Chef Hatchets Lark of Grace

Sleepless Memories

I brought Marshal  up to his room and laid out jimmy jams for him to change into, then left him alone for a few minutes. Sam walked right into me because she was staring at her phone, she dropped her phone and cracked the camera, these damn Iphones are so weak. She stared at it and started tearing up and then she was trying to blame it on me. "You just had to be right there didn't you?" I know she isn't really mad at me but boy do I wanna tell her that she was being the idiot. I just went back into Marshals room, he was jumping on his bed until he saw me and landed on his butt. I pulled his covers over him and started singing "You Are My Sunshine", half way through Marshal was fast asleep. With a kiss to his forehead and one last attempt to tuck him in I left him, I peeked into Sams' room and said goodnight, she didn't respond to me. I knock on Dads door and he says to come in. "Dad there's something we need to talk about." I present the envelope of documents for my father to sign.  "I'm almost 18, you said when i reached 18 i could go out on my own and take the next step in my career the way I choose to. Well this is how I'm choosing to, so review them as you want. I don't want anything else for my birthday, whether you sign them or not i'm leaving after the broadcast." Dad didn't say anything he just nodded and started reading, he waved me on and turned his back to me. Now I'm going back to the mess hall to clean up the pizza party. When I got there the campers were gone but the interns were at a table chatting and quite honestly looked like they were starving. They weren't paying attention to me so I snuck back into the kitchen and reheated all of the dishes that dad made for Marshal. Did it cost me actual effort, no, but I didn't have the energy to whip something new up. I started bringing out the food and then I brought out disposable plates and cutlery. The interns looked like they were about to cry. "I know it's not as great as what the campers got but y'all looked hungry and I figured this is the least I can do." They cheered a little and said their thanks and tucked in. I went back to the kitchen and started washing dishes and cleaning the sinks and wiping down all usable prep surfaces. I would have left it at that but I was looking at the floors and I thought they could use a good scrub so I went in search of a scrubby brush and a mop bucket. I ended up out by the boat house and that's where I found my scrubby brush and surprisingly a big wooden tub and washboard. Before I thought about what I could use those for I headed back to the kitchen, by now all of the interns were gone and I was the only one there. It was already a quarter to midnight, I should probably try to finish before 1am. However after I'd scrubbed the floors and was about to leave I went into the dining area and saw how worn down the tables were. So instead of going to bed, y'know like a normal person, I went back out to the boat house where I found an electric sander. I think you can tell where this is going. So instead of sleeping I sanded the tables and benches until morning when Dad came in to start prepping breakfast for the campers. He didn't really say anything, just put a cup of coffee on the table I was working on. Before it got cold I went over to the coffee bar to put a whole lotta sugar and a dash of cream so that it wouldn't even taste like coffee. I went right back to the table and chugged my hot coffee, like an idiot, and started sanding the underside of the table. Why, you may ask. Why are you asking me, it made sense in my brain at the time. I had done it to all the other tables and benches so it just seems right to finish them all like that. Soon campers came trickling in, I don't honestly know what they were doing because I was super concentrated on what I was doing. I finally finished getting in all the nooks and crannies of the table. I turned it on its side and then righted it. I wiped my brow and pushed the hair that came loose from my ponytail back and looked for the last bench. Duncan Harold and Owen were sitting on my last bit for this project. "You're sitting on my bench"They looked at me like I was mental but they moved and that's all I really cared about. Someone stood next to me while I again fired up the sander. Whoever was next to me held something that smelled really sweet in front of my face, so I bit it. Turned out to be a muffin, glad it wasn't someone's hand. I started hearing people moaning about how loud the sander was. Whoever was holding the muffin in front of my face held it there for three more bites then gave up. I flipped the bench over and started getting so close to finishing. Finally I flipped it back over and was satisfied with the work I've done. I unplugged the electric sander and was quick to get it back to the boathouse, I walked back to the mess hall slowly. I'm not really surprised that I stayed up all night but I know in about 20 minutes I'm going to start crashing hard. I finally went to sit at a table in between Bridgette and DJ, I wasn't really paying attention, or really I just couldn't focus on anything being said so it all just blurbed together. I was staring at the orange plastic table cover the next thing I remember I was stuck in a never ending blink.

DJ's Pov~~~~~

Linette disappeared for less than two minutes and she started heading to the spot between Bridgette and I. She sat down and I tried asking her what compelled her to woodwork the benches, I saw her eyeballs roll back into her head, then her face fell onto the table with enough force that it jostled a few dishes. That looked like it must've hurt but she doesn't seem to feel it. Bridgette shot up and was reaching out to turn her face sideways to make sure she wasn't bleeding. Gwen, who was across from Linette, ran into the kitchen to grab Chef. I was trying to wake Linette up by calling her name and asking if she could hear me or if she was hurt. Thank goodness it didn't take long for Chef to come out of the kitchen and scoop Linette up. Chris walked in while Chef was carrying Linette out of the mess hall, Chris doesn't look at all worried that his niece is unconscious. Everyone was staring at them as Chris just brushed past all of the looks so he could grab a cup of coffee.

"Soo that was weird right?" Jeff dared to break the silence, everyone wondering what just happened. Everyone seemed to be in agreement but as Chris was about to walk back out the hall he turned back to drop an explanation, very uncommon.

"Believe it or not it's pretty normal, whenever she's worried about something or she's restless she just keeps herself busy until she's so exhausted she can't even stay awake." he kept walking out the hall but you could still hear him say "Marionette was the same way." Then he was gone and we all started to speculate what she could be worried about.

~~~~~~Time skip~~~~~

Chef Hatchet carried his daughter back to the family cottage, took her up to her room to put her to bed. Linette was covered in sawdust and stained by the lacquer she used on the tables and benches, her hair matted with sawdust and oils, still Chef Hatchet put his little lark to bed as if she weren't totally grimey. He sat next to her on her bed and just stared at her face for a few minutes, she looked just like her mother. He leaned over to tuck her in and kiss her forehead, something he hadn't done since Linette was very small, he dragged himself away from Linette's side and barricaded himself in his room for a while. He went digging in his closet to extract a worn light pink leather suitcase. He brought it out to sit on his bed and look through the memories that lived inside. Keepsakes and photographs and home videos and little reminders of the life he and his late wife had shared. He kept sifting through the pictures of his family, and kept digging until he found one tape, the tape where He and his wife brought their first child into the world. He popped the tape into the vcr player and sat in silence as he relived the moments feeling the terrifying joy of becoming a new parent. Until the camera cuts out on a scream from Marionette and then comes back suddenly when Linette was in his wife's arms a tiny crying red being wrapped in a yellow blanket. His wife looked knackered and incredibly happy. He sees his younger self swoop in to stroke his wifes face and marvel at the baby in her arms. The video ended with Chris regaining consciousness and Chef crying out of happiness cradling his little family. Chef sat there on his bed not yet crying but definitely teary eyed, he started packing away the memories and recomposing himself. He wished that his wife was here to tell him how to handle their children growing up, and how to actually have a relationship with them, specifically Linette. Now their little girl wanted to get as far away as she could, wanted to be completely independent so she never had to come back. She wanted an excuse to never have to ask him for anything ever again. How did they end up here.