Train Hunters

Epilogue

In the end it had been a compromise. They hadn't had that long until graduation and in the meantime they'd kept Hazel with somewhere safe. Grace could remember the month or so leading up to graduation so clearly, her and Simon running to check up on Hazel everyday and trying to discuss what they'd do after they were finished with school. But Grace's plan had won out in the end if for nothing than for her insistence about it. She could remember how Simon had let out that long sigh and conceded that she was right about this.

Grace could remember her graduation too. Family members who she hadn't seen in years, who no doubt gossiped about her behind her back rushing up to give her gifts. Each of them competing to see who's gift could be the most impractical and expensive. Her parents had no clue about her skipping out on prom, so they were at least happy. And the rest of her relatives were so busy being locked in conversation about who had the best present that no one had noticed when she slipped out of her own party.

She'd gathered up the gifts from her family and loaded them into Simon's truck and the two of them along with Hazel had sold them all. Grace figured she should have felt more bad about selling all of the things her relatives had given her on her graduation day, but she really didn't. Not because she was a bad person, but because 24k earrings were more valuable to her future as cash. The earrings had been the last things they sold, the gift from her parents. They didn't match any of her outfits, and they were way too flashy for her.

Of course, they hadn't been about what made sense for her. Like all things, the earrings symbolised what her mother wanted to be true for her. It was that moment, selling the earrings alongside Simon and Hazel, where Grace's memory of the rest of that year became fuzzy. She was lucky that Simon seemed to remember it all so clearly because the eight months that came after were a blur for her. Maybe it was just because so much had happened that she was able to really process it. Whatever the reason it was all vague to her mind.

"What are you thinking about?" Simon asked and suddenly Grace was snapped back to her current reality. She realised that she'd been staring intensely into her cup of tea and shook herself subtly before addressing Simon.

"Nothing, just about how we got here." she responded and Simon gave her that stupid smug smile he always did when he thought he was going to say something clever.

"And how far we've come indeed, you've successfully toned down the intense colors in your fashion choices." he joked and Grace rolled her eyes.

"And you went from having no fashion sense to still having no fashion sense." she responded back and Simon feigned being hurt. The interaction calmed Grace down from her previous thoughts about the incompleteness of her memories.This interaction was familiar, Simon was familiar. She thought about other things, like how long ago all of this had happened and that was clear. It had been five years ago that they'd met Hazel and decided to reshape their lives around her. They'd been kids then, they still were kids.

"You're making that face that means you're upset again." he said looking at her from across the table, the smugness on his face replaced with concern. Grace looked away and a sad smile crossed her face.

"Can you remind me again what happened that year?" she asked and Grace didn't have to specify because Simon already knew what year she was talking about, they'd done this before. The worry on Simon's face was replaced with relief as he realized this was what had upset her.

"We sold all of your graduation gifts, plus mine. We took the money and skipped town with Hazel and thanks mostly to the value of your gifts we bought this place in cash. I got a job, you got a job, and we sent Hazel to school." he explained giving a condensed version of events. Grace nodded.

"Thank you." she said honestly. If she had really wanted to she could have recalled that on her own. She didn't have complete memories of those events but she remembered being told by Simon what happened before. Still, she liked to hear him tell it; it grounded her. She looked around their house and smiled because it was theirs'. Filled with little bits of Simon and Grace and Hazel, things that indicated all the love that existed within the walls. She squinted her eyes at a new poster which hung on the wall behind her. "Simon," she said