Umbrella

"Oh, there she goes again!" Aunt Vida exclaimed and rolled her eyes while touching up the decorations on the cake.

Everybody laughed.

I shrank back in my seat at the overly decorated table. It was a confection of white and pink, with pink roses blooming from the centerpiece and a pink rose marking each seat at said table.

It was the same with the other 60 round tables set throughout the courtyard. White-clothed chairs circled them. It was beautiful... and all that I could think was what a waste of flowers and garland.

Likely one of the reasons I had been set off to the side and kept out of the way.

I just didn't share my sister Annie's fixation with this kind of pomp and ceremony.

But with Annie and Keith getting hitched today, it meant that there would be even less room in the house.

Still didn't know why Keith had to move in with us... they could have bought a house or, at the very least, put a healthy down payment down on a house of their own with all of the money that they'd dropped on the wedding frippery. And the money that Dad and Aunt Vida had chipped in would have probably paid the house off.

I felt it was excessive... okay, I felt it was ridiculous and impractical. But Annie was the favorite, and she had always dreamed of a huge wedding filled with pink flowers and finery.

Keith had worked hard to make that dream a reality.

All I could do was roll my eyes, be exasperated, and stay out of the way.

Aunt Vida was still yucking it up with the rest of her "crew," ladies around her age who thought everything Vida said or did was brilliant... I called them lackeys... but eh, tomato, tomahto.

And there it was again.

For a fleeting instant, I felt that same strange sense of longing that came over me from time to time. It happened so much when I was younger that I was certain I was forgetting someone near and dear to me. Less and less after I turned 18. And it only hit me once in a while nowadays.

Like right now, when I could have sworn that there was someone I always shared the jokes about Vida's lackeys with... there was something we used to call them, I mean, that I used to call them... hmmm, now what was it? Oh well. Not important.

Vida kept decorating the wedding cake and was making fun of all of my instances of remembering things differently from everyone else.

She regaled her lackeys dramatically... right now, she was on about the time Annie got dye all over herself and her new dress... the one that was supposed to be mine, but she had thrown a fit over.

I frowned.

Vida laughed, saying that I had tried to say a kid handed Annie the dye bomb. And there it was again... Nell just making things up.

I could see that day in my mind, clear as a bell... but nobody remembered the kid who had handed Annie that dye bomb or the vicious smile on his face when he did it... everything about that little boy was blurry except for that wicked grin.

He caught me crying hard over my beautiful dress and hadn't liked that one bit... I had wanted the dress so much, but Annie just had to have it, and Mom had had it up to here with Annie's tantrums and begged me to give it to her.

So I gave in... I was the oldest, so I had to be the bigger person. And then I cried in private.

She got the dress... but not for long.

She had wailed and wailed, and everyone chided her for being thoughtless. Annie never made a grab for my things again.

One of the lackeys made a remark about the bullies in school who used to taunt me and her son when we were young... how I had been so masculine as to run them off.

But again... I remembered it differently... there was someone else there. Those kids were terrified, and it hadn't been me, but everyone remembered it that way, so that was the way that it was.

Another lackey brought up Mom's cake... which put a wrinkle in the bridge of Vida's pointy nose.

The cake for Mom's 36th birthday, how I'd made it and done a mediocre job—they all said Vida could have done better, but she had had the flu—I remembered Aunt Vida having a hissy fit because Mom had wanted my cake and not hers.

Then Vida tried it in order to mock it and got food poisoning, but nobody else did.

I propped my cheek on my fist and thought back over that incident, too.

Here's the thing... I couldn't cook to save my soul... so how did I ever make that cake? But it didn't matter what I said... what I remembered, nobody else seemed to.

"Quite the waste of flowers, if you ask me." A deep voice with an upper-class English accent pulled me out of my thoughts. That voice... it held a faint memory... it reminded me of someone else.

I shook my head and looked across the table at a blond young gentleman in a dark suit... it had an odd cut to it... who hadn't been there all day. Hmmm, when did he sit down?

He adjusted his gold wire-rimmed glasses. They were huge and hung overly large on his face.

I smiled at him. "I was just thinking that. But Annie's always had her heart set on a grand floral wedding... I'm..." I extended my hand.

He took it and smiled. "Parnella. I know."

I blinked... nobody called me Parnella. I was Nell or Nella to everyone. But there was someone who used to call me that... and a nickname... a shiver went down my spine. It was just on the edge of my memory. Hmmm.

I cocked my head at him. "Do we know each other?"

He smirked. "Yes, quite well. We grew up together, Parnella."

I frowned. "I'm sorry, I am having a difficult time placing you..."

He smiled and did a slight bow at the waist. "Staghorn, Lore Staghorn. Your mother loved the cake that I made... your aunt not quite so much." He gave me a wicked grin, and then I knew... he was the boy... the one that no one seemed to remember but me. But he seemed... wrong somehow.

Like there were pieces of him missing.

"I remember you... no one else does! I'm so glad I got to see you again... I don't even remember you leaving, just you not being there... How have you been... where have you been, and what happened?" I had so many questions.

He smiled. "So many things happened, and I left because I couldn't very well keep hanging around you... I was starting to cause you problems. But I always checked on you. And as for where I've been and what I've been doing... a little here and a little there, and a bit of this and that."

I laughed... it was like a place in my heart that had grown cold and empty was warming back up. It felt wonderful! "My gosh! I'm so happy to see you... but why can't anyone else remember you?"

He waved the question away like it was meaningless. "Because I took their memories of me."

I faltered. "What?" Concern rose.

He sighed, then removed his glasses and set them on the table.

Before my eyes... a set of majestic ivory antlers sprouted from either side of his head, and I finally saw the color of his eyes, a vibrant, almost apple-y green... and they were glowing.

Then a set of fawn ears sprouted out over where his human ears had been seconds ago... and I remembered everything like it had always been there.

Lore had been my best friend growing up, every day in the woods, every thunderstorm, every adventure... Lore had been with me. He was the imaginary friend that Mom had mentioned once or twice and then seemed to just forget about.

My Lore, he was back, and then I remembered the day he faded away from me... he told me it was for the best and that I needed to grow up and be a part of my own world... not straddle the line between his and mine forever.

I had been inconsolable... I quit eating and locked myself in my room. I cried day and night. Dad blamed hormones; Mom didn't know what to do.

Then Lore had paid me one last visit and had taken my memories of him. He had looked so sad himself... but he took it all away.

And after that... I was better, but there was still a hole in my heart. I just couldn't understand why anymore.

Now I remembered.

He looked at me with something like compassion, but it came across as more sad than anything. "Parnella, you remember everything now? Umbrella...?" His face held a question.

I smiled. "I missed you so much!" I remembered that nickname. He had said that I was his umbrella from life's rainstorms. That no matter how sad he was... it was better with his umbrella.

He slipped the glasses back on and looked human once more. "You have no idea how hard it's been to stay away. But I wanted you to grow up in your world... so you could understand what you might be leaving behind should you come with me one day." He looked unsure and a bit sheepish.

I blinked at him in confusion.

He entreated, "We talked about it... more than once. Purn... do you not remember?"

I could see his heart sinking... but I couldn't remember the discussion.

So I said perkily, "I don't remember... but it was a long time ago, Lore. So where would we go?" His name rolled off my tongue like I'd said it all my life... like he had never gone away.

And I knew... I knew that I would go wherever he was without batting an eye. I didn't want him to go away again... I didn't want to lose him again. The thought was more than I could bear.

He smiled broadly. "Home. You would come home with me... to my forests."

I smiled. It sounded lovely... but I was needed here. I had a suspicion that Annie would get pregnant soon—if she wasn't already—and she would need the help. I was the older sister, and I needed to be there for her.

My head sagged, and my heart sank as I spoke. "Lore... I can't. Annie is going to need me here. I think I will be an aunt soon, and they will need help with the baby. I wish I could, but I can't abandon her."

He looked at me. "Why... why does she need you? She has your mother, and your mother has her. You will have less room here and be made fun of. They will tear your art studio down to make room for their new life, and you will need to give once more... just like your dress, your locket, your shoes, your room, your 21st birthday... why would you stay when they clearly do not need you here?"

My chest tightened at the thought of my studio being taken down... but Lore was right. I'd need to give once more. It was no coincidence that Annie's wedding was being held on my birthday, and my 21st at that. But Mom had asked me to give up my birthday party just this once, as the venue was booked every other day until next year, and Annie wanted it this year.

I'd sighed and said okay.

And Mom would make it up to me... she always did... I was just tired of always having to be the bigger person.

Nobody really noticed or even wished me a happy birthday today—not that it really mattered, but it would have been nice.

As if on cue, Lore pulled an envelope from his inner breast pocket and handed it to me with a calm smile. "Happy Birthday, Parnella! I would never forget. And 21 is a very significant age."

I smiled. It was like he had read my mind. "Thank you, Lore." I appreciated it more than he knew.

I opened the card carefully. It was gorgeous. I read the sentiment and looked at the signature, and then pulled the sheaf of paper out from the middle. I read it over to find it was a deed. To a cottage in the deeper part of the forest in which I used to play as a little girl. My own home... in the forests!!!

I held it to my heart. "Lore, are you sure??!"

He nodded solemnly. "You would need your own home... to have a part of my woods for yourself."

That was it... I'd go... but there were some things I wanted to come back and see. "Lore... what will I need for the cottage, and do I get deliveries out there?"

He blinked and laughed. "Deliveries find their way there, and the cottage already has all that you will need... I knew everything that you would want and built it into the design." I saw the shyness creep over him.

"You built it... yourself?" I was in shock. It almost moved me to tears.

He nodded. "I took into account all of your preferences and your wants... I want you to be happy there."

I was speechless. I had no words to convey the feelings that my heart carried.

Then I mentally began ticking off what I'd need to pack. After a bit, I caught him watching me. He smiled. "Always running lists in your head."

I smirked back. "Well, I need to make sure I pack my things and what I would need... I know you said it has everything, but just in case. And I better get the dates for everything I need to come back and visit for so I have it on my calendar."

His face grew tight. "Come back for?"

"Well, of course, Mom's birthday. Dad's birthday. The baby shower that will probably be thrown soon, that kind of thing..." It came out quizzically.

His features tightened further. "Purn, you won't be coming back."

I could feel my face fall. "What? But why? You go back and forth all the time..."

He looked pained. "Yes, I do... you are human. It is different."

I looked down at my hands. My thoughts scattered until I finally came to a decision. "Okay... then there are some things I want to see before I leave this world. When I'm done, then I will come with you... how does that sound?"

He didn't look happy, but he nodded. "It is your home, Purn... it is up to you to choose when you arrive and if you want to stay there."

I smiled and nodded. "Then I will see you soon, Lore."

I got up from the table and went to make travel arrangements. Time to see the world a bit.

Lore watched me with a tight smile as I left.

No matter, I would be with him soon.

...

I watched her walk off to see about traveling the world.

I had waited this long... I could wait a little longer.

I was lying to myself ofcourse.

Oh, Purn, my Purn.

There was never any doubt that I would bring you over to my world with me. From the moment that I saw you, I knew I couldn't live without you.

It has been terrible waiting.

But the choice had to be yours.

I stepped back and waited till your 21st birthday... the time of choice.

Now I wait for you to roam this world a little, see its sights, and then you will come home with me.

To be mine... to stay forever.

Oh, Purn... my umbrella.

You had no idea what you meant to a small boy who had lost everything. Lost all of his loved ones. You were my salvation.

What will you think of me when you find out that I erased their memories not to help you, but to make it easier for them to forget you when I inevitably took you away with me?

They don't understand you, they never did... but I do. I always did.

My Parnella... keeping the pain and sadness away like an umbrella keeps off the rain.

My umbrella.

I will wait a while longer, and then you will come home with me.

You will fade from this world... from memory.

You will be mine to keep for an eternity.

My umbrella.