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The chime of the doorbell rang through the house at 13 Bannerman road. Luke Smith pulled off his oven gloves and untied his apron, pulling it over his head. Upon opening the door, he came face to face with Clani – his childhood best friends, Clyde Langer and Rani Chandra. The three of them didn’t see eachother much, but they made sure to meet up at least once every year – usually on Christmas day – to catch up, and this year, remember Sarah Jane.
She’d passed away in spring, her favourite time of year. She loved looking up at the pink blossom which started to bloom on cherry trees, and watching as over time, it carpeted the ground.
Luke invited his two friends inside, pulling them each into a tight embrace. “It’s so good to see you both,” he said with a wide, genuine smile.
“Good to see you too, Lukey boy,” replied Clyde, clapping him on the shoulder in a brotherly way.
“Please,” Luke gestured into the living room. “Make yourselves comfortable. There’s wine and cheese and just ask if you fancy anything else. Sanjay has stocked up the kitchen for a family of twenty.” They all chuckled, a noise of protest coming from the kitchen where his husband was preparing sprouts.
Sky arrived an hour later, holding a huge pile of precisely wrapped presents. “I hope I didn’t go overboard. I wasn’t sure what to bring.”
Luke laughed fondly and relieved her of the top half of her pile. “Merry Christmas, Sky.”
The five of them gathered at the dining table for Christmas lunch. Being winter, the sky outside was already dark, a calming deep blue colour smattered with stars. The group tucked into roast potatoes and carrots and – much to Clyde’s dismay – a chicken substitute. Sanjay had swayed Luke around to his vegan lifestyle, realising that with all the incredible creatures and aliens they’d met, every living thing deserved to be respected.
Sky bit happily into a sprout covered with gravy, now a fully fledged adult. It was strange for Luke to see his little sister like this. He’d been told that when she’d arrived on Sarah Jane’s doorstep she was only a baby, and when Luke had first met her she’d been a pre-teen. Now, sitting opposite him, was a mature woman, no longer that confused child who didn’t yet understand the way of the world.
Rani and Clyde were seated either side of her. Rani’s hair was now cropped at her shoulders, making her look her age, not that young teen that Luke first new. She’d fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a journalist, following in his mother’s footsteps.
“How’s the third comic going?” Rani asked Clyde, picking up the ceramic gravy jug and pouring some carefully on her plate.
“Well, you know me. Expect something brilliant.” Clyde replied, giving a smug smile. He’d published his first comic book two years ago, and the sequel the next year. It told the adventures of Sophie Jade Sullivan, an investigative journalist with an extra terrestrial secret. No points for guessing where he got his inspiration. The comic had been an instant success among kids, teens and adults alike. The public and critics admired how he’d dared to pick an older woman for a protagonist, showing that age is no hindrance. “Sophie and her son Lucas are just about to meet plucky young Carl Lando. He’s probably the coolest character yet.”
“I’m sure.” Rani agreed sarcastically, meeting Luke’s eyes and shaking her head. “Let me guess, chapter five is when we meet Rachita Chopra, budding journalist that lives over the road?”
“No,” Clyde stuffed a potato into his mouth, “that’s not till book four.” As he spoke, pieces of food flew out of his mouth.
Rani grimaced. “What does she see in you?”
Luke chucked at that. “I hope you didn’t take her to dinner on the first date.”
To Luke’s dismay, his two best friends had not ended up together like he’d hoped they would. Instead, Clyde had searched high and low until he’d found the kind girl that had befriended him during the ordeal with the cursed totem pole. It turns out that her real name was Lexi, and she was in pretty bad shape. They’d moved in together almost instantly. Sick of waiting for him to pop the question, she’d proposed last year. Rani, on the other hand, said that she was too busy with work to even think about dating.
“Actually, I did.” Clyde replied, swallowing his mouthful of potato with all the elegance of an elephant in a tutu. “We’d been through a lot together already, so there wasn’t much that could scare her off.”
That made sense to Luke. On the many occasions that he and his husband had visited Clyde and Lexi’s home, they’d seemed like the perfect pair. It was truly a love story for the ages. From his understanding, not many university relationships lasted the test of time, so his and Sanjay’s story was impressive too.
There was a gap in the conversation. Luke felt his husband’s foot nudge his own under the table. He couldn’t put it off any longer.
Clearing his throat, Luke began with an earnest tone. “Uh, I have some news.” He paused, thinking about the best way to approach this. Rani, Clyde and Sky all glanced at him with expectant expressions.
With a deep breath for confidence, he said it.
“We’re selling the house.”
“What?” Sky blurted out in shock. The other two were just as alarmed.
“I know, it’s not going to be easy, but I-” He caught Sanjay’s eye from beside him and started again. “We feel that this is the best thing for everyone.”
It was as if a bomb had been dropped on the table, everyone too stunned to speak. Even if they could, no one would know what to say. Slowly, Rani picked up her fork again and continued to eat in silence, the others doing the same.
After plates were cleared and stomachs were full, everyone moved into the living room where they opened their gifts, Clani on one couch, Luke and Sanjay on the other, and Sky in an armchair – the one Sarah Jane used to sit in to read the morning paper.
“I miss her,” Sky voiced when there was a lull in the conversation.
“Me too,” added Clyde solemnly.
“And me,” chimed in Rani. “We all do.”
There was silence. It wasn’t awkward, but rather respectful, each of them taking a moment to remember her.
“People keep asking me how she died.” Luke spoke up suddenly. “They’ll say, ‘I’m so sorry for your loss. What happened?’. But that doesn’t matter. Why should it matter? One moment shouldn’t define her when her life was filled with so much joy and wonder. All the things she did, all the people she saved, including me, including you.” He glanced at Sky, but when he did, he didn’t see his little sister sat in that burnt orange armchair. He saw Sarah Jane. He saw his mother. She wore those half moon spectacles that she only wore when she was reading. It was how he wanted to remember her, peaceful, at home, but very much alive. She loved life. She loved everything it came with. Sarah Jane never took a single day for granted.
“It’s not fair. Good people are supposed to be rewarded. I don’t understand why she’s gone. Why her?” It wasn’t like Luke to be so irrational. He understood how death worked. He’d encountered it more times than he’d like to remember. Luke didn’t believe in higher powers or karma or signs from above, but this was one thing he couldn’t wrap his head around. “Where was the Doctor? Couldn’t he have done something? In all the universe there must have been something that could have saved-” His voice cracked on that word. The rest of the room was silent, just letting him release what he needed to. Sanjay placed a hand over Luke’s gently, a wordless reminder that he was here for him. Luke turned and buried his face into his husband’s chest.
“It’s okay to feel angry.” Rani reassured him, wiping a tear from her cheek with the back of her hand.
Clyde nodded, resting a comforting hand on her back. “Sometimes I find myself getting mad at her. Like, how dare she? How dare she leave us.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “But then I realise that gets me nowhere. It’s not her I’m angry with. I’m angry at myself, that I didn’t spend more time with her.”
“Or that I didn’t take every opportunity to tell her how grateful I was for her, how much she taught me, and how much I loved her.” Rani let out a feeble sob at that last part, Clyde shifting closer to pull her into his side.
Sky had been silent. Human grief was so complicated. She was sad, but also happy that she’d been able to spend as much time with her mother as she did. She felt angry like the others, but also a sense of peace that Sarah Jane had managed to accomplish so much and impact so many people. Every emotion contradicted the other, but it felt good. Sky had come to understand that feeling a loss so strongly, just shows how much that person meant to you, and that was a good thing.
“I’d like to do something.”
Her family looked over to her, teary eyed and curious.
“I want to share memories, memories of her, of Sarah Jane. They don’t have to be happy, because that feels like we’re making her perfect, which she wasn’t. We should remember her for how she was – the good, the bad, the days which seemed so ordinary and insignificant that now are the most important, simply because she was there.”
Rani smiled, taking Clyde’s hand in hers. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”
Clyde began. “I remember the first time I met her. We had just narrowly escaped being Slithereen-fodder. Sarah Jane was furious that I…”
For hours and hours they talked and shared, cried and laughed. Sanjay hadn’t known her as well as the others, but he fell in love with his mother-in-law more and more with each story.
Rani and Clyde said their goodbyes at quarter past eleven, wishing everyone a merry Christmas and promising that they will definitely try to meet up more often in the new year.
Sky departed not too long after they did, but not before she’d said her piece.
“I want the house.” She declared.
Luke gave her a slightly exasperated look. “Sky, I’m selling it. It’s been decided. We have to move on, all of us.”
“But what about Mr Smith?” She protested. “Where will he go? You can’t just turn him off and leave him here. He’s family. And what about all the memories that still live here? I can’t picture someone else in that attic, sitting in her chair at her desk.” Her tone got less aggressive, the sadness leaking through. “I want my kids to see where it all happened, to say, ‘here’s where your grandmother beat the Blathereen, and here’s where she gave me my name. I want them to know her, Luke.”
That hit home for the older Smith sibling. He and Sanjay had been wanting to start a family for a while, and the idea of them growing up in this house, it filled him with such overwhelming joy that he could no longer bear the thought of giving his home away.
He looked over at Sanjay who nodded assuredly.
“Okay.” He stated.
Sky’s eyes widened, mouth forming a grin. “Okay?”
“Okay, I won’t sell the house. I want my kids to grow up at 13 Bannerman Road. I want them to know Sarah Jane Smith.” Luke took Sanjay’s hand, using the other to return Sky’s hug once she’d leapt at him, pulling him into the most bone crushing embrace her little arms could muster.
“Thank you, Luke.” His sister pulled back, looking up at him sincerely. “She’s still here, you know? In this house, in us, this street. She’ll never truly be gone. The story goes on.”
And it does.
Forever.