Wonderstruck ➳ Edmund Pevensie

vii

Not long after the band of Telmarines ambushed us, we decided to look for a safe place to stop for the night. Being the loud whisperer Peter is, I couldn't help but listen to what he was saying, "What do you know about Henley?" Peter whispered to Susan. She looked at him wondering where his sudden interest came from. "Why do you ask?" she said continuing to walk alongside Peter. "Well to be fair, we don't know anything about her. Except that she is extremely capable of assassinating anyone," Peter pointed out to Susan who hesitated to respond. She then turned to my direction and I quickly looked away to make it seem like I didn't hear them. "If there's one thing I know, it's that we can trust her," Susan said facing Peter again as they continued to walk.

After endless walking, we finally found a perfect place for us to sleep in the middle of the forest. "We're going to need some firewood," Peter said leaving the group with Trumpkin as they disappeared into the woods. After the two left, Edmund sat down on the grass with Lucy following him. "So... about what happened earlier, uhmm... what exactly happened?" Lucy nervously asked while she looked up at me. "She turned from crazy to complete psychopath. That's what happened," Edmund teased playfully and I rolled my eyes. "Haha, very funny. You're welcome by the way," I said sarcastically while I sat down across from Edmund.

After a few brief moments of silence, Peter and Trumpkin came with a handful of firewood. "Hope we didn't keep you waiting," Peter smiled as he and Trumpkin dropped the firewood in the center of our little circle. Trumpkin gathered two rocks and hit them together as it created tiny sparks. It didn't take long for him until the center lit with fire. We all sat around the warmth of our little bonfire while we ate some freshly cooked fish that Trumpkin fished from the nearby pond. I sat there hugging my legs to my chest while I waited for them to start talking. It wasn't long after I lost my patience and I started talking. "Aren't any of you planning to explain to me what is going on?" I announced as I looked at each one of them and they stopped eating. "No one?" I said disappointedly while they sat there in silence as I continued to stare them down and saw Trumpkin. "Don't look at me, they're the ones that brought you here," he said pointing at the four and Edmund looked at him with intent. "Look, we didn't mean to get you involved. You just happened to be there when it happened," Susan said defensively. "Susan has a point, I mean you were the one who decided to hold my hand." Edmund said and Lucy kicked him on the leg which made him scream in pain. "Susan said everybody and in my defense, I held your wrist. Not your hand," I argued like a child and he looked at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"Stop it!" Lucy shouted and Edmund nodded, "Yes, thank you!" He said, relieved until Peter nudged him, "Shut up." I was glad he had said it and not me. "Okay, to be perfectly fair, she does have a right to know," Peter glanced at the others for approval and all they did was glance back.

"Okay, so... who exactly are you?" I asked in a much more polite manner. "We were just ordinary people, our first time in Narnia was a bit of a long story but all I could say is that after we saved Narnia from a wicked witch..." Susan glanced at Edmund who was playing with the grass, "... the Narnians celebrated and crowned us as their Kings and Queens," Susan explained. "Wait, so what happened to all the Narnians?" I asked still not getting it. "Oh, they're here, just not as many as before." Trumpkin replied looking at the stars with a sad look on his face. "And where were you when everything happened?" I asked and they just looked away dodging my question. I didn't need to ask them twice, I already knew what the answer was gonna be. I wonder how much it hurt to come back and see how much changed while they were gone. I couldn't imagine the burden they had to carry around with them.

Later that night, we were all lying down separately. I laid there alone in my thoughts as I looked at the stars that lit up the night sky magically. It seemed as though this place isn't as bad as I may have thought it would be. Back home in London, I'd use to look out my window at night before going to sleep and see all kinds of things. Some nights were peaceful, some were anarchic. Some nights I could fall fast asleep, some nights were impossible to get through. I guess here, it could possibly be paradise. I have never had a night this perfect before. I thought of my parents and how hard they must have been pushing through with life in London right now. I still don't understand why they wouldn't tell me how Dad got deployed. It's not like I didn't expect it to happen. I knew it would and I couldn't be more upset about how I won't be able to see my own father go. A tear fell down the side of my face as I quickly wiped it away along with my thoughts. I tried going to sleep but I couldn't. I turned around so I laid on my right and had a good view of my companions on this journey.