Episode 8: Jennifer Hudstone and the Times Forgotten

Episode 8

Jennifer Hudstone and the Times Forgotten

There are groves in the table.

There are patterns in the wood. Jennifer traces them lazily with her finger while laying on her arms. She's lost track of time, hidden in her small sanctuary, and all emotion in the process of replaying the events of the past few weeks in her mind. Which left her feeling numb and drained, utterly exhausted from the lack of sleep and crying.

Somewhere in between the sitting and the feeling of falling, Jennifer guesses she'd fallen asleep because no one could survive such a fall in real life.

Before quite realizing what had happened, Jennifer finds herself standing in front of her home. Looking around, she finds that there are no other people in the street, there are no cars either.

It's about mid-day and there are stars in the sky, but they quickly flicker out, as though they had grown self-conscious, and are replaced by rapidly moving clouds. They swirl and move, a blanket curving around the horizon.

Jennifer suddenly looks down; her shoes are undone. They must have undone themselves again. Jennifer bends down to quickly tie them before her laces can scamper away, like the last time. As she pulls the last knot tight the clouds suddenly fall from the sky, the sun is switched off, and for a good second Jennifer's left kneeling in the darkness before all the houses' glow to life.

"That's enough, Jennifer," She hears her father say and slowly nears the house. Inside she can see her younger self run through the sitting room and up the stairs. Her mother and father enter the room after she's disappeared, talking seriously to each other about their daughter's strange behaviour.

Hidden by the fog, she watches the scene play out in a living room identical to her own, but for some reason she feels disconnected from the event entirely. Maybe she feels this way because she's replayed the scene so many times over that she's grown completely numb over time?

"My father, I thought I could trust him, I thought he'd believe me. But, like everyone else, he didn't. No matter how hard I tried, he didn't," Jennifer says.

"And when you wouldn't stop, he got mad," Angus says from beside Jennifer and she nods.

"Do your shoes undo themselves too?" Jennifer asks shamelessly, but, despite the intrusive question, he nods. Angus is her friend after all.

She pears into the house again and now there's a gold-wrapped birthday present on their coffee table, no one else in sight. The sun rises as young Jennifer slowly walks down the steps and takes a seat in front of her present on the floor.

"Happy fifth birthday," Angus says.

Her heart tugs in her chest as she watches five-year-old-Jennifer do nothing other than stare at the present, nothing other than pray for a different gift –pray for the gift of understanding.

On that day all she needed was someone, just one person, to understand her and for her to understand everyone else.

Next minute, Jennifer is sitting opposite her younger self, at the other side of the coffee table – a golden promise, a secret between them.

"This is why I've never liked my birthday," Jennifer says. "It was this moment, the moment I realized that the one thing I truly wanted could never be boxed and wrapped in gold paper. I didn't want ribbons or a pony or anything tangible, for that matter. I wanted answers. I wanted to know why. Why me? Why here? Why this place? There's nothing special to write about. I'm not a hero, I'm human. Am I to tragically descend into madness in this small town; knowing every face, knowing every name, knowing every corner and turn of every path? Am I a cautionary tale or a success story? Am I really the main character or am I just as insignificant to this story as every other piece of fiction that has ever been forgotten on a shelf? This, dear reader, was the promise I made – I promised to make my story unforgettable."

The clock sings its song and "Jenny!" her mother calls from upstairs. Both girls look in that direction in time to see their mother walking downstairs in her nightgown and slippers.

"There you are," She says still half asleep.

"Happy birthday, Darling," Mary tries to be enthusiastic, but Jennifer's mother has never been one for mornings and mumbles something about getting coffee before opening presents. Mary heads into the kitchen.

It was the day after her fifth birthday that Jennifer had asked her parents not to call her Jenny anymore, she was – after all – practically an adult and since then everyone called her Jennifer, everyone except Angus.

Next, her father waltzes downstairs while singing happy birthday to his daughter. Lifting her off the ground as he reaches the bottom. Jenny bursts out laughing, despite her previous thoughts, and is carried into the kitchen on her father's hip.

Something smells like fish; Jennifer looks around the room only to come up empty. Tuna?

"Ding! Dong!" The clock yells and air is filled with the sounds of children playing, the chatter of people and the vacuum sound of a jumping castle.

Jennifer looks out over the backyard through the sitting room window. Jennifer frowns, wasn't that where the road was a second ago? But, she shakes her head and shrugs it off, it's not uncommon for her to get confused.

Her mother always made a huge fuss about birthdays, so much so that Jennifer always wondered if the party were really about a birthday or more about the chance to socialize. Her mother would invite everyone she could think of. It was always an event and that's why her mother had such a horrible time that day. Everything went wrong. The balloons flew away, the jumping castle was delivered to the wrong residence, Shawn had thrown a tantrum at breakfast and Jenny had insisted to her mother that there was a fox in the back yard. But, to Jenny's utmost surprise, no one believed her. In the end the castle was delivered, and all other problems were fixed, all problems except her mother's itchy nerves.

For a while Jennifer watches the children play, her father taking pictures of the event. He forgot the flash on again, her father tends to do that.

She spots Ronita laying under a tree eating a cupcake, there's Tessa too. She's playing with a few other girls, running around the garden in an orange dress – the centre of attention.

"How does one mend time?" There are moments that cut so deep that even the fabric of time rips. A memory, a place forever torn or tainted to a shred of what it once was.

Jennifer touches her palm to the glass.

"How does one turn back a heart?" She spots Jenny sitting in the corner of the yard. Jenny isn't playing, there are a lot of people, but she doesn't know any of them. She's seen them in school and around town, but she's never been brave enough to talk to them. Jenny only has one friend, but Angus is away for the weekend. Jennifer watches her father suddenly jump in front of Jenny with his camera. A flash blinds Jennifer's vision completely, but she blinks it away soon enough.

The back-yard melts back into place around her and she continues to watch all the other kids play around her, from her little spot on the grass. After a while, she grows angry at herself. She'd made herself a promise and she was determined to keep it. Jenny stands up, pure fear pulsing through her body. She walks all the way up to Tessa, the girl she's always admired, taps her on the shoulder and yells "Tag!" before sprinting off. And, so it began.

Soon enough all the other kids joined in too and, to Jenny's content, she'd made a friend. They ran around manically, Jenny ducked and dodged people as she ran around being chased by a girl. Her heart ached in her chest, she didn't know if it was because of all the running or because of her happiness. Jenny ran around the jumping castle and then toward the house, as fast as her little legs could carry her, but then her shoelaces tied themselves together and she fell. The impact knocked out all the air in her lungs, but somehow, she'd still manage to laugh, only to abruptly stop when she looked up and came face to face with a fox.

Looking into the eyes of a wild animal, snarling teeth and all, Jennifer's heart stopped before rapidly picking up speed. Everything was fine for a second, but then someone else saw what was happening and yelled.

Jenny started at the yell and her body jolted, that's what caused the fox to bite her. That's what set everyone else off.

The fox retreated back under their house and, as the Animal Rescue man had told them later, it was a female trying to protect her litter.

Mary grabbed Jenny and ran into the house, everyone else followed suit, but Jenny only realized that after the shock wore off. Apparently, it was considered helping, when her mum pressed a rag, covered in alcohol, to her wound and then later, it was helping too, when Jenny had to get a shot.

But, none of that really mattered, because her new friend went to the hospital with her. She remembers Tessa giving her a hug afterward – Jennifer felt like the wealthiest girl in the entire world.

"Your plot line has surpassed you," Tessa suddenly says between Jennifer's arms, but all she can do is hold her tighter. Maybe if Jennifer didn't let go, Tessa wouldn't break. But, soon enough Tessa and the rest of Jennifer's dream melts away, leaving her stranded in reality.

She finds herself still lying on her arms, she takes in a deep breath and frowns. Why does she smell tuna? Jennifer turns around and finds Enoch, who'd apparently fallen asleep too. He's sitting with his back against the door, mouth gaping open, a book open on his lap and a lunchbox with a half-eaten tuna sandwich next to him.

A week ago, Jennifer might have laughed at the sight.

Instead, she just looks at him. After a while, the weight of a question presses on her chest and before she can stop herself she asks his sleeping figure the single, bravest question.

"Would you read a book about someone as stupid as me?" Jennifer doesn't know what she'd expected to happen. But, to her complete dismay, Enoch remains firmly asleep.

Before Jennifer can help herself, she's walked across the room and has taken the seat next to Enoch on the floor. As she nears she can hear him snoring lightly – she doesn't want to be alone, but she doesn't want him to be awake either.

Jennifer tries to remember her dream, she thinks there might have been something important to it, but she would've had more luck trapping a tornado in a jar. The one thing she does remember, though, is the fox.

Jennifer rubs her left arm, that's where she was bitten, but the whole endeavour didn't even leave a scar. It's almost insulting, Jennifer's read about author's who literally scar their characters to give them some sort of defining outward trait. But, on the other hand, what is the worst a paper fox could do?

Enoch gasp-snorts loudly next to Jennifer and she almost feels the urge to burst out laughing. She has no idea what time it is, but she needs to go home some time...

After about the third poke, Enoch sleepily opens his eyes. He yawns and, accidentally knocks Jennifer on the head, as he stretches his arms above his head.

"How did you find me? Or do you come here often?" Jennifer asks and Enoch smiles.

"Why Ms Hudstone, are you flirting with me?" Enoch asks and Jennifer just gives him a kick in response, she's not in the mood for his games.

"Fine, kill joy," He says, after a few seconds silence. "I heard about what happened... and you weren't in class, so, I guessed you'd left. Gotten off the school grounds entirely. But, after school, as I left I saw that the door we snuck out through had been locked. I know you probably have a few other ways of getting off school grounds, but I thought your secret basement was worth checking."

"And?"

"And, what?” Enoch asks looking rather guilty, before noticing his half-eaten snack and takes another bite out of it. "That's the story. That's all there is to it. And, this place is yours, I don't come hanging around here for the fun of it."

Jennifer only nods and they sit in silence for another few seconds, before Enoch glances at his watch.

"It's almost four," He announces, eating the last of his sandwich. "Can I walk you home?"