So Much More

Blame it on the Night

"How are you?"

She took a seat at the yellow armchair by the window. "How do you think I am?"

"I don't know, Peyton," Hyacinth Elderberry, portrayed by Naomi Watts said as she raised from her seat at the couch. She was still holding onto her tea cup, a frown marred between her brows. Hyacinth was still immaculately dressed even though they were inside her townhouse. Her tweed jacket was pressed, the chiffon blouse underneath was crisp and the knit skirt she had on screamed old-money. She was the kind of person Peyton avoided at all cause; she was the one Peyton had avoided at all cause.

Dakota grabbed Peyton's tea cup before raising it to her lips. Unlike Peyton she detested bergamot tea, which would be something Peyton would drink at the moment but she had the set crew replace it with some English Breakfast. "You're full of shit, you know."

"Excuse me?" Both of Naomi's brows risen up almost to her hairline. If they weren't shooting a scene and that they hadn't re-do the scene for seven times already, she would have laughed.

Since Peyton would ignore Hyacinth's question, Dakota did the same. "Did you know that it was my twenty-fourth birthday yesterday?"

Naomi frowned. "Was it?"

As Dakota nodded, Naomi put down her tea cup and sat back down. "It completely slipped my mind. Happy birthday, Peyton."

"Thank you, but I don't need your insincere words."

"That was harsh," Naomi said, but she didn't sound all that upset which would have angered Peyton even more.

She put down the tea cup with a loud thud at the table next to her. "I should have expected it, seeing that you were not that great of a caretaker anyway."

"Are we back to that again? You were better off in the system than living with me."

"You truly believe that?"

Naomi sighed, as if she was trying to explain a complicated concept to a child. "You know I travel all the time, Peyton. It's not the kind of a life suitable for a child. You wouldn't have been able to go to school with me moving from cities to cities."

"So that was the solution you came up with? You would travel around the world using my parents' money as you left me to be taken cared of by the system?"

"I checked up on you from time to time to make sure you were well taken cared for, don't diminish my hard work all these years," Naomi bristled. "And mind you, when you turned eighteen, the money that your parents had left for you were doubled. I made sure to invest it so no, I did not spend it on myself."

"Oh boohoo. I'm sorry. Of course Aunt Hyacinth. You're the best!" she said with mock enthusiasm.

The older woman finally looked at her with tired eyes. "Why are you really here, Peyton? I know you're not here just to discuss the past."

Dakota threw the envelope containing the letter that Peyton received on her twenty-fourth birthday. Alongside the letter, she found a key that looked like it belonged to a safe deposit box. What the box contained or where it was located she didn't know. All she knew that it held something important and it was the last connection she had to her deceased parents.

Naomi's eyes widened to the size of saucers before she swallowed. "W-what is that?"

"Take a look yourself."

And Naomi did; she took the letter and read the content. As she read it, Dakota could see that the life was draining out of her face. So it was true. Her parents hadn't died when she was eight. So where were they now? Were they alive? Who are they? Who are they involved with that could have gotten the news out that they supposedly 'died' from a car accident all those years ago?