After doing two laps around the apartment complex downtown, Sunset finally found a free parking spot on the road and pulled in. As her Ford Fiesta made some unnerving clacking noises under the hood after turning off the engine, she pulled out her phone to check her messages.
“At the airport. ETA 20 mins,” read the simple message she had been hoping to see.
She sent off a quick reply while getting out of her car. “Thx, c u soon.”
The blocky apartment building was of the older variety and the front door was propped open with a brick, with a sign hung by the mailboxes that proclaimed the two-way speaker and doorbells to be out of service. Sunset hadn’t made more than a few steps beyond until a similar sign informed her that the elevator was also out of service.
Sighing and readjusting the strap of the bag over her shoulder, she began trudging up the stairs to the fourth floor. Thankfully, she knew the apartment number she was looking for. The hallway was a sort of half balcony deal that was open to one side, and Sunset couldn’t help but shiver a little when a cold gust of late autumn wind greeted her upon exiting the stairwell.
She arrived at the apartment in question and pressed the doorbell. When she didn’t hear anything for a while, she knocked instead.
A lock clicked on the other side, followed by the rattle of a door chain, and the door opened. The occupant greeted her with a tired smile. “Hi, Ms. Sunset.”
“Hello, Hitch,” Sunset greeted her student.
She noticed how his eyes wandered towards the file she carried tucked under her arm. “So, uh, I guess it was kinda pointless playing coy whenever you asked. You find all the answers to your questions before you came here?”
Sunset shifted uncomfortably in place. “A lot of them, yeah. I … understand why you wouldn’t want to talk about it unless you had to. May I come in?”
“Sure,” he said, opening the door fully and stepping inside. “Coffee?”
“Thanks,” Sunset said, closing the door behind her and looking around the tiny space.
Sunset herself had never lived anyplace that could be called large, but even her studio apartment seemed palatial in comparison. Heck, even her old attic room at Big Al’s probably had more square footage, and her recent visit to the Haven mansion only drove that point home even further. There was a small room big enough for a table with a few chairs and a small kitchenette off to the side, while the bathroom and bedroom in the back looked more like closet spaces.
What stood out, however, was that everything looked spotless and well organized, far nicer than it had any right to be, given the grimy and run down appearance of the building at large.
As she sat down and took a closer look, she realized that the table was the same one she’d seen in her vision. It was strewn with papers then, but she still recognized it. Trying not to be too obvious, her head turned towards the half open bedroom door where the corner of the bed was just about visible. There’s no doubt about it. The box I saw is under there. That makes two out of three. I suppose the metal bars were the visitor’s room on Mare’s Island.
Sunset was pulled out of her thoughts when a steaming mug of coffee was placed in front of her. “Sorry, I don’t have any creamer, but I’ve got milk if you want.”
She gave her student a smile. “Black is fine. Thank you, Hitch.” She took a sip while Hitch sat down, and it didn’t take long for the silence to stretch into awkward territory after that. “This is delicious,” she said, more to break the silence than anything else. “I understand someone else is supposed to join us today.”
Hitch took out his phone to check the time, and Sunset couldn’t help but clock how a large crack ran across the display. “Yeah, she’s not always on time for these things. I guess she works a lot of cases.”
“So … I know about your dad. I’m sor…”
“Don’t,” Hitch cut in with a glare, as if in reflex. When Sunset held his gaze, he deflated a little and looked apologetic. “Sorry, didn’t mean to snap. It’s just that … people say that a lot when they find out. It’s silly. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, and he is getting what he deserves for what he did.”
Sunset remained quiet. She somewhat suspected what his feelings on the matter were, given his love for animals and environmental activism. So she changed tracks, knowing full well that she was probably steering into right another landmine. “I gotta ask this,” Sunset said, taking out Hitch’s student file and opening it. But she didn’t bother to pick up a pen, already guessing at the answer. “We don’t have a contact address for your mother.”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I tell the lady from the CPS every time she asks: Neither do I.” There was something vaguely unsettling about how he simply shrugged his shoulders when questioned on the whereabouts of his own mother, as if he was talking about a stranger.
“There’s no contact at all?”
“There’s a check in the mail every month for rent and living expenses. The apartment is technically in her name. Never a return address, though.” He looked away as he continued. “Got a card postmarked somewhere in the Bahamas last month, wishing me a happy 14th birthday.”
The file was still open in front of Sunset, but she didn’t even need to check to confirm how utterly heart-wrenching that statement was. Hitch had turned 15 just before the school year had started, almost half a year ago. Fuck me running. This is even worse than I thought.
Apparently having nothing else to say on the subject of the woman who gave birth to him, Hitch settled into silence.
Sunset racked her brain, trying to figure out how to proceed. Between the vision and my own research, I have a working theory on what he’s planning. But I can’t very well bring it up. It’d be rather awkward if he asked how I knew. “Hitch, I understand that you’re a private person, and now I know why. But I hope you know that you can always talk to me.”
“I know,” he said quietly, playing absently with his own coffee mug, but not saying anything further.
“Sparky’s doing well,” she ventured. Talking about animals was bound to draw him out of his shell.
He smiled. “That’s good. I think about that day a lot. Helping an animal in need feels good.”
Sunset put an elbow on the table and rested her chin in her palm. “It does. It’s not just animals. We all need a helping hand sometimes.”
Hitch looked at her and seemed to mull over that statement. Just as he opened his mouth to reply, three knocks could be heard from the door. He cleared his throat and called out. “It’s open, Ms. Daisy! Come on in!” He stood up to prepare another cup of coffee.
Oh, come on! Sunset fumed internally. He was just about to open up! Wait, Ms. Daisy? She turned to look at the door that had just swung open.
A woman in her early thirties and wearing a business suit stepped inside, her raspberry hair was adorned with a braid that fell to one side of her face. “I’m so sorry that I’m late again,” she apologized immediately upon entering. Once she’d closed the door, her eyes widened in surprise. “Sunset?”
“Gloriosa!” Sunset stood up and the two women exchanged a friendly hug.
“Ohmygosh, hi! I’d heard you’d become a teacher, but I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said.
The feeling was mutual. Sunset knew that Gloriosa was a social worker. Camp counselor was hardly a full-time job and Camp Everfree was closed at this time of the year anyway. But what were the odds? “I’m filling in for Cheerilee,” she said by way of explanation.
“So you two knew each other?” Hitch asked, slightly surprised as he placed a new cup on the table. “I guess that makes this slightly less awkward.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sunset quipped with a sly look towards the woman who had once gone full Poison Ivy on her and her friends. “We go way back, practically to the stone age.”
Gloriosa tensed up for a split second before quietly chuckling to herself. “I see you haven’t lost your wit. You’re right. That means we can dispense with the introductions and get right down to business.” As the three of them sat down, Gloriosa brought out a folder and a ballpoint pen which she clicked a couple of times. “Now then, how have you been, Hitch? Have you been eating well?”
What followed was a round of questions and answers from a set questionnaire which Sunset had no part in. So instead of focusing on the words, she spent her time watching the interviewer and interviewee closely.
Gloriosa kept a gentle smile on her face and spoke warmly, putting genuine feelings of concern for his well-being into each of the cookie cutter questions.
Hitch proved to be the polar opposite. All his answers were straight and to the point, sounding almost robotic and rehearsed in their curtness. Or maybe it just seemed that way because he had answered them so often. All his responses could be boiled down to one statement: “Everything is fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Sunset could sense Gloriosa’s growing frustration even behind her cheerful smile. I see I’m not the only one who has trouble breaking through that facade of his.
When she reached the final question on her sheet, even Gloriosa’s smile fell. “Do I even need to ask this final one?”
“You know the answer to that, Ms. Daisy.”
They locked eyes in silence for a moment until Sunset coughed, reminding them that she was here. “Would you mind spelling it out for the uninitiated?”
“I’ve been trying to sign Hitch up for the foster program,” Gloriosa said with a sigh.
“You know my answer, Ms. Daisy,” Hitch said matter-of-factly. “There’s only so many spots, and there’s kids out there who are younger and worse off than me. Besides, it’s a moot point. I’m not an orphan. With my dad in jail, my mother still has custody.”
“You have a voice in this too, you know.” Gloriosa’s brow furrowed and her mouth drew into a thin line. “I wish you were a little more selfish. A mother is supposed to be more than just the person paying your rent, you know.”
At this point, Sunset couldn’t hold herself back anymore. “And yet she’s not even doing that, is she?” They both turned to look at her. “How long have you been financially independent, Hitch?”
“Sunset, what are you on about?” Gloriosa asked. “His mother sends an alimony check to the agency without fail every month, and we forward it to him.”
Sunset had kept her eyes on her student, and the way the color had drained out of his face was the last bit of confirmation she needed to confirm her theory. “You don’t know this, Gloriosa, because you don’t see him every day like I do. Do you know how much he works? Every day after school, and sometimes even during school hours. Weekends, too. So how about you get that cardboard box full of paperwork out from under your bed and out in the open, so we can discuss this with all the facts?”
“How … how do you …?” Hitch stammered.
“I caught a glimpse of it earlier, and you’ve been glancing at it the whole time we were talking,” Sunset lied.
“He hehe.” Hitch began to chuckle in spite of himself. “Wow, you’re pretty incredible, Ms. Sunset. Have I ever told you that? You figured it all out?”
“I think so, but why don’t you tell us in your own words?”
He got up and walked to his bedroom, pulling out a cardboard box that looked just like the one from Sunset’s vision while Gloriosa looked on in a state of seemingly total confusion.
Hitch opened the box and his hands rifled between stacks of paper and some cash for a moment. Finding what he was looking for, he pulled out a stack of envelopes and placed them before the two of them.
“Go on,” Sunset said to Gloriosa, “I already have an idea of what they are.”
The social worker began to look through them, her eyebrows rising with every single one. “Hitch, these are all the alimony checks from your mother, and they go back months! How long has it been since you cashed one?”
“Close to a year, I reckon,” Sunset speculated from looking at the stack. “A full year of expenses with no debt, it’s a good way to prove the point.”
“Prove what point?”
“That he’s financially independent. It’s one of the criteria.” Sunset held up one hand and began counting on her fingers. “First one is age. 14 is the minimum, so he checks that box. Financial independence and the ability to earn a legal living is the second. Third is that he wants it. That’s a No-Duh. Fourth, the parents consent. That one’s tricky, but there’s precedent for a judge to rule that failure to appear in court could count.”
As Sunset ticked off the criteria she had researched, something finally clicked for Gloriosa. “You’re talking about emancipation of minors, having him legally declared an adult by a court.”
Sunset nodded slowly. “That’s what this is all about. Isn’t it, Hitch?”
“So you did figure it all out,” he said somewhat ruefully. But there was a hopeful smile that had been building on his face the whole time, and his hand reached into the box for another document. “You’re amazing, Ms. Sunset. Maybe you do understand. I’ve been agonizing over who I could ask. But maybe if it’s you …” He took out a sheet of paper and placed it in front of her.
So he even had that prepared. I knew he was studious and diligent, but to go that far. She read the statement Hitch had written, asking for the court to emancipate him, carefully. ‘Divorce from parents’ was another term some people used for the process. That’s right. There’s one procedural hurdle he can’t overcome by himself. Since he isn’t emancipated yet, he can’t legally file this in court or ask a lawyer to do it. He needs someone else to do it on his behalf, an adult ‘next friend’ as the law puts it.
When she reached for the paper, Gloriosa’s hand suddenly flashed forward to grab her wrist and she gave Sunset an intense look. “Sunset,” she said seriously, “think carefully about what you’re doing here.” That look of intensity instantly brought Sunset back in time to several years ago. It was as if she was looking at Gaia Everfree again. Even back then, she realized that intense stare came not from anger, but a deep place of conviction fueled by a noble cause.
“Don’t worry,” Sunset said as she gently removed Gloriosa’s hand. She slid the paper back across the table to her earnest student and pointedly put her hands in her lap. “I’m not going to sign this, Hitch.”
“What?” The look of delirious hope that had spread across his face came crashing down in an instant. “But, why? Do you need more proof? I kept a ledger with all my income and expenses.” He began to dig through the box frantically.
Sunset shook her head. “I believe you. There’s no doubt in my mind that you can live on your own. You’re more mature than anyone your age I’ve ever known. But whether you can do something is not an indication of whether you should do something. There’s one last criterion to the emancipation of a minor we haven’t mentioned yet, and that’s whether it’s in the best interest of the individual in question. I’m not convinced that’s the case here.”
Gloriosa let out an explosive sigh of relief after hearing Sunset’s words. “She’s right, Hitch. Emancipation can be the right thing, but there’s a reason why it’s not easy. In almost all cases, there’s a better alternative.”
“I thought you were on my side, Ms. Sunset. You basically just laid out all the reasons I can do this,” he appealed to his teacher. “I’ve already proven that I can do it, and there’s no downside to formalizing it. I’m even keeping up my grades despite the work, just like you asked.”
“And what about your personal relationships with your classmates?” Sunset asked. “I believe I’ve told you this before, but school is about more than just doing the work. I was 14 when I came to this city, and I had nobody. Did you know that about me? The first couple of days after my arrival, I secretly slept in the school library.”
Gloriosa, who had never heard that before, turned to regard her while Hitch blinked in surprise before settling back into resolute, somewhat childish, defiance. “Then … aren’t you living proof that people can get by just fine on their own, Ms. Sunset?”
“No, quite the opposite, and I wasn’t even alone. One night, I was out by the docks, digging through the trash behind bars and diners for scraps, when suddenly a backdoor opened. I even yelped in surprise.” Sunset chuckled fondly at the memory. “I don’t know who was more startled, me or that big burly man who had come to set out a plate of milk for the stray cats. He looked at me like I was one of them. After staring at me for a while, he gave me a warm meal, a place to sleep and even a job before long. Even though I was lucky, it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like he had any cash to waste on a runaway like me, and I had to earn my keep. I had a chip on my shoulder for the longest time. When I was your age, I had a hard time forming healthy relationships. It didn’t get better until my senior year. That’s why I don’t think this is in your best interest.” She indicated the request for emancipation with her chin. “Because the last thing I want is for you to turn into me.”
After hearing that story, it didn’t seem like Hitch knew how to respond. After a while, he simply sat down and huffed. “Well, it doesn’t change anything anyway,” he said slightly petulantly. Sunset couldn’t help but feel like this was the very first time she’d actually seen him act his age. “I won’t take that woman’s money and you can’t force me into foster care, so I’ll just be emancipated in all but name.”
Gloriosa sighed. “So after all that, we’re exactly where we always end up,” she said with true regret.
“Not quite,” Sunset said, “there’s someone else who finally needs to weigh in on this.”
Just as Gloriosa and Hitch looked at her for clarification on that statement, there was a shuffle at the door, followed by a muffled voice. “The hell’s wrong with this doorbell? Hello!? Anyone home?”
Recognizing the voice, Sunset stood up with a smile. Al, I didn’t know until recently just how lucky I was. I’m sorry your search back then didn’t work out, but I’m gonna take your kindness and pay it forward right now. She opened the door to admit Flash Sentry, who looked like a long-suffering bellhop laden down with several travel cases.
“Ah, there you are, Sunset. Did you know the elevator in this place is busted?” He turned to address someone just outside the door. “Where do you want these, ma’am?”
“Just anywhere is fine,” an elderly woman’s voice answered, “thank you ever so much for all your help getting here, young man.”
As soon as the unseen voice had spoken, Hitch had instantly shot up to his feet. “Grandma!?”
“Grandma!?” Gloriosa echoed in a voice that sounded nearly as shocked as his.
While Sunset helped her ex-boyfriend extricate himself from the straps of several bags, the owner of the voice shuffled inside. When her eyes fell on her grandson from behind her glasses, a look of sheer delight lit up her wrinkled face. “There he is! Come here, Hitchie!”
With a surprising spring in her step given her age, the woman with the silver hair had crossed the room and swept Hitch up in a hug. “G-grandma Figgy, what are you doing here?”
“Do I need a reason to come see my grandson?” she asked, giving him a kiss on his cheek and rustling his hair. “Though in this case, there is a reason. A few days ago, I got a call from one of your teachers who opened my eyes to a few realities. So I took the first flight I could. Ms. Shimmer, is it?”
Sunset met her eyes and nodded. “I hope you didn’t have too much trouble getting here.”
“Not at all, thank you for sending your friend to pick me up from the airport.”
After being relieved from his burden, Flash arched his back until an audible pop could be heard. “No problem, ma’am. Happy to help,” he said with a smile.
Figgy broke the hug. As Hitch was left standing there in a bit of a daze, she turned around to take in her surroundings, a frown starting to appear on her face. “Oh no, no, no, no. This won’t do at all, will it? We’ll have to go apartment hunting as soon as possible.”
“A-apartment hunting?” Hitch stammered. “What do you mean, grandma?”
She regarded him warmly, giving his cheek a patented grandma pinch that nearly caused Sunset to coo inadvertently. “Why, I’m moving here of course, to take care of you.”
Gloriosa had gotten up and took this moment to introduce herself. “Mrs. Figgy, was it? My name is Gloriosa Daisy, Child Protective Services. I do have a few questions for you.”
Figgy shook the offered hand with a pained smile. “Yes, I suspect you do, dear. I have questions, too. And they’ll be answered in due time. But for the moment,” she said while glancing at Hitch who still seemed to be in a state of shell shock, “might I ask for a few moments alone with my grandson?”
“Of course, we’ll be right outside.” Sunset was the first to speak up, leading Flash and Gloriosa to the open hallway outside before softly closing the apartment door.
Flash checked his watch and said: “I gotta get back to the office. You good here, Sunset?”
“I think so,” Sunset confirmed with a grateful smile. “Thanks, Flash. I seriously owe you one.”
He turned around and winked before leaving. “Anything for my EBC.”
Only when he’d turned the corner to descend the stairs did Gloriosa raise the question. “What’s an EBC?”
Turning away to hide her blush, Sunset replied awkwardly. “Uhm, that’s, uh, Emergency Borrowed Car! Yep, that’s what it is. We have a pact where we help each other out if one of our cars breaks down.”
“Uh-huh,” Gloriosa replied while crossing her arms, clearly amused and not buying that for a second. But rather than dwelling on it, she began staring pensively out into the distance. “I never even knew Hitch had other living relatives. How the hell did we miss this?” She shook her head with a sigh.
“Well, don’t blame yourself,” Sunset said, taking out a handwritten note from her pocket to remind herself of the particulars. “Took me some digging with additional help, too. Apparently, she’s the second wife of his paternal grandfather. Hitch’s father was from his first wife.”
“I see.” Gloriosa tapped her chin thoughtfully. “She’s only his grandmother by marriage. Were they still married when he passed?”
“As far as I know. … Does she have a case to claim custody?” Sunset had poured over legal texts all week, but as a layman she could barely make heads nor tails of it. The fact that Gloriosa was silent in her thoughts for quite a while didn’t exactly help the knot in her stomach, so she simply watched her thoughtful face bathed in the golden light of the setting sun.
Finally, the social worker nodded slowly. “I know stepparents are legally obliged to provide child support. I’ve never heard of a stepgrandmother contesting custody, but given the situation of Hitch’s parents …”
“So she has a claim?” Sunset asked hopefully.
“Possibly. The court will likely want to know why she hasn’t come forward until now.”
Sunset shook her head. “Because she didn’t know. She was living on the other side of the country. She obviously knew that her stepson went to prison, but Hitch never told her about his mother abandoning him. He always came up with some excuse or other when they spoke on the phone or when he visited her alone for the holidays.”
Gloriosa balled one hand into a fist and a look of determination crossed her face. “Yes, that should work. I’ll have to run this up the flagpole to our legal department, but any reasonable judge would grant her custody before granting an emancipation request. We have lawyers who take these kinds of cases pro bono.” She turned to look at Sunset. Apparently having made her resolve, she put one hand on her chest and said with a confident smile: “Sunset, thanks for finding and bringing her here. You can leave the rest to me. I’ve got this!”
Sunset couldn’t help but grin when she heard that nostalgic statement. “I was hoping you were gonna say that.”
Just then, they turned toward the sound of the door opening behind them. Figgy gave them both a warm smile while Hitch had his eyes turned to the ground. “Thank you for waiting, dearies. Ms. Daisy, could I trouble you to stay a while longer? I believe we have a lot of paperwork to get started on.”
Gloriosa nodded vigorously. “Yes, of course.”
The old woman turned to Sunset and held out the signed form for the home visit. “I believe this takes care of your obligations here for now. Thank you, Ms. Shimmer.” Sunset accepted the paperwork with a smile. “I believe my grandson wanted to have a few words with you before you leave.”
Gloriosa gave Sunset a wink by way of goodbye as she followed Figgy inside. Meanwhile, Hitch had walked over to the railing of the hallway/balcony and was staring out into the distance, not looking at her.
Sunset drew a step closer. “Hitch, I’m so glad that …”
“WHY!?” The question that cut her off came out half as a dark growl, and it instantly made Sunset stop in her tracks. “Why would you do that!?”
It was only now that she took a closer look at him, and she could see that his shoulders were shaking while his knuckles had turned white as he gripped the railing tightly. “Aren’t you happy that your grandmother is here?”
“Happy!?” Hitch whirled around and mustered her with a gaze that was like ice piercing through her. She’d never actually seen Hitch genuinely angry, and due to his height, he came across rather imposing despite his age. “Why would I be happy about this?”
“But Sun…” Sunset cut herself off as the words ‘Sunny told me you adore your grandmother’ froze on her tongue. Instead she settled for: “Don’t you love your grandmother?”
“Of course I do!” His voice rose even more in anger, but the answer only served to confuse her more. “That’s why I never told her about any of this!”
“But don’t you think she would have come here much sooner if she’d known?”
“You still don’t understand,” he almost wailed. “Naturally, she’d drop everything and come here. Grandma Figgy is a saint. That’s why she should be enjoying her retirement, not cleaning up the mess her criminal stepson and good-for-nothing daughter-in-law left behind! That’s my responsibility.”
Once again, Sunset found it disturbing how he disassociated himself from his own parents by pointing out their familial relation to Figgy rather than his own. And yet in spite of that, he seemingly felt it was his responsibility, and his alone, to make up for their mistakes. “I thought it was the best solution for everyone,” she countered, somewhat weakly in the face of his intensity.
“Well, that’s your opinion! You didn’t ask me, did you?” he asked between clenched teeth, and Sunset actually saw tears in the corners of his eyes now. “Who made you the arbiter of what’s best for everyone? What gives you the right to meddle with the one person in my family I still give a damn about? What gives you the right?”
Sunset had no reply for that. What did give her the right? She’d never even considered that. She’d just seen someone in need and acted, like she’d always done. “Tell me something, Ms. Sunset, have you ever been diagnosed with something called a savior complex?” Zipp’s words from a few days ago came to mind unbidden.
“I trusted you, Ms. Sunset.” The fury that had taken hold of him had abated, but the icy chill with which he spoke was somehow worse. “And you stabbed me in the back.”
“Hitch, I was only trying to help.” Sunset reached out to touch his shoulder, to somehow salvage this situation.
*Smack!*
Sunset took a step back and held her hand which he’d just slapped away. It barely hurt, but the fact that this mild-mannered young man had lashed out like that coupled with the knowledge that it was her fault somehow stung on a much deeper level.
He opened his mouth immediately as if to apologize, his eyes going wide as he saw his teacher flinch back from the outburst and fingers twitching as if to make sure she wasn’t hurt. But he seemed to hold back his concern through conscious effort, narrowing his eyes again instead. “Well, you didn’t. You only made things worse.” Still somewhat rattled, he turned towards the door and went back inside without meeting her eyes, slamming the door shut behind him.
Sunset stood there, bathed in silence and encroaching darkness as night had fallen during their argument.
“Was I … wrong?”