➹₊•°༉彡˚✧
BREATH IN, BREATH OUT. A focus of regulating the exchange of gases, small sweat forming along my temples. Concentrating on my own movements instead of my ragged inhaling, I moved freely around the fairly large room. Switching my footing from a full step that carried a force of strength to a small tiptoe that held much delicate grace. Hands raised to different angles yet they weren't an awkward flail of dismay, they were swan-like statures, moving in a rhythm that twirled with magnificent beauty.
Along with my movements was long thin strings that danced around my body, carefully maneuvered to provide a scene of majestic elegance. My hair bouncing around in spins to follow close with my gestures, a glow from the moonlight lighting it up to a golden color. If one were to wonder what I was doing, they might think I was practicing a mere speculation of showcasing abilities. But no, it wasn't, I was doing a gesticulation of the one thing that I have practiced as a child. And it was a ballet dance that I added with ribbons.
Doing one last twirl of seeping charm, I lowered my arms to my side, the long objects in hand falling down with them. I breathed heavily with a small smile, the satisfaction of being able to finally end the dance swirling along the air with my deep exhales. Carefully moving back to my set aside items, I grabbed a towel to wipe away my efforts, sitting quietly on the small chair by the corner.
The night was still growing, the moon shining brightly from outside with a mysterious beam. A vague yet exquisite intricacy outlining it going unnoticed by the light it used to blind away the watchers. Silence was surrounding the whole house, probably due to everyone already snoring away their painfully boring days. After that small talk with Lucy in the spare room, I exited away to search a place to grace my worries with. The feeling of loneliness subsiding out with all the twirls of stress relieving, only forcing me to focus on my next step.
Of course this wasn't going to be acceptable by the Macready. But what she doesn't know wouldn't hurt her, right? Or in her scolding nature, wouldn't hurt me. I folded my belongings, taking them carefully by my hand as I stood up to exit the room. Not even bothering to stay quiet, I graced the hallway with loud obnoxious footsteps, praying that it would reach the ears of a certain old hag. A long journey it was, but the only time I was careful enough was to avoid the way of the strict woman's settlement, making me turn around in a huge circle.
As I made it to my assigned settling room, I scrunched my face to see it slightly ajar. This wasn't open when I left it, I made sure of it by closing it with a loud thud which earned a groan from Susan but I didn't care. Pushing it open, I raised my eyebrows at an empty side of the twin bed, chuckling at the idea of how I wasn't the only rule breaker.
Settling my used clothes by the side, I sat down on the bed, freshening my self up, already changed to a new clean set of nightwear. The day was admittedly exhausting, not because of the dullness, it was somewhat entertaining with all the family drama I had to happily experience. With that in thought, I shifted on my bed, preparing to cover myself with the blanket when running footsteps filled my ears. The worst part? They were headed this way.
Knowing that they would bound inside here with force loud enough to not let me sleep, I stood up and waited by the door. What better way to greet guests than give them a little fright, right?
“Susan, wake up— AHH!” A large grin made it to my lips as the satisfying sound of Lucy's scream reached my ears. Along with that, I got to experience first hand the face of my sworn enemy, who looked as if his soul left his body. Little fright? Acquired.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Edmund exclaimed, his face turning a tint of red from embarrassment. A laugh escaped my lips, receiving a furious eye roll from him.
Stepping aside, I let them get in the room with their faces still scrunched up from shock. “Would you lot bother telling me why you're up and about this late?”
“That's funny coming from you.” Edmund suddenly scoffed out making my eyebrows crease in confusion. What was he on about, was he—
“Were you stalking me again?” Teasing smirk reached my lips, raising a brow at him. I knew this kid liked me! Was just shy to admit he was watching me.
“I wasn't!” He frowned, turning to look away with a tinge of pink swirling on his cheeks. I just shrugged, letting him have enough humiliation for now.
Upon looking at Lucy, she was already staring at us with a small grin, later pursing her lips when she saw my glare. “What's going on, Lucy?”
“It's Narnia!” Her eyes suddenly lit up once more, the bubbles of radiant excitement surrounding her form. “It's real. It really is there!”
Facing her brother, I gave him a questioning look which he just shrugged in reply. Groaning behind us was heard, obviously Susan awaking from the not-so-silent conversation. Lucy went to pull her up, myself ignoring her as my eyes narrowed on Edmund. There was a different aura surrounding him. Something strange that made me curious about what he was possibly hiding. The string of connection swirled with emotions but remained unknown. He was hiding something and I didn't know if I wanted to dig deeper.
“Come on! We gotta go get Peter!” Lucy interrupted, dragging me to run with them. Her small fingers clasped on my wrist, holding it with a firm hand and— Wait what? I was about to swat it away when she let go herself, arriving at the room of her brother.
She walked, more like ran, to his sleeping form but I stopped her. Lucy looked at me with curious eyes but I just shrugged.
“Can I do it?” Blinking sweetly at her, she opened her mouth to say something but just nodded. A huge grin swallowed my features as I walked to a corner, snatching away a small mirror then walked to Peter.
Susan entered the room, followed by Edmund, both were looking at me with confused gazes but I ignored them. Straightening my face, I then quickly morphed it to one's of horror.
“Pelvis! Wake up! Oh no, what happened to your face?!” He sat up with a start, eyes going wide as he faced me with panic written on his features. I handed him the mirror, him accepting it with shaky hands.
“What! What's wrong with my face?!” Peter brought the mirror up, examining his worried face, turning it side to side but frowned when he saw nothing wrong with it.
“Nothing,” Walking away from him, I stood next to the amused siblings, crossing my arms with a smirk. “You just look ugly, that's all.”
Huffing on his position, he glared at all of us, the other three shutting up from their snickers. “Ed! Is this another one of your idea—”
“Peter! I told you, it's really there!” Lucy interrupted him, running to the bed, getting caught by her older brother's arms. Although still unamused by the recent wake up call, Peter turned to his sister with a frown.
“Lucy, what are you talking about?” His voice was groggy, the sleepiness returning once the adrenaline of my scene dissipated.
“Narnia is all in the wardrobe like I told you!”
Susan sighed, moving towards her younger sister. “You've just been dreaming, Lucy.”
“But I haven't! I saw Mr. Tumnus again! And this time, Edmund went too.” Oh? So that's what he's been hiding.
Everyone snapped their attention to the boy shifting beside me. Wanting to annoy him more, I purposely whipped my head to face him, giving up a false gasp of surprise to cover up a laugh from his pained face.
“You . . . You saw the faun?” Peter slowly asked, looking at a smiling Lucy. As we received a disagreeing shake of his head, the youngest sibling turned to explain why.
“Well, he didn't actually go there with me. He . . ,” Trailing off into a face of wonder, the person of question shuffled on his feet. The air of calmness oozing with one's of nervousness. “What were you doing, Edmund?”
A hesitated sigh released from his mouth, my sight catching how it spread widely until it consumed all of the tight anxiousness surrounding him. “I was just playing along.”
And with that, all of their eyes widened, synchronizing with the moment Lucy's whole face dropped.
“I'm sorry Pete, I shouldn't have encouraged her. But you know what little children are like these days,” I chuckled quietly at that, his lying game slightly impressing me. Looks like the Pevensie drama continues! Oh well, more tea for me. “They just don't know when to stop pretending.”
With tears running down her face, Lucy ran out of the room, zooming past all her siblings. The two eldest people sighed at the boy, widening their strides to follow the weeping girl, all the while pushing Edmund to the bed with force. A few moments of silence passed by, myself calmly sitting down on a small chair by the corner. I believe it's time Mr. Grumpy and I have our little chat, don't you think?
“This family is so dramatic,” Crossing my leg over the other one, I crossed my arms with a smirk. “Where do I sign up?”
He rolled his eyes with a scoff, sitting up from his thrown position. “Why are you still here?”
“Why, to scold you, of course!” I sarcastically spat, later standing up from the seat to walk in front of him then looking down at him in a more serious way. “And here I thought you'd know by now that I have no care whatsoever to your family. The reason why I'm here is to question your behaviour.”
“Why do you care!” Edmund suddenly exclaimed, also standing up from his spot to be levelled with me. With his response momentarily startling myself, a small flinch from me made his eyes soften slightly.
“I don't.” I stated calmly, shaking my head to prove my point. He held eye contact for a few seconds, later looking at me as if I grew two more heads with disbelief openly present on his features which he then just dropped.
“Yet you question it like you do.” Sighing tiredly, he looked down to fidget with his hands, a pout etched on his face. The scene almost made me want to pity him as a wave of sadness tumbled down from the depths of his emotions but I didn't— knowing no one would ever wish to be looked at like that. A short range of lost hopefulness shooting from the bottom of his strings that realization required effort to find their way to climb up to me.
This wasn't all about the war's parent separation now, it has already been like that for him. When referencing to what I had observed these past few days, I had always seen him staying behind his three other siblings, silent, not saying a lot of words like he was not visible to the world. Like a light was shone brightly at Lucy, casting a large shadow to fall upon his very own place. His attitude filled words weren't to truly disappoint his family, it was to merely let them know he was also there. He didn't really mean to exchange the recent words from earlier, he just wanted to prove himself to Peter that he was a grown up, that the older male didn't have to act all condescending on him. Because all this time Edmund Pevensie was never a natural grumpy boy, he has just been shaped like that as the time went by that he lacked their attention and care.
Internally debating on what to do with the discovery, I prepared myself to just walk away from the scene, ready for my journey of bedward when a small sniffle reached my ears. I gulped, halting on my steps as the one noise turned to quiet hiccups. What am I supposed to do now? I'm guessing walking away would only prove me to be heartless? Well, who am I kidding, they already think that! Groaning in my mind while strangling my self mentally, I later then made a move closer to the boy with a frown on my face.
Harshly wiping his tears away, the boy tried to hide his reddening face from me making me roll my eyes then slightly open my arms. I closed my own eyes, ready to receive the impact when a second passed that nothing did. Furrowing my brows, I made a move to see what he was doing when a force caused me to yelp, quickly closing my arms around the shaking body embracing mine. Did he have to wait a few seconds to understand I was letting him hug me?
I let a few moments pass by, just rubbing small comforting circles on his back while racking my brain to see if I had any idea of what to tell him after he calmed down. Do I threaten him to never tell a soul about this? Or do I just act like a normal human being and tell him comforting words. And although the former idea became painfully tempting, I shook away the thoughts of being mean, just to say one phrase that crossed my mind. “Do you want some bread?”
His body suddenly shook from our embrace, myself panicking subconsciously. Wondering if I chose the wrong words to say, thinking he was crying again but relaxed my tense posture when his warm breathy chuckle tickled my neck. He then softly lifted his face from my shoulder, showing his slight red puffy eyes.
“I—” Quickly interrupting me, he frowned cutely, looking away from gazing into my sight.
“Please don't say anything to break the mood.”
Giving him a look of offense, it was my turn to return a pout. The hug slowly unclasped, both of our figures awkwardly standing close to each other. “You really think that lowly of me?”
“No! I didn't mean it like that.” Desperately trying to defend himself, he finally looked back at me. I almost laughed at what was occurring but stopped myself when the pit of sadness still flowed from him. Sorry, Edmund. But I was never one to not break a comfortable mood.
“Look, I know I'm not in the right place to say this but life isn't all about proving yourself,” I started, looking for the correct words to use for an additional statement.
“But I'm not proving anything with anyone—” Let me finish first, you asshat.
“Maybe not everyone can see it but I know the both of us are conscious with your grown up act.”
“You don't know that!” He spat with a scowl, moving a few steps back from our original positions.
“Oh, but I do,” Let's play a game of knowledge, shall we? “Fidgeting hands, first act of nervousness. Avoidance of eye contact, an obvious action of visible secrecy. Hesitance to speak, a move that can clearly be seen as hiding of truth,” A massive thank you to my empath abilities for teaching me proper observation. “Now tell me straight to the face that you weren't lying a while ago just to prove you're a grown up to Peter.”
Pursing his lips, he gave me a heated glare, not wanting to give up his cover. Of course, with my natural competitiveness, I held it with confidence, also not backing out without a fight. As he noticed my strong gaze, he sighed, lowering himself once again. Opening his mouth to speak, he closed it again, not knowing whether or not it was smart to open up to someone he barely knew.
“I just,” How he managed to share private information with a stranger, I don't know. “I'm tired of being second best.”
Shaking my head at his statement, I gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. I may not know what he really went through but I did my best to leave him a piece of advice. “There is no numbering if you wouldn't think that there was one to begin with,”
Making my way to exit the room, I stopped by the door frame one last time, not bothering to turn around to see his eyes following my movements. “Sometimes everything just starts inside our playful minds that we get blinded enough to not see the reality of it all. Maybe some of your actions are justifiable with what you might be going through, but not everytime can you just push people away to prove that you're strong. Because from what I can see, your family isn't that bad enough to really exclude you in anything. You just have to make a little more effort to show them that you're capable of getting levelled with them.”
Exiting the room with the thought of swirling questions, I made my way to at least get a good night sleep. After all, this day has been tiresome with all the drama I had to take in, especially all the physical contact that I had just went through. Don't forget to add the socializing to the mix. With all those distracting thinking, my senses failed to pick up the two eldest Pevensies sharing looks with each other, having only heard small snippets of my words. But one thing only resided in my mind, making me smile in triumph. That it wouldn't be Ophelia Wellington if she wouldn't do something she does best. Dramatic exit? Acquired.