confusifying | wicked | book 3/3

Elphie

I've not slept at all, I kept watch of my sister and I'm glad that I did, when Nessa awoke in the middle of the night I knew she wasn't going to fall back asleep.
We stayed awake and chatted amongst ourselves and waited for the morning to come.
And now it has all I want to do is to go back in time.
I've regrettably been told that Boc is going back to Shiz with her.
But in a way I'm just happy that she won't be alone.
Nessas our buy the door talking to Albert I believe, undoubtedly that means that my mother is there with him.
I'm unsure what's going on with those two.
I'm on my own in the room that Nessa slept in.
Just trying to compose myself so I don't say anything upsetting.
I slowly prepare myself to take Nessa back to Shiz.

We've been back for around half an hour, already Nessa is starting to get agitated with me.
Of course she hasn't shouted at Boc yet.
A total of five pens have been dropped on the floor by accident and Nessas burst into tears over three of them.
She's given up marking papers and instead is reading through the Halen, I'm unsure of what she's looking for but I'm not going to ask.
The atmosphere begins to settle when out of the blue, Nessa suddenly lets out a loud gasp.
"You okay?" I ask, concerned.
Nessa nods her head slowly but she doesn't look sure.
"I just remembered something," she mumbles "the teddy bear that one of our cousins got me, the one that I dropped in the fountain,"
I raise an eyebrow at my sister, who looks very keen that I remembers this old toy.
I do, but I don't see the significance.
"What about it?" I ask curiously, Boc walks in from the lounge and sees that I'm sat in the only available chair and leans against the wall.

"Nothing particular," Nessa says after some time "I just remembered it, that's all."
I recall the bear being an odd blue colour and it wore a clashing red bow tie.
I remember how it ended up in the fountain too.
Nessa wanted to make a wish, she clutched the bear in one hand and a shiny coin that Frex gave her in the other.
I pushed her as close to the fountain as I could and as she threw in her coin, the bear went in with it.
Nessa was only young at the time, around eight, she cried loudly.
I remember a sweet lady coming over to us and talking to Frex for a while, after a while she disappeared and returned with a bag full of peppermints.
The woman handed them to Nessa, who immediately stopped crying, Frex gave the woman some coins and she said how honoured she felt to have been given money by the governor.

I can remember so many obscure things from my childhood, I'm sure Nessa can too.
"I think I'd called it bluebell." Nessa says excitedly.
I've only just noticed the look on Bocs face, I've seen the look before in Fiyeros eyes, it's a look of sadness and longing.
But it's also a look of love.
His eyes are fixated on Nessa, she smiled when she recalled the toys name.
"I'm sure I had a cat with the same name," Boc announces suddenly.
Nessa gasps again, this time sounding extremely interested and playfully jealous.
"I always wanted a cat!" She squeals like a child.
Boc chuckles and scratches the back of his head.
"It wasn't really my cat, it lived in the alleyway behind my childhood home, lots of the kids on my street used to feed it, I'm sure everyone had a different name for it."
Nessa smiles and looks down.
"I think Bluebell is a wonderful name." She whispers.

After a while Boc yawns loudly and I realise that we've been talking for an awfully long time.
"I think I'll get ready for bed," he says merrily "Is Harley coming?"
Nessa nods gently and Boc grins is response.
He disappears into the lounge and I hear him open the clasps to a large case that he traveled with.
"When's Harley arriving?" I ask.
"Any minute," Nessa replies, barley looking up from her book.
As if by magic the front door opens slowly, Harley seems a bit stunned to see me and even more stunned when she sees Nessas arm.
"My, Miss Nessarose, what have you done to yourself?" Harley chuckles, placing her hands on her hips.
Nessa glares at me then smiles at harley.
"Fell out of my chair, I was being silly." Nessa reply's dryly.

I breathe a sigh of relief.
Nessa glances around the room then stops abruptly.
"I'll see you next week," she says forcefully.
I didn't know I was supposed to be coming next week but I'll take it as a sign that I should be leaving.
I nod and watch Harley take Nessa into her bedroom.
The two of them nattering about random things.
I'm alone in Nessas office, the room seems to be so small yet so big at the same time.
Shiz has barley changed since I studied there, the same floor, the same walls.
Practically everything is the same.
But the atmosphere has changed majorly, it no longer seems like a scary uncertain place.
Perhaps that's what time does to a building, or perhaps that's what time does to a person.

I'm back home now, Glindas off doing god knows what.
Fiyero has promised to make me a baked potato that he's grown himself so I'm looking forward to that.
I'm so lucky to have a husband who can cook this well.
I can't help but worry about Nessa spending time with Boc, she's not definitively told him that she doesn't love him but at the same time I don't think it's the right idea to tell him that she does.
Our weird group is complicated as is, and this is uncharted territory.
But it's not like worse things haven't happened, and besides I doubt Oz has anything more to throw at us.