Rabbit Hole Carnival: Restoring

“Renee, they added that like two years ago.” Cel said. “It’s cool and cute, don’t get me wrong, but I doubt there’s anything you haven’t seen.”

“I… I haven’t been here in a while.” Renee replied. “But I can explore with Nick some other time, if you don’t think you have the time.”

Cel looked around, and dragged Renee into a corner. Swinging around to face her afterwards. “What is with you? Out with it.” Cel said. “For the 3rd time in the last 10 minutes, my entire day is free. Nick assured you he could handle things at the Rabbit Hole. There is nothing but you, me, and this aquarium, which the Renee I know would be over the moon about. Is Nick making you go now or—”

“No, he’s not making me do anything.” Renee said, and sighed. “It’s only my 3rd time here, okay? Ever.”

“You?” Cel asked. “Renee ‘Penmanship’ Shem has only been to her hometown’s aquarium 3 times in her life?”

“Okay.” Renee replied. “Technically yes I’ve been more than 3 times, but like… Not on my terms. The first time I was like 3, maybe almost 4, and just in love with everything. And every time after it was either a trip where I was quizzed on every last thing, and usually mostly punished for not knowing a bunch of answers. Or it was a ‘reward’ for doing so much work that I was too tired to even process a lot of it, or an apology for being almost hit with a chair or something.”

“Up until our class field trip I hope.” Cel said, just as stunned by how Renee’s childhood was as ever.

“That was the 2nd time.” Renee said. “The third time Daddy brought after I got to collect myself for a few days. I was still a bit scared Mike or Adam would show up, but I had a good time despite almost always looking over my shoulder.”

“Why haven’t you been since?” Cel asked. “I’m sure Nick could’ve closed a few days and taken you.”

“It just wasn’t the same for a while.” Renee replied. “Even with Daddy there it just brought up so many bad memories. But after talking about it in a few therapy sessions with Ray, we decided that childhood trauma shouldn’t scar somewhere I love. Therefore I should come here with a friend, and try to make some good memories. He was very supportive of me picking you after hearing about your family’s track record.”

 “Yeah, 7 generations of women being in Trauma Recovery sounds like it would be hard to argue with.” Cel Said. “So, one last thing. Mom said this was related to my birthday present from… you…”

“I know it’s not due for a few months, and is college work.” Renee replied, shyly. “But I thought I could help with your paper on case studies, me being one and all.”

Cel slammed into Renee with a tight hug. “Best. Present. Ever. Where do you wanna go first?”

“I think I’ll stick with my first choice.” Renee replied, with a giggle and a hug back.

Cel mostly stood a little back, and let Renee take it all in. But did also learn some interesting facts that she had glossed over all the times she was here due Renee having the time of life, so much so that she occasionally wondered if Renee was ever going to leave. It was nice to see her that way again though. Cel had missed the easily excited Renee, and it was rare she got to observe that side of her for this long. She almost didn’t want to take the notes she did, but that was about as hard as it was for Renee to ignore whatever fish had just passed by.

“You know I’m not gonna let you avoid this section forever, right?” Cel said, grabbing Renee’s right arm.

“I’m working up to it.” Renee replied. “I made a very thorough plan last night, and it’s been working pretty well so far. And you're one to talk anyways, you’ve barely asked me anything.”

“Renee, sweetheart, I’ve heard 7 different variations of how harshly Mike would quiz you.” Cel replied. “Noticed 4 different times you’ve been jump scared with no one around. Don’t even get me started on how many times I thought you were gonna slam into the glass because you can’t believe you missed something or other when you were here last. And I’ll concede you’ve not really been shying away from the sections that seem to hold a lot of bad memories for you. Everyone's way of healing is different, so it's not like I have some standard list of questions or phrases I need to say in your own words or something.” Cel dug through her robe, and flipped through the notebook she had on her. “I've been here writing close to 7 pages of notes, and holding the chuckles that come from watching you act like you’re 5 years old in a toy store.”

Renee, twirled her hair a bit. “Alright fine, but… no, you know what? Let’s go in here right now, and then we’ll end on a high note when we finish with the coral reefs.”

They did just that, and then Cel’s mother dropped Renee off before driving her daughter home. “We’ll have your family party tomorrow, if you want. Must have been exhausting.”

“That sounds nice, yeah.” Cel said. “Lovely present, and lovely to see her that happy, but she was not easy to keep up with in there.”