Surprise Visit
[1.3.2024]
Arch wonders how smart jumping out of the second-story window in the Mills’ home would be. He comes to the conclusion that, despite possibly harming himself and getting locked in a mental hospital for some time, he would be infinitely better off. The reason for this is standing right below the staircase leading to Arch’s room. His aunt.
Arch doesn’t hate his aunt per say, just mildly dislikes her. This is mainly because his aunt seems to always show up before something bad is about to happen, like some sort of omen, and the fact Arch didn’t even know of her existence until a year ago. (“Coincidentally” around the same time before sh*t hit the fan with Henry) Meaning he still hadn’t quite come to terms with the fact she existed. He never really could, with how she was always busy traveling with that pesky circus of hers.
But here she still is, same deep brown hair framing her pale face and a pair of almost black eyes that stare deeply into your soul. She’s even got the same smile on her face, fooling naïve people into believing everything she says is the truth. Arch knows she spits out half-truths at best, though - must run in the family. Arch crinkles his nose in distaste at the familiar scent of tobacco reeking off her striped vest. The reason he knew who exactly Olivia was talking to.
The whole situation begs the question of why she’s even here. Arch knows she knows he doesn’t want to see her, and she knows he knows that she knows. Even if she somehow had predicted something bad happening again, Olivia had already been in the hospital a few weeks ago - from losing her balance and falling down the stairs, leading to the bandage wrapped around her sprained wrist - implying his aunt was either extremely late or extremely early. Great, just great. Now the window looks like an even more solid escape plan.
Somehow Arch ends up sitting at the dinner table between Olivia and Ethan, looking at his aunt from across the table. He avoids any possible eye contact by instead focusing on the half eaten plate of food in front of him. The trio’s chatter fills the silence soon enough and Arch can almost forget the lingering smell of tobacco in the air.
“So - Phoenix, was it? What do you do for a living?” Ethan asks. Phoenix smiles, her freckles showing in the light - possibly the only thing hinting that her and Arch could be related somehow.
“I’m just in the circus as a magician. Though I’ve been thinking of changing careers lately. Raising prices and all.” Phoenix speaks in a much more polite tone than Arch does. Even has the fancy and quiet laugh down to a notch.
Arch’s ears perk up at the last sentence. Phoenix makes a lot of money, has to, with how much the woman spends on cigarettes yearly. He looks up from his plate and, without much thinking, blurts out:
“Were you fired? How the hell do you get fired from a circus?”
Olivia looks a little horrified at his bluntness, moving to reprimand him for sure. Even Ethan has a stern look on his otherwise relaxed face. His aunt seems to be on the edge of laughing out loud. She’s always had a strange sense of humor.
“Alexander you cannot just-” Olivia gets cut off by Phoenix.
“Mrs. Mills, it’s quite alright. I don’t mind, if anything it makes my doubts of actually being related to Arch disappear. His mother didn’t have the charm to manage socializing well either. From what I remember at least,” Phoenix says with a somber smile on her face. Enough to make anyone believe she actually misses her older sister.
“But Arch, I wasn’t fired. I left out my own willingness, because I had a feeling I could afford to try something new in life.” Arch bites his tongue to stop himself from saying that it’s a stupid idea since she only has little time to do it anyway. (Death will come for all, but it’s already got a target on his aunt’s back.)
Olivia and Ethan quiet down after the whole spectacle, asking more about Phoenix’s life. The couple look like deers in headlights when she tells them her age, apparently expecting her to be at least thirty. Not four years younger than that. Arch leaves the dinner table at some point and no one bothers to tell him not to. He puts the half eaten plate of food in the sink.
Closing the door to his room, Arch can’t rid the feeling of a stone dropping in his stomach. His aunt must be some kind of phoenix that gets born again whenever tragedy is about to strike. What a fitting name she was given at birth.
// Ooh, how exciting to get a closer peek at Arch's backstory and troubled relationships! I wonder what other skeletons and toxins will emerge later on... 
