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[Seven years ago]

"Mrs. Ashton, you called me here?" Aiden sits a little warily at the edge of his seat in the Ashtons' home's kitchen table. Being neighbors, he's been here plenty of times before, of course, with Elise and Adelaide, or when their families are all meeting together, but it's rare that just their mother would ask him to come. Yet on this afternoon, right after he'd gotten home from school, there'd been a phone call where she requested his presence.

Margaret Ashton looks disheveled, another sign that something is not quite right. Her face shows a sleepless night, and her eyes are laced with exhaustion. Hesitantly, Aiden questions, "Are you all right, ma'am?"

She waves her hand. "I—" Her voice breaks, and she takes a moment to stir the coffee she's not drinking: the cup has been full since he got there, and it's remained untouched. The silver of the spoon clinks against the porcelain of the mug before she continues. "I'll be okay. I'm more concerned about Elise."

Alarmed, Aiden asks, "Did something happen to Elise?"

"In a sense. My hus— Her father left."

"Left?" Aiden doesn't quite comprehend.

The spoon makes another circle around the mug. "Left," Margaret confirms. "Disappeared. He left a note, though, saying not to expect him back."

"Why?"

Margaret smiles sadly. "There were… problems, I suppose." Rushing, she amends, "But I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask you here to listen to me lament and drag you into our family troubles. It's just— Elise, dear girl, she took it hard. When I told her, she ran out of the house."

"She… ran? Where is she? Is she alright?"

Shaking her head, Margaret says, "I don't know. I tried to go after her, but she didn't… want to talk to me. I think you know her well enough, though that she'll accept your presence. " Although her voice remains relatively calm, Aiden notes the pain in her expression: a daughter who's hurt, but she can't help. Who won't let her help.

"I'm asking you, can you find her? Talk to her, see if you can get her to come home. Make sure she's okay." At this, Margaret's voice breaks again, and her head slumps down a little.

"Yes, ma'am, of course. I'll find her."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aiden has a few ideas of where Elise could've gone. He hopes he's right on one of them.

As he treks toward his first destination, he thinks. In the five years that he's known her — he's eleven now, and she's ten — she's always been… upbeat isn't quite the right word. But driven, determined, and sometimes a little stubborn. He hopes she's okay now. She will be, he tells himself.

But she's not in the first place he checks. Or the second. Or the fifth. He's beginning to run out of locations, now, and starting to panic. He scours his memories, thinking of any other likely destination.

When he's just about to lose hope, he remembers something: a place she'd mentioned just once before, a while ago…