Is this destiny?

~ Austin ~

A black Lexus is moving slowly through an older suburb of Austin.

Penny and Ben are in the back, Jesse is driving, and Oni is sitting by his side on the front passenger's seat.

Penny is observing the neighborhood. It's old, but well maintained. Two-lane road is bordered with sidewalks on each side. The front yards are small, simple and clean.

Several people, obviously neighbors, are standing on the sidewalk at the corner, and chatting lively. She can hear their laughter through the open window.

Penny opened the window for some fresh spring air which helps to clear her mind because right now, her mind is a mess and based on Ben's persistent gentle strokes on her back, he can feel her anxiousness.

She looked at the man by her side and smiled. "I am happy you are here.", Penny told Ben.

Ben smiled and kissed the back of her palm. "I will always be by your side."

Her smile widened and she leaned on him. Yes, Ben's proximity makes Penny feel safe and peaceful. She finds it interesting that feelings like 'safe' and 'peaceful' are still novel for her.

The car stopped in front of a two story Tudor style house which has a yard which is not maintained.

Ben stepped out first and opened the door for Penny.

Penny stood on the sidewalk and looked at the house with a complex expression. It is a house that her maternal grandparents left behind. No one lived in that house for as long as Penny remembers, her grandparents died when she was very young, and she has no memories of them.

Based on the information that Sarah gave Penny, her parents are now staying in this house.

"You don't need to do this.", Ben told Penny.

Penny looked at Ben and adjusted his tie. She smiled when she remembered their conversation from the hotel, before they headed here…

"You dressed up sharp…", Penny told Ben when she saw that he is wearing a formal suit.

"Of course, I am going to meet my in-laws.", he said with a straight face.

Penny laughed. "No matter what they say, I don't want them back in my life. You don't need to dress up for them."

Ben hugged Penny and looked her in the eyes. "This is how I see it: If they approve of you, of us, they will be happy that your future husband is well dressed. And if they don't approve, then it does not matter because I care only about your opinion…"

Penny smiled and leaned into his embrace. He knows what to say to make her feel at ease. And he is right. This is not about getting an approval. This is about a closure.

Back to present…

"I need to do this." Penny responded. "I feel that there is some weight on my chest and unless I confront them, I will never be free. I don't want to live in fear."

Ben pressed his lips into a line and nodded. He held Penny's hand while she walked toward the house.

Jesse and Oni were one step behind them, observing the surroundings and making sure that there are no dangers.

Penny rang the doorbell, but no one answered.

"There are two people in the back of the house.", Jesse told Penny. He used Eve-vision to scan the area.

Penny felt her heart thumping wildly in her chest as she walked along the path overgrown with grass around the house.

Mr. and Mrs. Morgan are sitting in lounging chairs and sipping tea in silence. They never spoke much, and now that they fell on hard times they prefer to be silent because whenever they talk, it becomes an argument.

They can't afford to pay for any help in the house, so they need to do everything by themselves.

Mrs. Morgan didn't step into the kitchen for more than thirty years (other than to see why the appetizers are late), so her cooking skills are… rusty.

The house is in bad shape due to years of being neglected, and Mr. Morgan was never a handy-man. He was born and raised to run a business and not to fix wobbly stair railings!

Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have a silent agreement to do only necessary things and everything else can be ignored.

Mr. Morgan was the first one to hear steps coming from the side. He frowned at the newcomers and then his eyes widened in shock.

'CRASH!'

A crisp sound of a fine porcelain cup shattering on the concrete patio sounded.

"Hey! We have only five left!", Mrs. Morgan scolded him. "How can you be so careless!"

Mrs. Morgan noticed that her husband stood up and is looking behind her. She turned to see what got her husband in such a bad state.

Mrs. Morgan held her breath at the sight of a young woman walking toward her. She is wearing a fine business suit and her black hair is neatly styled in a bob with some red highlights and her eyes are sharp and she looks radiant… and Mrs. Morgan's mind spun while wondering, is it possible that she is looking at her daughter, the one who is missing for almost half a year?!

"Harriet…", Mr. Morgan said weakly.

Penny stopped and looked around the area with an unreadable expression.

The garden is spacious, but weeds took over long time ago and there are only faint hints of what used to be a well maintained landscape. The façade of the house is in a bad shape, with paint peeling off and areas closer to the ground are being invaded by moss and mold. The windows are dirty, and there is visible cobwebs. One window is broken and the glass is held in place with a… sticky tape? The concrete patio has several large cracks with weeds sticking out of them… The furniture her parents are sitting on is new. They probably got it with them from their mansion… correction, from Penny's mansion, because all that is hers now.

Penny observed her mother. She remembers her as a posh lady, with hair and makeup always perfectly done and her long nails showed that she does not do any labor, and now… she looks like an old lady with her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, and the grays are showing close to her head.

Penny's sight moved to her father. Always tall and stern, constantly releasing his domineering aura, and now he is weak and skinny.

Penny wondered if her parents were always like this, but she missed to see it? How is it possible that someone changes so much in less than half a year? Actually, they fell from grace about a month ago.

Penny sighed. She thought that she will be happy to see her parents who used and tortured her in a bad state; and she feared that she will feel sorry for them and succumb to her desire to help them out… but she feels: nothing.

Penny acknowledged how all this feels like she is looking at a pair of strangers, and everything they did to her is a bad movie.

But, even if she lost her emotional attachment to those two people in front of her, Penny can't neglect that they are her parents. Or at least they were parents to the person called Harriet Morgan, Penny's previous self.

No matter how Penny thinks about this, Harriet Morgan does not exist anymore, she is dead. Penelope rose out of Harriet's ashes, like a Phoenix, and she should do something in Harriet's memory…

"I will send someone to fix up the house, and the garden. And… I will see if any of your staff from the mansion is willing to come and work for you again.", Penny said and turned to leave.

"Harriet?", Mrs. Morgan stood up and walked toward Penny.

Oni was in-between them in an instant.

Mrs. Morgan frowned at Oni, why is she blocking her from reaching her daughter? She saw Penny's indifferent look and rage swelled inside her.

"What kind of a daughter are you? You need to help us!", Mrs. Morgan demanded.

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