{"id":3827,"date":"2019-01-02T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T05:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3827"},"modified":"2019-01-01T18:09:02","modified_gmt":"2019-01-01T23:09:02","slug":"nine-01-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3827","title":{"rendered":"Nine – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

They all felt the weight of it, somehow, even those that had forgotten the date, the ones that had stopped numbering the days. Phelan could sense it as he made coffee that morning, watched Tala as she flipped pancakes and minded the venison and potato hash. She was quiet, the twins fast asleep in their basket nearby. Others drifted through, snagging tea, making toast, then leaving again, heading to take over watches or head for the greenhouse, for work on the walls, or down to the river to fish. The day was dawning clear, the sky painted in oranges and golds. It felt like that day all over again, like that morning.<\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t been where he was supposed to be that day. He\u2019d still been in Chicago, delayed in departure, knowing that time was running short\u2014but never realizing how<\/em> short it had run. Kira had taken Teague and left weeks before and he\u2019d known where he needed to go, what he needed to do, but there had been so many loose ends to handle in the city before he felt like he could<\/em> go. Teague would be so angry with him when and if he ever found out about the delay.<\/p>\n

He was supposed to be here, where he was now. The plan had been that he\u2019d be with Thom and Marin and their friends when things came apart. It hadn\u2019t happened\u2014instead, it was weeks before he arrived, weeks where the survivors here had been forced to contend with things they couldn\u2019t hope to understand alone.<\/p>\n

But they survived\u2014thrived, even\u2014without me, so that still accounts for something.<\/em> J.T. had decked him. The memory of it still made him smile. J.T. had been the first to remember him from a long-ago yesterday, from a life long gone. Marin and Thom had started to remember later, though not terribly long after. If the others had similar experiences, they hadn\u2019t shared them yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI deserved it,\u201d Phelan murmured to himself as he poured a mug of coffee. Tala glanced up, her brow arching.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeserved what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe punch.\u201d<\/p>\n

She gave him a confused look. He grinned.<\/p>\n

\u201cJ.T. punched me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere? You\u2019re looking pretty good if he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan laughed. \u201cNot\u2014not recently. When I showed up back then. He punched me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tala canted her head to one side, a corner of her mouth twitching upward into a smile. \u201cOh. Well, then you\u2019re probably right.\u201d She spooned some hash onto a plate and held it out to him. \u201cBreakfast?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] They all felt the weight of it, somehow, even those that had forgotten the date, the ones that had stopped numbering the days. Phelan could sense it as he made coffee that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[299,311,14],"tags":[150,171,170,228,227,149,173,148,168,147,165,215,146],"class_list":["post-3827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-09-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-gwen-johanson","tag-kurt-johanson","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-tala-johanson","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-ZJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3828,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827\/revisions\/3828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}