Short Story "Things Left Unsaid"

[queenrikki]

I don't know why, but I like this story a little more than the last one I posted. Maybe because this one is set mostly in a comic book store and I like comics. There's a bit of melodrama here, but I love melodrama, so I usually put in most non-genre stories I write.

Tuesdays were horrendously dull for Persephone. She usually spent most of the day taking calls from her customers who wanted to know if their particular book would be in on the following Wednesday (Jamie Cavanaugh in particular, who called every thirty minutes to ask if she was sure that the latest X-Men brouhaha would be in tomorrow). It was a good thing that the day was mostly over. Only another hour until closing, then she could look forward to her usual Tuesday dinner with Benny. Even on the dull days, Persephone Davis loved the Underworld.

Her friends from college were still working menial jobs. She, however owned her own store and had a decent sized nest egg. Though to be fair, most her friends also had significant others and their own apartments, while she was dateless and still lived in an old Victorian with her uncle. She didn’t have the time for dates and hadn’t yet saved enough money for her own house. Neither of these situations bothered her much and she was content to continue in this manner for at least a while.

Her uncle had always told her how much she reminded him of her mother. Persephone took that as a very high compliment. Even twenty years after she had died, Benedict Davis thought the world of his twin sister. She couldn’t help but feel a certain amount of jealously towards her uncle. He had action known her mother and all she had, all she would ever have were stories. It was around five o’clock on this particular Tuesday when the doorbell wailed in William Shatner’s voice “KHAAAANNN!” Persephone looked up, ready to start her welcome spiel. Looking at the woman before her, her heart sank. In the three years that the Underworld had been in business, Persephone had developed a knack for knowing when someone was a likely customer and when they were here by mistake. The woman before her, from the top her well-coifed blonde head to the bottom of what even Persephone’s inexperienced eyes were expensive shoes, was definitely out of place in the comic book shop with its flame-embossed walls and lurid posters. The attire of her average customer was a character t-shirt and a pair of old jeans. She sighed and pointed towards the stairwell. “The World of Books is upstairs. Just go up the spiral stair case and down the hall.”

The woman shook her head. “Oh no, I’m in the right place,” she said smiling at Persephone. “My son. He likes comic books and his birthday is coming up, so I thought that I would stop by and…” Her voice trailed of suddenly as if she had no idea as to what she should say next.

Persephone smiled and came from behind the counter. “Sorry about that. I get a lot of people who come down here and still think its part of the book store.”

The woman smiled at her. “That’s all right, dear.” She looked around the store and then back at Persephone. “I don’t actually look like I belong here, now do I?”

Persephone grinned. “No, you don’t, ma’am.” She held out her hand. “Persephone Davis, but most people just call me Persephone. I’m the owner of this fine establishment.”

The woman nodded and took her hand. “Persephone, the Underworld. Very cute. Is that why you dress like that?” she said indicating Persephone’s spidery black dress.

“Yeah. It gets really hot, but my customers love it. And you’re…?”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, I didn’t introduce myself, did I? How very rude of me. I’m Alicia Masters.”

Persephone grinned. That was the name of character from the Fantastic Four, one of her favorite comic book series. “You don’t happen to sculpt do you?”
Alicia frowned. “No. Why do you ask?”

Persephone waved her hand. “A private joke, nothing important really. Now let’s find something for your son.” She led the woman over to wall opposite the counter. “Now here are all of the most popular books, from the two big publishers. Most of my customers can find what they need on this wall.” She pointed towards another rows of comics on the adjacent wall. “These are the indie publishers. Not for everyone, but they do have a strong following with many of my customers.” She turned Alicia. “Do you see anything that you think that your son will like?”

The older woman chewed her lip, an action that didn’t exactly mesh with her posh demeanor. “Well, I don’t exactly know what he would like. Does it really matter? Aren’t they mostly about the same thing?”

Persephone laughed. “Oh it matters. I once had two customers get into a fight over the very thing. I had to call the police.” Alicia’s shocked expression only increased her laughter. “We geeks take our hobbies very seriously.”

Alicia arched her brows. “Obviously.” Persephone wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that.

The silence stretched on for several seconds. Feeling a little awkward, Persephone searched for something to say. “So, how old is your son? That might give me a better idea of what to recommend.”
“He will turn…um, twelve on his birthday,” she replied.

“Ah,” was all she said allowed, but Persephone made a mental note to edit out the mature books from her suggestions. She waited several moments before speaking, letting the woman think things through.
Alicia screwed up her face. “I’m not sure. I really can’t decide.” She turned to Persephone. “Could you choose for me?”

“I’m not sure that would be a good idea, without knowing more about what he likes.”
Alicia nodded. “Maybe I should go home and ask him about some questions about what he would like. Then I could come back here tomorrow and we can buy the books.”

“Not tomorrow.” Persephone shook her head. “Wednesdays are my busiest days. I might not have enough time to get to you then. Maybe you can come in on Thursday, when everything’s a bit calmer?”
Alicia stood up and held out her hand. “I think I’ll do that.” Persephone reached and took her hand.
“I’ll see you then,” she said. Alicia waved and headed out.


Dinner was surprisingly loud that night. Bennie’s pug, Carmine, had decided that their Chicken Alfredo smelled a great deal better than his dinner and spent most of the meal whimpering for table scraps.

“I wonder. Maybe we could use a new dog,” Bennie said, staring at Carmine. “This one is obviously not any good anymore.”

Persephone picked up their plates and put them on the floor. Carmine happily ran to them and started lapping up the sauce.

Benny stared. “That is disgusting.”

Persephone leaned down and scratched behind the dogs ears. “He’s not disgusting. He’s a sweet baby. Aren't Carmine” She scratched the dog behind his ear then picked up the plates and put them into the dishwasher.
“Yeah, sweet. Full of sweetly disgusting germs, Ms. Queen of the Underworld," he said, heading into the bathroom to wash his hands.
Persephone shook her head. “He’s no more disgusting than you are. You’d be surprised about the number of germs inhabiting the human body.”

He came back in, flicked the water from his hands and kissed her cheek . “I grew up during the seventies. Nothing about the human body would surprise me.”

She put her hands in the air. “Ewww. I don’t need to hear this. You’ve never had sex. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”

"If that's what you want to believe..." he started.

"It is. Trust me."

He grabbed two glasses and held them up in an inquiring gesture. "How about a drink before you head up to bed," Benny asked. She nodded and he set them down on the table and disappeared. A few moments later he returned with a bottle of wine and poured it into the waiting glasses.

Persephone took the glass. “Thank you,” she said as she took a sip.

“You’re welcome. Good day at the store today?”

She shrugged. “Nothing really out of the ordinary. There was this lady who came in near closing. Very fancy. Looking for a gift for her son.”
“Ooooh, make a big sell?”

She shook her head. “Names Alicia Masters, if you believer that. She said she was going to go home and ask her son some questions and come back Thursday.”

Benny's face darkened and he gulped down the rest of his wine. “And you’re always telling me to drink more slowly,” she said with a grin. But Benny had an odd look on his face.
Her uncle got to his feet. “I’m going to bed early tonight, Littlebit. Your old uncle isn’t feeling all that well tonight.”

She couldn't think of anything she might have said to upset him, so she shrugged, finished her wine and headed up to bed.



Thursday was slower than Wednesday, but there was much more activity in the store than there had been on Tuesday. Several of her regulars who hadn’t been able to come in on the previous day were here to pick up their pull list for that particular week. One of them, Jamie Cavanaugh, came to the counter with his usual assortment of X-Men titles.

“Hello, O Great Queen of the Underworld,” he said. He was one of the customer’s who like the store’s theme the best. Persephone barely managed a smile as she scanned the barcodes on his comics. “Hey, who died?”

“What?” she asked.

“I mean who died in the book. Come on, you can tell me?”

Persephone shook her head. “I’m not telling. You’re going to have to find out for yourself.”

He scowled at her, and then grinned. “Man, why can’t you tell me? Please.”

“No Mr. Cavanaugh, I don’t want to ruin it for you.”
Jamie picked up his bag with a somewhat dejected look. “Good-bye,” he said a bit stiffly.

“Bye,” she said and plopped down on the stool behind the counter. She thought that she might read that book Jamie had been talking about. She reached behind the counter and pulled out a copy of the book in question and started to flip through its pages. She really didn’t absorb any of the story, but she could see that the art looked like crap. Never a good sign.

The doorbell sounded and she looked up. She was surprised to see Alicia Masters standing in the doorway.
She smiled and rushed over to greet the woman.

“Mrs. Masters, how nice to see you. So did you talk to your son?”

The woman nodded, slowly. “Yes, but I didn’t get much out of him. He kept asking why I wanted to know and he really didn’t say much.” She sighed. “We haven’t gotten along to well lately and giving him this gift was supposed to…”

Persephone patted the woman’s hand. “Come on let’s sit down and we’ll figure out something out over some tea.”

“That sounds lovely.” Alicia Masters looked at her very closely. Persephone went into the backroom and started the tea. “Do you like Earl Grey?” she called out to the other woman.

“Dear, I absolutely adore it.” Alicia said.

It took several minutes for the tea the steep, so Persephone brought out a platter of cookies and set them on the table.

“Thank you, dear,” she said and took a one of the cookies from the plate. “I wish all store owners were as nice as you. It would make my days a great deal more pleasant.”

Persephone smiled. “That’s nice to hear, but don’t think this is an everyday occurrence. I didn’t feel like going out to lunch today. There’s a coffee shop in my uncle’s bookstore, so I just get all of this from up there.” She headed into the back and brought out the tea. She set down the cups and sat down.

“Well, I feel like thanking you anyway.” You know, twenty-two is quite young to own your own business.”

Persephone arched a brow. “How do you know how old I am?”

Alicia Masters looked down at her hands and then back and Persephone, her cheeks flaming. “I…I just guessed. You look about twenty-two, so I assumed.”

Persephone kept her eyes on the woman but nodded. “Yes, I guess that could be it.” But she didn’t think it was. Benny had always told her that suspicion was a horrible thing and could make even the most innocent events look sinister. Now she was suspicious and she saw Alicia Masters in an entirely different light. She looked down at her watch and saw that it was time to close the store. She stood. “Listen. I think that the best thing that you could do for your son’s birthday would be for you to buy him a gift certificate. That way he can choose whatever he wanted and he won’t be disappointed.”

Alicia nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. Can we do that now?”

Persephone shook her head. “No. I’m about to close up, I’m afraid, and I have a prior engagement and it really can’t wait.”

“Hey. Littlebit. What’s keeping you? I told you to be ready at six…” the voice came from the up the staircase followed by the sound of heavy footsteps. A moment latter, a rather tall and somewhat plump man dressed in tweed appeared.

“I’m about to close up, Benny. I was just saying good bye to a customer.” She gestured to the woman. “Alicia Masters, this is my uncle, Benedict Davis.” But her uncle did not seem to be paying attention to her. He was staring at Alicia.

“I thought it was you, when she mentioned you . I’m surprised that you had the nerve to come here.”

Alicia’s face colored. “Hello, Benny. It’s been a long time. I just wanted you…”

“I don’t care what you want. Get out.” He made a motion towards her as if he were about to throw Alicia out of the store.

Persephone tried to get between them, her hands on his chest. “Benny, you can’t do this!”

He glared at her. “The hell I can’t.” She could feel his heart beating rapidly. “Just get her off of my property. I don’t want to see her around here again.”

Alicia nodded and backed towards the exit. “I’ll go. I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble,” she said before turning to go.

This dinner was a much quieter affair than the last. The episode in the comic book store had upset Benny greatly. He stabbed at his salad so violently that a crack appeared in the glass plate. Persephone mostly kept her eyes on her pasta but she felt Benny’s glare on her. She hadn’t felt this bad since she’d brought home an F on her report card in fifth grade. She could practically see the anger radiating from him and she knew it was her fault. Persephone cleared the table without looking at him.

Benny took out a cigarette and lit it. Persephone glared at him. He’d stopped smoking two years and the presence of the cancer stick hanging out of his mouth did not bode well for the rest of the evening.

“Those things will kill you, Benny,” she said finally.

Benny grumbled, but he put the cigarette out.

“What happened today?” she asked as she made her way back to the dining room and back into her chair. “Why did you act that way? She was just a woman looking for a gift for her son.” But as she spoke, she saw her uncle shaking his head.

“No. She wasn’t there to get some damn gift for her son. She was there to see you.”

“Me? Why would she want to see me?” Benny stood up and started pacing around the room. His cheeks were flushed and she could see the vein in his neck pounding.

“Guilt, I’d wager.”

Persephone shook her head in confusion. “What would she have to feel guilty for?”

“I love you, honey,” he said quietly, “You’ve been like my own daughter, when your parents died in the car accident, I swore that I would do my best to protect you. I even named you, your mother said I could. Our family likes literary names. My parents picked Shakespeare, but I thought that myths would fit you better.”
He stared up at the twirling ceiling fan. Turning sharply, he walked out of the room. Persephone followed him into his study. “I want to know what’s going on. I have never seen you act the way you did today. I want…, I demand an answer.”

Benny sat down in a large leather chair near the fireplace. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. Persephone moved next to the chair and wrapped her arms around his back..

“Just tell me,” she whispered, “Nothing in can be so bad that it should make you feel like this.”
She felt him exhale. “Beatrice, your mother, wasn’t just my sister, she was my best friend. When she died, it felt like my whole world was crumbling around me. The only thing I had to hold onto was you. And now you’re all grown up and you have your own business…”

“Only because you own the property and let me take the basement rent free,” she said, but he continued on as if he hadn’t heard her.

“—and I don’t know what I’m going to do when you finally move out. I guess in a morbid sort of way, Alicia is the reason that I got you.” Persephone stilled. She couldn’t understand what he meant by that
He turned to look up at her. “That surprised you didn’t it? Well, it’s true. She was the person driving the car that killed Beatrice and Nathan.”

Persephone felt as if a lump of stone had dropped into her stomach. Her uncle had spoken very little of her parent’s death, other than to say that they had been killed in a car wreck. Perhaps it was childish, but she had always imagined the person who had hit her parent’s car as being somehow…evil. But Alicia had been nice. She didn’t fit the image of the monster from her childhood nightmares.

“We all knew each other from high school. She was Alicia Kinsey back then. Hell, I even dated her for a while during senior year. She was one of your mother’s best friends. And she never said she was sorry. Never.”

He stood up and rubbed his eyes vigorously. “I’ll tired, Littlebit. I’m going to bed. You probably should too. I hope you’ve got an answer that satisfies you. Lord knows I don’t.”


Persephone sat down in her uncle’s vacated chair. She didn’t think that she had gotten any answers all, least of all satisfactory ones. Point of fact, she was sure that she had more answers now than she had when they’d started talking. She stared into the fireplaces empty grate mulling things over, until finally, unknowingly, she fell asleep.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” she asked. The few people in the store turned to look at her and the source of her outrage. Very few people had ever heard her swear.

“I see your uncle got around to telling you his story.” Persephone nodded. “Well, I guess I couldn’t expect anything else.”

Persephone stayed behind the counter. “What do you want? My uncle told you to stay away from here. I could call the police, you know.” And she was quite angry enough to do just that. Her stomach lurched. Because of this woman her parents had died. Because of her, Persephone had spent most of her childhood afraid that the same thing that had ended her parent’s life would end hers.

“I know that you’re upset. And you have the right to be. And I know that you won’t understand what’s going on--”

“Don’t patronize me! I know what happened! I know what you did.” Two men stood whispering, pointed at the two of them.

“Maybe they’ll start fighting,” she heard one of them whisper.

“That would be awesome…”

Alicia turned to look back at them. “Get out,” she said in a flat voice. They saw the look in her eyes and they ran. Any other day, Persephone would have looked to make sure that no one snuck out without paying, but at the moment she couldn’t have cared less.

“You killed my parents! Get out of my store, get out of my life and go back to wherever the hell you came from.” She stepped out from behind the counter and stopped inches from Alicia’s face. “I never want to see your face again.”

Alicia nodded. “Right. I never meant for you to know who I really was. Benny always did have a rotten sense of timing, even when we dated. He always arrived just as I was coming out of the bathroom.”

“Do you even have a son?” Persephone asked bitterly. Alicia remained quiet and looked resolutely over Persephone’s shoulder. “Figures. You just used it as an excuse to come see me didn’t you?” She shook her head. “You don’t have to answer that, I think I can figure this out for myself. Why? Why all of this? I can understand not telling me that you were in the accident, but why pretend you had a son? Why come here as if you were a customer? You could have just told me that you were an old friend of my mothers. That would have made more sense than this charade.”

Alicia shook her head, freeing tendrils of hair to flop in face. She pushed them back almost immediately. “I wanted to see you with out, with any repercussions. I wanted to be able to walk right back out of your life. Saying that I was a friend of your mother’s would have made that impossible. You would have had questions and I don’t think that I would have wanted to answer them.” She paced in a small circle. “Do you and Benny still live in the Victorian?” She took a deep breath, stopped her pacing.

“What the hell does this have to do with where I live?
“Just answer the question, will you.”

She blew out an angry breath. “Yeah, we still lived there. The house has been in the family for years.”
“Did he ever paint the living room green? He always wanted that room green. Even when I lived there, I just hope he did.”

“Wait a minute, you lived in my house?”
“We all did. Bea, Nate, Benny and me. We all moved in there after college. We did just about everything together. And when you came along we all looked after you together. Took terms taking care of you. We all loved you so much. “ Alicia stared into the space. “It was Benny’s turn to watch you that night. Nate, Bea and I went out.” She turned back and looked Persephone in the eyes. “That was the last time I saw you. You were two. I couldn’t have gotten near you if I tried. Benny wouldn’t have allowed it.”

Persephone looked down at the other woman. “I want to know why. Why you never said you were sorry? Why you didn’t try contacting me somehow?”

Alicia laughed. It wasn’t a very pleasant sound. “What could I have done to make things better? I helped kill my best friend. I made her daughter an orphan. What the fuck could I have possibly done to make that even remotely better.”

Persephone’s eyes began to sting. “You could have said you were sorry. You could have shown some remorse?”

“I’m sorry that you’re parents had to die for it. Bea and Nate were good people. Things like that shouldn’t have happened to them.” There was anger in her voice, and whether she was mad at herself or at the world, Persephone didn’t know.

“We were all so messed up that night, none of us should have been driving. But it was my fault and I accept the responsibility.”

The sound of footsteps echoed on the stairs. Alicia looked at Persephone. “I think that’s my cue to leave, Persephone.” Then she said quietly. “I hope you get to have to life that your mother should have had. She was a good woman and I see a lot of her in you.” Persephone turned away and walked towards the spiral staircase. The only sign she had of Alicia’s departure was the yowl of Shatner’s voice. Benny appeared a moment latter. He looked at her face. “Did she come back?” he asked quietly. Persephone nodded. He sighed.

“I knew she would mess everything up.” He held out his arms to his niece and she went gladly to them. She might not have known her parents, but at least she had Benny.

“You should have kicked her ass,” he mumbled into her hair. "You could have taken her."

“I know," she said, settling into her uncles embrace. "Just didn't want to mess up my dress because of her. It cost a fortune."

"Good call."