Chang Homecoming

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-0983-0496-6
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 166 Seiten

It had been nearly twenty years since James had left for Hectar and ten years since anyone had heard from him. Ella knew she should give up and move on. And part of her wanted to move on, but she couldn't shake the feeling that James was still out there. Struggling to keep everything afloat in her husband's absence, Ella runs the company, raises their son, Max, and heads the search and rescue efforts, all-the-while doing her best to keep corporate greed in check. James was a successful biological engineer and architect back on Earth. What did he know of war? After reluctantly fighting a prolonged war halfway across the galaxy, James struggles to overcome hostile AI Creatures, inter-dimensional wormhole lifeforms, and DNA altering substances, along his journey home. When all seems lost, only the thought of his wife and son, keep him going.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chang, Elizabeth

Leseproben

Chapter 1:
The Wedding It was a beautiful garden wedding that nostalgically harkened back to bygone years: android waiters dressed in old-fashioned twentieth-century uniforms circulated with trays, serving amuse-bouche and ice-cold glasses of champagne, and golden rays of light illuminated silhouettes of the elegantly dressed guests as the sun slipped slowly behind the softly rolling Tuscan hills. Deftly moving through the attendees like a dandelion seed floating on a summer breeze, Ella made her way to an ivy-covered wrought-iron gate displaying an assortment of decorative vintage brass keys. Attached to each key with a ribbon was each guest’s name and table assignment. Thumbing through the keys, Ella couldn’t help but overhear the two ladies next to her gossiping. “Did you see the enormous bow on the back of her wedding gown?” one said. “She looked like Minnie Mouse scurrying down the aisle!” remarked an impeccably dressed giraffe-like-lady, her stiletto heels sunk two inches deep in the muddy grass. “And his face was beet-red! I heard he didn’t even make it back last night…” Her prim friend half-whispered. Ella pretended not to listen as she looked around for a familiar face. The groom, Dave, was a friend of her husband James. Although Ella had hardly met the bride, Xing-Xing, she seemed nice enough and didn’t deserve such prattle, especially on her special day. Ella could scarcely find a friend in the crowd amongst the sea of wedding guests. Across the garden, she caught a glimpse of James’ mischievous eyes as he engaged in a lively conversation with his old pals from university. His gaze caught hers, and for a split second, the suggestive half-curl of his lips made her blush. Time seemed to stand still. The clanking sound of a knife against a glass caused all conversation to come to a halt. The father of the bride, Ker, raised his glass. “Thank you all for coming here today to help us celebrate the union of my daughter, Xing-Xing, to this most unworthy fellow…” There were giggles and laughter all around. “Just kidding!” Ker said with a smile. He put an arm around Dave. “We couldn’t have dreamed up a more deserving son-in-law. Dave, we are proud to welcome you into our family. And now everyone, please make your way to the veranda. Dinner is served!” Ella followed the meandering tide of guests as they made their way through the garden and up a few stone steps to an outdoor sitting area. Long tables had been set up for dinner; opulent floral displays of white and green hydrangeas, roses, orchids, baby’s breath, and freesia ran down the center of the tables and cascaded over the edges towards the grass. Ella found her seat next to James at their pre-assigned table. He affectionately tucked a wisp of her auburn hair behind her ear. “Don’t they look lovely?” Ella said as she admired the newlyweds. James paused before answering. “I’m not sure I see a match,” he finally said. “Oh, really?” Ella raised an eyebrow. “She’s full-blown Asian Union, and he’s West Coast American Union. What do they really have in common?” James said half-seriously. “I don’t know—maybe chemistry?” Ella smiled coyly as she sipped her glass of dark red wine. Ella and James were coming up on their two-year wedding anniversary. They met during their third year at Oxford when Ella was 20 and James had just turned 21. Six years later they were married at Christchurch and had a small reception at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons. “Remember what it was like when we first met?” Ella said with a wink. “Yes, I do,” James said. He smiled back at her as he remembered how they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, snogging in the backseats of borrowed cars and behind wooded patches of trees in the university gardens. They’d even shagged on the rooftop of the Senior College Room during a spring holiday. It had been two years since the birth of their son, Max, and their initial passion and attraction had turned into steady love and admiration. They shared the kind of supportive mutual respect that could sustain a marriage through the best and worst of times. Ella felt that the more she got to know James, the better she understood him and more she loved him. And although James generally shied away from introspection, he knew that he couldn’t live without Ella. James recalled the first moment he had met Ella. It was the night of the Trinity Ball. He had heard all about this wonderful girl, the perfect girl, the girl who was smart, beautiful, kind, and patient…and he had heard all of that from his friend Michael, who was dating Ella at the time. It was twilight, and the festivities were in full swing. A thousand bright-faced students swarmed the commons. Through the crowd, James could still remember seeing Michael and Ella approach him. Michael introduced Ella to James. When they shook hands, James felt a shock of electricity; somehow, he knew this was the girl he was supposed to marry. This was the woman he would spend the rest of his life with, the woman he would have a family with, the woman he would grow old with. Then he had shaken off the thought, chalking it up to the exorbitant quantities of bubbly he had consumed. Still, James couldn’t keep his eyes off Ella for the rest of the night. At one point, he saw the spaghetti strap of her midnight-blue dress accidentally fall off her shoulder. He tried to stifle an audible groan by patting his face with his napkin and pretending he had indigestion. Nevertheless, the wife of the dean of Christ Church indignantly shot him a dirty look as she passed by. When James looked up again, Ella was putting the strap back in place. She continued walking until she was out of his sight. Somehow, even though she was dating his friend, James felt certain they would end up together. The following afternoon, James and Ella had met up in the Bodleian Library to “study” together. Afterwards, they went for a walk through Port Meadow. A short conversation turned into a multi-hour heart-to-heart. Despite growing up on opposite sides of the planet—James in Ithaca, Greece, and Ella in Woodside, California—they felt like they had surprisingly similar symmetry in their lives, which they took to be a sign that they were meant to be together. For one thing, they both had pets named Echo: Ella’s Echo was a small dog that a classmate had given to her after his family could no longer care for it, and James’ Echo was a stray cat that he had taken in around the same time. They both had entrepreneurial, workaholic fathers, and they both had little sisters who had passed away in childhood. James had been six when his mother gave birth to a stillborn baby girl, he told her. Ella’s voice cracked a little when she tried to recount the story of her own sister. “It happened when I was babysitting… I had been annoyed that my parents made me look after my little sister, Rose…” James could tell she was nervous. He rested his hand on hers reassuringly, and the warmth of his skin against hers somehow gave her courage to continue. “While we were playing at a park, I was reading The Hobbit,” she went on. “I didn’t notice when Rose disappeared. When I looked up from the book and realized she was gone…” She hesitated again; James squeezed her hand and waited patiently for her to continue. “I searched for her,” she finally said. “I ran up and down the streets of Menlo Park, but I couldn’t find her.” Ella’s parents called the police and they put out an amber alert, she told James. For months, officials looked for Rose. Her parents reluctantly but eventually came around to the idea that something terrible must have happened to her. Had she been kidnapped? Abducted? The authorities insisted that Rose was almost certainly deceased. Ella continued to wait and hope, posting about her missing sister on social media for two years. Three years later, after she had given up hope, Rose was found—she was being held hostage in the home of a forty-eight year-old man. Ella’s parents brought her home, but Rose was so damaged and hurt and confused that she never completely recovered. The pedophile was put in a correctional facility and was undergoing sexual perpetrator therapy and behavior modification genetic engineering. Rose had biweekly therapy sessions with an expert in the field, who tried to help her cope with her PTSD. She started taking pills to help her sleep and inadvertently became addicted. At one point, Ella’s parents discovered that Rose was sneaking alcohol, and they threw away all of the alcohol in the house. But then, late one night, when everyone was asleep, Rose took too many pills and never woke up. Ella had never forgiven herself or her parents for giving up on her sister. Had Rose been found earlier, Ella believed that her little sister would still be alive. Even today, many years later, she sometimes couldn’t stop thinking about Rose and what her life might have been like. “Ella, is everything okay?” Ella felt James’ hand rubbing her arm, and...