stupidity as far as Clara could see.

She had never really liked her uncle, but that could have been mostly due to his lack of affection for ANYTHING. At least until her cousin Alexander showed up and then suddenly Uncle Alexander seemed to care about something at least. She really never could understand why he seemed to hate his daughters soo much and his wife even more. She always kind-of took him as a cold person and figured he was always like that so she tried to make him like her. To no avail. If Aunt Alora was finally making him go away, Clara was glad for it. They were better off without someone who clearly didn’t love them. “If your mom and dad don’t stay together maybe its not necessarily a bad thing,” she commented. “Lets face facts cuz, your dad has never been what could be considered cuddly…or nice…or just there in general,” the thirteen year old pointed out to her much older cousin. She knew that Arista wouldn’t disagree with her assessment of Uncle Alexander’s character or lack there-of.

She felt sort-of bad for speaking so bad about Arista’s dad, but it was kind-of hard not to. The man did not scream NICE GUY HERE. “I mean, can you honestly say that you guys wouldn’t be happier without him?” she asked seriously. She knew that by asking the question Arista wouldn’t lie to her when she answered her.

0 Clara I know its not 232 Clara 0 5

Ris

April 25, 2013 1:08 AM

But she doesn't... by Ris

Arista looked at Clara as she told her what was going on. She watched the look on her little cousin’s face go from one of surprise to one of thought as she handed her back the letter. “I know that Dad isn’t the best of people in the world, but he IS my Dad… And it still hurts…” she said softly, with a small sigh, putting her head back down into her hands before lifting it back up again to talk to her cousin. “I don’t even know what really happened, and I can’t do anything about it. Here or there, I’m of no use…” she added, head back into her hands again.

Ris wished she was home right then to deal with this head on, but that was not really an option unless Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau would grant her a small leave to figure out what was going on at home. Something told the seventh year that was not going to work for either of them, so she didn’t bother even speaking that idea aloud.

When Clara spoke again, the oldest Thornton picked her head back up to show she was listening to her little cousin. Clara was right, it was really hard to admit it, but she was. “Maybe its not a bad thing and maybe Dad has never been cuddly or nice or to be truthful even there at all, but he did help to create us and without him we wouldn’t be here and you wouldn’t have this many cousins…” she said with another sigh. I sure am sighing a lot.. she thought as Clara spoke again.

“Maybe we could be happier without him in the long run, but its not the long run I’m worried about right now… What I’m worried about is the here and the now, my little siblings both here and at home. And I’m worried about Momma… She does so much for each of us, this has to be killing her inside and I just can’t stand it!”

That was it, the attempt to stop the tears was no longer working… Thankfully she was not a noisy crier, but Clara, at the least, would know she was crying and Ris didn’t want to scare her little cousin… Part of her wanted to just run out of the Hall and hide somewhere completely alone to really cry it out but the rest of her knew that was a bad idea. A REALLY bad idea...

0 Ris But she doesn't... 0 Ris 0 5

Clara

April 25, 2013 6:43 PM

We'll make sure she knows by Clara

Clara knew that Arista was right. Her dad might be a lot of things, but he was still her father. If it wasn’t for him she wouldn’t have as many adoptive sisters as she had. For that she had to be partially grateful to Uncle Alexander. Clara sighed frustrated. Sometimes life was funny in the way it did things. She nodded in agreement with Arista. Her big cousin was trying to make light of her dad’s shortcomings and Clara had to give her credit for doing so. “I suppose you’re right,” she agreed, reluctantly. She wrinkled her nose at the idea, but Ris was right. “I’m sure your mom is pretty torn up by the whole thing,” she agreed with what Ris said about Aunt Alora. Considering what she had heard over the phone between her own dad and her aunt, she knew her cousin was right about her mom.

Clara also had to admit that she hadn’t really thought about the here and now. She had been thinking of the more immediate and long term. She knew that they would be happier without him in the long run, but she hadn’t considered what things would be like once he had left. She imagined that the adjustment would be pretty difficult for the younger ones since their dad would be gone, assuming that he actually left. At this point his departure seemed eminent. She knew that talking about this was only making her older cousin more upset about the whole thing and that was the last thing she wanted. She could tell by the way Ris was sitting that the girl was close to tears if she wasn’t crying already. “I’m sorry Ris,” she apologized wholeheartedly. “I wasn’t trying to make you cry. I’m sure whatever happens, things will turn out okay. Besides its not like you guys would be dealing with this alone. I’ll bet if Aunt Alora told gramps what was going on he’d take care of things.” If anyone could help her aunt it would be Grandpa Abernathy, of that Clara was certain. “Maybe when you hear from home again, you could suggest to your mom that she contact grandpa. I’m sure he would help,” she suggested to her cousin hoping that the suggestion made her cousin feel a margin better.

0 Clara We'll make sure she knows 232 Clara 0 5

Arista

April 30, 2013 4:48 PM

How can we do that? by Arista

Arista thought it was weird that as much of a problem her father was to her and the others, she still was sad about the whole thing. Sad and mad for that matter. How could he do this? How could this happen? she thought to herself with a sigh of anger and sadness. She wanted to love Alexander Thornton the first, she really did. But there wasn’t even a small part of her right then that could.

Clara sighed and Ris looked at her little cousin. “Frustrating, isn’t it?” she asked, guessing what her cousin was thinking about. She may have been wrong, but she was usually really good at reading her little cousin. Probably almost as good as her younger sister Bri was, for that matter. Bri and Ris spent the most time with Clara and Uncle Bryan out of all the kids, so it made sense. Clara agreed, and wrinkled her nose. Ris wanted to laugh at the look on her face, but thought better of it. She knew this situation was not a laughing matter, but her little cousin surely had the weirdest faces sometimes.

“And I don’t know what to do about it… Momma doesn’t need the --” she started, pausing before the curse she wanted to say of her father. Or rather, she should say, sperm donor. “Momma doesn’t need the extra added stress…” she finished. She knew that wasn’t what she wanted to say, but that was what was going to come out of her mouth. She put her head back in her hands and the tears fell down her cheeks from the corners of her eyes until Clara apologized to her.

“You didn’t do it Clara… I don’t even know what happened to know myself. It’s not your fault in any way. You didn’t make me cry, I promise. it’s the situation at hand, not you.” Ris started, hearing Clara talk about Grandpa Abernathy. “You know… That’s not a bad idea… Talking to Grandpa, I mean. He would do anything for any of us, you’re right…” she said, thinking at the same time.

“But why tell Momma to talk to him, when I can do it first, right?” she asked Clara, unsure what she should really do, hoping for some good advice from her smart younger cousin.

0 Arista How can we do that? 0 Arista 0 5

Clara Abernathy

May 03, 2013 5:25 PM

I'm not sure yet by Clara Abernathy

Clara sat there at the table next to her older and sighed again. She was glad she could help out a little. She figured if Gramps knew what was going on he wouldn’t hesitate to help out since a) it would get him his daughter back and b) it would finally get rid of the bum (as gramps always called him). He tried to keep his comments to himself, but being up there in years gramps just couldn’t keep them to himself for long. Grams was a very quiet, dignified lady so whenever gramps would pop off, she simply sat there and waited for him to exhaust himself before making her more level-headed and sensible suggestion. More often than not, grams was absolutely right while gramps was horribly wrong. She secretly wondered if it was because of grams that the family as a whole was tolerated at all at snooty functions. The family name was respected for the business they did, the family members, however, were treated on a case by case basis. It seemed to be working for her family so far. Well almost everyone.

She tried to help Ris feel better, but quite frankly wasn’t sure how. She knew that Ris was now worried about what Airlea and the other little ones were doing at home. Sometimes she was really glad that she had no siblings to worry about. She really only had to worry about herself, her dad and Lucy. Between Lucy and Dad the staff at the winery were taken care of. She was glad that Arista liked her idea of contacting their grandpa, although she hadn’t really thought about the person who would be writing gramps. She had assumed that Aunt Alora would be the one writing gramps about everything. She hadn’t thought about that person being Arista. She didn’t really see why her cousin shouldn’t be the one to write him. “That’s not a bad idea at all Ris,” she said to her cousin. “What do you think gramps will say about whether or not we tell everyone else?” she wasn’t really sure what he’d say, but she was pretty sure it might have something to do with “don’t tell them” or something like that.

“Let me know when you hear from gramps okay,” she told Ris as she reached for a piece of fruit in the large bowl full on the table. She settled on a banana and began peeling it. She took a bite off the end and chewed it up. She swallowed her piece and took another bite. She finished off that bite and took another one. She finished off the banana and threw the peel away in the trash can nearby. “I got to run to class soon. Let me know when you send the letter to gramps okay,” she asked her cousin. She gathered up her belongings so when she was ready to leave for class she had all her stuff already.

0 Clara Abernathy I'm not sure yet 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5