Narnia: The World In The Back Of The Wardrobe

Chapter 5

"Millie, I'm your grandfather." Tears began to slip from my eyes. He walked closer to me, I took a step back. "Wha-why-" I was cut off by his coming closer and hugging me. A comfort I didn't know I wanted, a love I didn't know I needed, and a hug I didn't know needed to come from him. He ushered me over to a chair across from his desk. He crouched down next to me, "Millie, do you want me to explain. I promise to tell you the truth but I can't promise you'll like it." I nodded my head.

"When your mother married your father, he didn't approve of my raising of her, claimed that I was crazy. Your father has to see things to believe them. When you were a baby you used to come here every summer, and I told you the same stories as your mother. But your father, he didn't want your head to be filled with fantasies. For you to be like me as he said "live in a fantasy world" and when we quarreled about it he told me I wasn't to see the two of you again." "Grandpa, Charlie-" "I know your mother sent me a letter after it happened. I-" he stopped when I nodded, flashes of the event flashing through my mind. The clock chimed, it was now eight o'clock. We've been in here for almost two hours. "You should get some rest we can talk more tomorrow." I nodded smiling. I went to walk out but turned back, "Grandpa," he seemed surprised by the new name, "thank you." "For what?" "Not giving in to the nonbelievers." He smiled at me as I left him in his study.

Once I got to my room, I sat on the edge of my bed. Thoughts ran through my head, but those thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Lucy?" The door opened to reveal someone too blonde and too tall to be Lucy. "Hey, can I come in?" I nodded and he came in shutting the door halfway. He came and sat next to me.

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I looked at her but she was staring at her hands, zoned out and lost in her thoughts. "Millie?" I asked. "Yeah?" She said finally looking at me. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. It was cruel of me to say those things. Your not crazy," she nodded taking in what I was saying. "But I am crazy." "No, no I-" She cut me off, "It's fine if you don't believe me your entitled to your beliefs." I let out a sigh of relief. "Even if they are wrong." I shook my head at her comment. I looked over towards her when something caught my eye, a picture on the bed behind her.

I picked up the picture looking between the people. An older man with glasses, a young couple probably her parents, and two babies. I angled the picture towards her pointing to the baby the mom was holding, "Who is that?" She glanced over, "That's me." I pointed over to the other baby who looked about the same age, "And this?" Her eyes turned sad, "My brother."

Brother? "Did you two get separated?" "No." "Well, where is he?" I asked curious. "He's dead." I looked at her, concern flowing through me. I looked at the picture looking between the two babies. "You were twins?" She nodded, "Yeah." "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" She looked at the wall then adjusted herself so she was facing me, I did the same. "It was four years ago, we were ten." She looked everywhere but me and fidgeted with her hands, it was evident the subject was difficult to talk about.

"We went to different schools, him to an all-boys and me to an all-girls. Even though we couldn't see each other, we wrote to each other constantly. But over time his letters started to sound less and less like him. We came home for Christmas and when we did he had a black eye. I asked him what happened, he said he got hit with a ball playing cricket, but something just didn't seem right. So, I didn't say anything and then I saw these kids making faces at him through the window when my parents weren't home."

"I asked him who they were and after a while of convincing, he finally told me. These kids gave him the black eye. They played pranks on him, picked on him, and purposefully got him in trouble at school."

"So I went to their house and told them to stop. They didn't listen. So, when they messed with him again I told my parents and reported them, hoping it would stop. Their parents said that I was lying, that I must have imagined it, one of their sisters even had the audacity to make fun of me for it. One of the boy's fathers even gave them a false alibi and they were angels in everyone else's eyes. So no one did anything."

"There was a lake on his campus and he was probably reading as usual. They started picking on him, pushed him in the water. They didn't know he was afraid of water, and couldn't swim. His body was found the next morning."

Tears had formed in her eyes and I could tell she was using all of her strength to hold them back. "I'm so sorry Millie. They at least got sent to HMYOI, right?" She shook her head, "They had a good lawyer, it was ruled an accident." I put my hand on hers, "I'm sorry. I'm sure he's in a better place now." She nodded the tears in her eyes disappearing.

She leaned over wrapping her arms around me whispering in my ear, "Promise me you won't tell her she's crazy or she's just imagining again, please. You mean them as caring words but sometimes they hurt more than you think they can." I nodded wrapping my arms around her, holding her tightly.

After a little bit, she changed the subject, and after about fifteen minutes we were on the subject of favorite animals. "Horse." She nodded in approval. "And yours?" I asked. "Wolf." "Alright my turn to ask a question. What is your favorite present you've ever received?" "Probably the horse I got when I was eight," she said smiling. "What's its name?" "Well, my mum wanted to name it Rosie and My dad wanted to name it Dasher." "What did you name it?" "Larry." We both laughed at the name she had chosen. It was a fine name just a bit unexpected for a horse. "All right, what's your favorite?" I smiled, pulling the pocket knife my Dad had given me a year or two ago out of my pocket holding it up so she could see it. She immediately had a smile on her face, taking it from me. "Mill," I groaned. She began playing with it, opening it, exposing the blade. "Millie, give it back you shouldn't be messing with it." She flipped it closed quickly, "Why, cause I'm a girl?" I sighed laying back on her bed, "Don't hurt yourself." She nodded and opened it again. She stood up trying to cut a piece of paper with it, it not cutting through. She closed the knife tossing it on the bed, "It needs sharpened." She plopped down, laying on the bed next to me. I nodded inspecting the pocket knife before shoving it back into my pocket.

"You never did show me that sketch of me." She smiled as she visualized it. She got off the bed, heading over to a chair in the corner of the room. She picked the book off of it flipping through the pages. She got to the page and began to walk towards me smiling evilly. "Mill, how bad is it?"

"Oh, so you have nicknames now?" Edmund said smirking from the doorway. I'm gonna kill him. "Yeah, is there something else you were gonna say or was that it, Eddie,? she said with emphasis on his new nickname. I laughed and Edmund scoffed, leaving.

She sat next to me and showed me the sketch, I laughed so hard. "That looks nothing like me." She had a shocked look on her face as she looked at me. "What are you talking about? Look, you have the same nose," she said referring to the triangle that took up most of the oval that was supposed to be my face. I shook my head at her and looked at my watch, it was fifteen minutes after nine. "I have to go to bed before Mrs. Macready catches me in here. Goodnight, Mill." "Goodnight," she smiled.