A Spine-Tingling Story - TDG Fanfic

The Last Spoon

Happy 2019 to all of you lovely people! Hopefully I'll be posting this just as the clock strikes midnight, in Britain anyway. I would say I hope 2019 will be a better year than 2018, but I said that this time last year and we all know how that turned out - Tide Pods, no more white rhinos and many more dead celebrities, including Stan Lee, Stephen Hawking, Stefan Karl Stefansson and Avicii, the latter of whom died on my 18th birthday!

"So, what do you say?" Karen asked Chloe in the office room later on. "Do you feel you want to come to Kentucky with me?"

"When would I be able to move in with you?" Chloe asked, her face lighting up, but less than Karen probably would've liked.

"Not immediately, sadly," Mike said. "There's still arrangements that have to be made, protocols we need to follow, safety checks and the like. You'll need to provide us with your address in America, as well as certain details about anyone you're staying with."

"Of course," Karen said quickly. "There's just my partner, Calvin Slater. He works as a mechanical engineer in Louisville."

"What job do you have?" Chloe asked. "You said I could come to stay with you when you settled in."

"I'm a receptionist in a hotel," Karen explained. "Not a bad place at all, you should come and visit sometime."

"So, Chloe, what do you say?" May-Li asked.

Chloe opened her mouth as if about to immediately say 'yes', but then she hesitated. "What about Ryan?" Said boy was currently elsewhere after Mike had suggested that he leave Karen and Chloe to talk in private. He had obliged with heavy reluctance.

"Do you really think he'd want to come?" Karen asked her back pointedly.

"Isn't there a rule about not splitting up siblings?" Chloe appealed to Mike and May-Li, though that was a pretty feeble excuse considering her and Ryan had spent more time split up than together.

"Exceptional circumstances, Chloe," Mike reminded her. "Even if he wanted to go with you, there would still be other issues - namely, whether he'd be able to continue his treatment in America. They don't have the NHS over there. We also don't know whether he'd be fit to make the journey."

"He's not a baby," Chloe protested.

"You heard him back there," Karen said. "An eight-hour flight from here to Kentucky can be exhausting for most people. How many 'spoons' do you think it'd cost him?"

"True," Chloe agreed, before changing the subject. "How's Calvin, is he nice?"

"He is," Karen said. "He's been such a gentleman, doing everything he could to help me settle into America. You wouldn't believe all the little subtle ways things are different across the pond. One time I forgot and ended up getting served crisps with my burger because I asked for 'chips' at a restaurant*," she said, which made them all laugh. "He's always up for a good time. You'll love him, I promise. He'll never take your father's place, of course, but-"

Karen's words died in her mouth when she suddenly found herself seeing what she at least believed to be the face of her late husband suddenly present, before common sense prevailed and she realised that Ryan had merely walked back into the office without knocking, an unreadable expression on his face as he stood in the doorway.

"Ryan," Mike said, "I thought I told you to-"

"I was listening just outside," Ryan said. "You didn't really think I was gonna stand by and do nothing, do you?"

"I guess not," Mike muttered, sharing a look with May-Li. They really weren't entirely surprised, at all. "Karen, Chloe, forgive me, I just need to step out with Ryan for a bit, alright?" Without waiting for an answer, he stood up and walked out of the office and into the quiet room, motioning for Ryan to follow suit. The boy did, reluctantly being forced out of the discussion for the second time.