Disclaimer: I own none of these characters. They all belong to C.S. Lewis, as well as the wonderful world of Narnia which I have come to love. I did not intentionally steal anyone's idea.

"Ms. Pevensie?"

"Yes?"

"I'm afraid I have some bad news…"

Dead. Every one of them- Susan had held the receiver in a cold clammy hand as the rail man told her the particulars of the accident. The train her parents had boarded that morning, headed to Bristol, had gone out of control, taking a turn too quickly. Peter, Lucy, and Edmund, all watching from the "safety" of the platform, were all hit head on, and her parents, in the front car, along with four others that had yet to be identified, had been crushed from the impact. All had died instantly.

"Surely there's been some mistake…"

"We found your name in your brother's pocket, Ms. Pevensie. I'm truly sorry for your loss."

Her loss. Why did people say it? 'Loss' was misplacing a brush, to be found later. She would never be able to find her family's lives again.

"Er, their things are at the Bath Station. Again, my deepest condolences." With a click the receiver died and Susan numbly put it down.

With a heavy heart she went to a couch and sunk down into it. How could they be dead? Why, she had just seen Edmund two days ago, alive as can be. But now- it seemed so surreal that she would never again see her brothers or sister walk in through her door. Never again see her beloved mother or father. Or berated her siblings for continuing the mad fantasy of Narnia.

Two days passed, and Susan holed herself up in her apartment, trying desperately to ignore the calls of well-wishers. How could they offer her condolences? They wouldn't help- nothing was going to bring her family back. Nothing was as it should be.

Finally, on the third day, Susan resigned herself to going to Bath in order to pick up her family's belongings- now her's by right. She parked her car close to the rail station and paused, finding herself unable to go. Somehow, when she accepted those items, it would be final. There would be no changing it, no going back after this. "But," she reasoned, "Its not like there would've been going back if I didn't go and claim them."

So she resignedly got out of the car, going into the unclaimed baggage area, where a young woman about her age stood at a counter, boredly thumbing through a magazine. "Can I help you?" she asked boredly as Susan approached.

"Yes," Susan said finally. "I… I'm here to pick up my family's things."

"Name?"

"Pevensie," Susan said, and the girl behind the counter turned and went into a back room for a few minutes.

"Awful lot of stuff back here. Did they forget it or something?" she called as she began hauling the all-too familiar looking bags out to where Susan stood.

Susan gulped down the lump in her throat as she replied, if a little brokenly, "No. They… They're no longer with me," she said finally.

"Huh," was all the girl said. "There's a note on one of these," she said as she laid down Mrs. Pevensie's purse on top of the load. "Get address if further articles recovered," she read aloud. "That's odd… They don't usually ask for that sort of stuff."

Susan inwardly cringed at the girl's lack of comprehension. "They want it because my family died on the bloody train," she snapped, snatching the satchel the girl had brought out from her hand. "And if they find anything more, they can call me at the same number as before," she said angrily as she loaded the bags on a stray cart. With one last glare, she turned on her heel and left, her family's belongings on the cart in front of her.

With a heavy heart she loaded the boot of her car, not exactly sure what she would do with all of this. Her mother's purse, her father's wallet… they all seemed sacred. They all held too many memories. "Best pack it up," she reasoned as she drove home, unintentionally going to her parent's old home, where Lucy and Edmund had lived with them.

She parked the car on the street, not intending to be there long. She pulled out her keys, and found the oldest one on the key ring, and in a practiced motion unlocked her old home, unsure what to expect. She tentatively stepped in, half expecting to hear her mother in the kitchen making something or to see her father in his study reading. But of course, there was none of it. With a sigh, Susan put her purse down on the little table by the door, and began to walk around, not liking in the least how empty it sounded. The familiar furniture offered only slight comfort to her- for its familiarity was mocking, reminding her of who she had lost.

She turned to the kitchen, where dishes sat clean on the drying rack, waiting for her mother to put them away. How like her mother- to leave things clean. "Of course," Susan said aloud, trying to relieve the emptiness by speaking, "She was going on a trip." Carefully Susan put the dishes away in places that hadn't changed since she was a child in the house, and, with a sad smile, went to the sink, where there hung a family portrait taken years ago. Another lump came to her throat as she looked at the picture. The family was all together… something that would never happen again. "Not in this lifetime, at least," she said to herself.

She sat in the living room for awhile, staring into space as she tried to come to terms with loosing her entire family. Not that it was easy- just something that had to be done. "They're not coming back, Susan," she told herself firmly. "So it's just best to go on. Surely they wouldn't want you brooding about them."

But even these words did nothing to help her accept it. Rather than wallowing, though, Susan decided to simply unload her family's things there, and go away, leaving her family to be dealt with at a later time. She made quick work of unloading, stacking the stuff in the parlor, taking care with her mother's and father's personal items like wallet and purse, then, with a last look, shut off the lights and left, the only sound the click of the lock as she went away.

a/n: Please tell me what you think! Reviews greatly appreciated!