Edgar opened his eyes and looked over, seeing someone laying beside him. He blinked a little and turned over, looking over the person. He was surprised it was Higgs. He shook him a little to get his attention.
"Mr. Higgs... Mr. Higgs?"
"Hmm?" he said, turning to look over his shoulder.
"Why are you in here?"
He turned back. "I'm hiding."
"From... who?"
"Everyone. I haven't been myself lately and have been making bad choices. No one would suspect me being in here."
"What'd you do?"
"I really don't want to talk about it."
Edgar nodded and laid across Higgs' stomach. They were silent for a while when Higgs turned over onto his back and Edgar ended up laying on him fully.
"What are you doing?" he said, looking at Edgar's face.
"I dunno. Just layin."
"Aren't you afraid I'll come after you again?"
"No."
"Aren't you mad at me for forgetting you and causing you so much pain?"
"No... you ask weird questions, Mr. Higgs... Is that why everyone's mad at you and you're hiding?"
"Partly."
Edward laid his head on Higgs' chest and then frowned. "Where's your heartbeat?"
"It's there. In my vampire form my blood slows to a crawl and my heartbeat does as well. We're not completely dead, but pretty close to it. If you listen hard enough you'll hear it."
Edgar moved his head around to put his ear over Higgs' chest where his heart would be. They were both silent for a while when Edgar gasped, smiling.
"I hear it!"
"Good job..." he said softly but not condescendingly.
Edgar put his chin on Higgs' chest and looked at his keeper. He noticed Higgs was just looking off into space, not thinking of anything.
"Are you gonna cry because everyone's being mean?"
"I think I've finished crying as of now." He said with a sigh. "Then again, I'm not worth much these days so who would even give a damn if I did?"
"I would." He sat up to look down at Higgs. "I don't like it when you and Mama get into fights and stop talking to each other."
"Mama?"
"Oh, Merida said that I could call her Mama if I wanted. Is that alright?"
"Merida can do as she sees fit in that matter."
"Are you mad at her?"
"I'm not really sure, to be honest." He sat up as Edgar sat on his knees. "Everything is a blur and so confusing. I don't really understand why I'm being the way I am, it just keeps coming out and I can't seem to catch it." Higgs reached up and touched the bandage on Edgar's neck softly. "I'm sorry that I hurt you."
Edgar moved from Higgs' hand and put his arms around his neck.
"It's alright, Mr. Higgs. I know that you can't help what you do sometimes and Merida knows it and the other people know it too. I know you didn't mean to hurt me at all, so I forgive you. I'm not gonna turn into a vampire, am I?" he asked, pulling from Higgs.
Higgs chuckled. "No, that's one good thing about our transformations." He moved Edgar to sit in his lap and put his head on his. "Who would have thought that the one comforting me the most would be a small child."
"Was that you screaming in the hallway too?" he asked, looking up.
"Yeah..."
"Why?"
"Because Merida won't forgive me for what I did. She finally sees how much of a monster that I am. Once she knows you're better, she's going to leave the mansion."
"You're so stupid, Mr. Higgs." He said, moving to see Higgs better. "She wouldn't leave even if you bit her leg off. She's mad but I know she'll move on like she usually does, but she won't leave you. When she was Lord Clarvins' prisoner, she told me all about you and how much she wanted to return because she was afraid you'd think she had ran away. She always thinks about you, Mr. Higgs; she always thinks about what will happen if she does something that affects you. I bet you she's already thinking about how long to teach you a lesson or something."
"Maybe..." He leaned back on the bed with Edgar laying on his chest again. "The month is almost over and I have one transformation left. Then I'll be free for two whole months... What an unexpectedly annoying and eventful year it's been."
"Uh huh."
Higgs chuckled. "Knocked you around a little too, didn't it, kid?"
"Yeah... but we have Merida and she'll pick us back up."
"If nothing else she's known for that."
********************
A couple of days later was the end of October and moving on into November. Edgar was finally fully recovered while Kans and Radek had to go back home.
Merida hugged Kans as he pulled away from her slightly. She let go of him and gave him a confused expression.
"Sorry... if I'm being difficult. Maybe you shouldn't just come up and hug people." He growled.
Merida blinked as Radek looked over his shoulder and whacked his brother with his horsetail. Kans hissed and walked away, grumbling something. Merida looked at Radek for answers.
"It's called a troll cat. He's in a pissy mood the majority of the time and has cat-like characteristics. He'll be nice if you give him milk or cream though."
"Aye, I see... Weel, ye come back and visit more often than ye do. Dinnae let that harpy keep ye."
"Of course. It was great to meet you, Ms. Dunbrough. You're everything and more." He said, kissing her knuckles.
"Ye are a flatterer, arenae ye?" She turned to the carriage. "And ye, ye ken to what I told ye about yerself. Yer not anything less that human, ye ken?"
Kans just grumbled loudly but waved to her from the carriage. She smiled along with Radek
"Take good care of my nephew while we're gone. He can be a handful sometimes but he's a good kid. Please treat him like you treated my brother and encourage him the same. He may not have the physical transformations to show his discouragement, but he has a lot of mental and emotional scars that need healing."
"Aye, I ken ye. I willnae go anywhere."
"Where is Higgsy?"
"I tried to get him up but he was dead asleep with Edgar." Jami said.
"Hmm... and you, FrouFrou, keep out of your brother's way regarding rampages. When I come back here next time, I had better see a wedding band on your finger and a beau at your side."
Fuchsia blushed. "I'm- I'm working on it..."
"Ye dinnae have to have a lad an ye dinnae want to. Better to get a good one that be desperate and end up with a numptie."
"That's quite true. Listen to your aunt Merida."
"I'm nay that much older than her." She grumbled.
"Oi, let's go! I'm ready to leave and you're chatting it up! Let's get it going, Horse Ass." Kans yelled.
Radek rolled his eyes. "We'll come again, I promise. Oh, and if you come over to our house, Ms. Dunbrough, please make sure I'm there when Silvia gets the best from you. I want to see you deck one to her."
"Cannae promise I'll wait for ye."
He smiled and trotted over to the carriage. The carriage hand snapped the reigns and they were off back to London. Everyone waved goodbye and Merida sighed, putting her hands on her hips.
"Weel then, I guess it's time for me and Mr. Higgs to have a little talk."
*************************
Merida and Edgar headed back up the hill to Higgs' mansion and Edgar looked up at her.
"Mama, I thought you were gonna talk to Mr. Higgs."
"I was but I cannae find him. I kenned he was still in bed when Mr. Northumberly said he wouldnae get out of it, but when I went to wake him up, he wasnae there. He mayhap have already gone to the mansion."
"Oh... Are you going to make up and we can be a family again?"
"Aye, tis best to put this feud behind us... weel, wasnae really a feud in the first place. That lad has a way of making things out of nothing real quick-like."
"Mr. Higgs is kind of girly sometimes."
"Edgar!" Merida chastised with a hard look.
Edgar winced a little. "I- I didn't mean it in a bad way, honest! I just don't know the word for it..."
"How do ye mean?"
"He gets hurt really easily in the heart and stuff. He cries a lot and stuff..."
"Ye mean he's sensitive and emotional?"
"I guess. I think those are the words."
"Aye, true, he can be childish at times but an ye ken it, he has a right to be. He turns into a creature and does things he doesnae want to do at times. Sure they can be annoying, but it's not like I dinnae ken that... He has a strange habit of jumping to conclusions all the time. An things get out of sorts, he immediately kens I'm going to leave or that I ken he's a monster."
"He was really sad that you didn't come when he was crying."
"An I had, laddie, he wouldnae learned his lesson... then again, maybe I was too hard on him and I shouldnae let him ken he was anything less than a man."
"I know he didn't mean to hurt me, Mama. I think you should have come to him when he was crying. It's got good for boys to cry."
"Who told ye that?"
"No one. I just don't think boys should cry. When boys cry people think they aren't strong even if they really are. I know Mr. Higgs is strong sometimes but you hurt his feelings a lot. He won't say it, but you do."
"How do ye ken it then?" she grumbled.
"When he was with me before his uncles left. He has bad dreams at night."
"Aye, I kenned his dreams werenae good but ye said I hurt his feelings a lot."
"I think it's kinda like you said, that he always makes things bigger than they are. Maybe something happened and that's why he does it... I just know that Mr. Higgs was really sad after you didn't say anything to him and stuff. He thinks you think he's a monster."
"Preposterous. I'll have to have a deep discussion with that lad afore he throws himself into a depression."
Edgar shrugged, not really understanding everything that was going on. He knew Higgs was upset about Merida not coming when he broke down in tears and he knew that Merida was upset about what Higgs had done to him while he was sick. What he didn't understand was why Merida didn't come and why Higgs was hiding from her if she wanted to try and make up. Are all mamas and papas this way? he thought to himself.
******************
When they got to the mansion, Merida put the groceries they had gotten from a stray trip to the market up on the counter and then walked towards the stairs.
"Higgs, what do ye want for supper?!" she screamed up to the second floor. There was no answer and Merida put her hands on her hips. "Oi, Mr. Higgs, what do ye want for supper?!" she screamed again.
When he didn't answer again, she scoffed, hiking up her skirts and tromping up the stairs. She went to his room and banged on the door.
"Mr. Higgs, an ye dinnae make a request the food may not be what ye want." No answer. She frowned. "Mr. Higgs?"
She opened the door but found that the room hadn't been used at all. She looked around the room but found her employer nowhere to be found. She put her hands on her hips as she looked around in confusion and then left the room.
She walked back downstairs just as Edgar was opening the small cake box and he looked up. She made a face at him as he put the cake back on the table.
"I cannae find Mr. Higgs."
"What do you mean?"
"I called for him and I went to his room and I cannae find him. Do ye ken he dinnae come to the mansion? Mayhap he stayed with his father... mayhap he doesnae want to see me again? I ken I hurt him muckle bad..."
"I can look for him, Merida. There's lots of rooms; maybe he's in one of them?" he said with big eyes of excitement.
It had been a plan of his to search all the doors in the mansion. Merida pulled out some carrots and the wrapped meat they had bought.
"Weel, tis best we find him at some point... I guess ye can look about and see an ye can find him. Dinnae ye go snooping, either. I ken ye've been hoping to look about." Edgar smiled sheepishly as Merida smiled back. "Ye can still look but I mean an ye find something, dinnae start going through it. Ye tell me and we'll ask Mr. Higgs an it's alright for ye to go in there."
"Alright, Mama..." he said with a kick of his foot.
"See if ye can find him and I'll just make beef stew, I guess."
Edgar nodded and took off to find Mr. Higgs.
Edgar didn't find Higgs that night and although Merida was worried, she knew there were a ton of doors yet for the child to explore. She had a lot of laundry to do the next day and she really needed to tidy up the mansion a bit, so she would let Edgar off the hook for the day (since it had been so long since he had energy to play) and let him look for Higgs.
********************
Edgar was having a blast being able to see what all the doors were that riddled the mansion. He wondered why Higgs needed so many doors if he was only one person but he went about exploring them nonetheless. Most of them were either empty or made pretty basic with a bed, side table, a shelf, wash basin, and chamber pot. Some had storage in them of what looked like couches or chairs with sheets over them. He opened one up and found it stacked full of books that towered over his head. He looked up at the piles in curiosity, but he didn't want to get hurt, so he left them be. He opened another door and another and both also had piles of books in them, but one room was in complete disarray with just a mound of books in the way and the other looked like someone was starting to organize them, with intermittent piles around the room but still messy. The fourth door he came to was a vast library with a lounging chair and a small table with a lantern on it. There was a book laying there as well and the books were on the shelves.
"Mr. Higgs sure likes books..." he said as he closed the door.
He went to open the next one but found it was locked. He made a face and looked up at it. There was a key dangling next to it and the letter P carved into the wood. Edgar jumped up and was able to get the key and unlocked the door. He opened it up and found a lot of toys and things to play with and a small child sized bed. He turned his head at it and closed the door, putting the key around the doorknob since he couldn't get it back on the hook. He looked through a couple of other rooms until he came to one with the a W on it. He was about to jump for the key but he found that there was no key there. He made a face and turned the handle, finding the door was open.
Unlike the other labeled rooms he had come across, this room was dark with one sad candle flickering by the bed. It smelled like wet dog in the room and he wrinkled his nose. As he got closer to the candle, his foot hit something hard and he cried out in pain, jumping up and down. He landed on his bottom as he rocked back and forth with his foot in his hand, trying not to cry about the pain. A tears escaped but he kept his composure and then looked over at what he had kicked. It was a bucket of some sort that smelled disgusting. It wasn't the chamber pot but something else. He crawled over to it and almost added to the vomit inside of it. He reared back, crawling away from it and coughing at the smell. A noise startled him and he looked over at the candle, now finding it hovering in the air.
"Mister... Higgs?" Edgar asked, hoping it wasn't a ghost.
The candle moved a little. "Ed... gar?" a crackly voice said with a cough behind it.
Edgar got up and walked over, finding that it was Higgs, although he looked like shit.
"Mr. Higgs! We've been looking all over for you!" Edgar said, waving his arms. "Merida was really worried and you have a lot of rooms and weird rooms and too many books and-"
Higgs coughed harshly and then moved the boy out of the way to grab a small cup. He spit into it and set the cup back on the table, breathing heavily.
"Edgar, you can't be in here. You'll get sick again if you do. We don't need that again."
"Are you sick?" Edgar asked, turning his head.
"It appears so... Regarding Merida, don't tell her I'm in here. I don't want her to get sick either."
"But she'll think you're not here at all and that will make her worry."
"She's going to leave anyway..."
"Huh?"
"She's just going to tell me in person this time that she's leaving. She's nice like that..." he said with such a sad excuse for a smile that even Edgar was insulted by it.
"Mr. Higgs, Merida's not leaving you."
He shook his head and put the candle back on the table beside him. He laid back down and turned over.
"You don't have to sugarcoat it, Edgar. It was pretty clear that when you got better she was going to take you and leave. She just doesn't want me to worry over it and so she's going to tell me in person. I'm not ready for that right now so... don't tell her where I am, alright? I just... I need to rest for a moment... I... I'm not feeling well..."
He drifted off to sleep and Edgar made a face. He climbed onto the bed and touched Higgs' face, finding it extremely warm. Edgar gasped. "Your head is really hot, Mr. Higgs."
"I know... I can't get cool enough but I'm cold..."
"I have to get Merida!"
"No, you don't... It will stall the inevitable. Please, Edgar... promise me you won't tell her I'm here."
"But why?"
"I don't want her to feel pity for me and make her stay... She's done her purpose... she passed... passed all the tests... There's no reason for her to stay anymore and I know... I'm know I'm not man enough to do anything about it but I'm not a man at all, am I?"
Edgar made a face. "You're not making anything sense..."
"Please don't tell Merida... please..."
Edgar made a face. "I'll try..."
He jumped down and left the room, closing the door. If he didn't want Merida to see him, then how was he going to get better? Edgar didn't want to make him mad and kick him out of the house... He remembered what Merida had done for him when he had had a fever and decided to try his hand at being helpful.