Four-year-old Beckett Fowl sat on the couch in the sitting room swinging his legs absentmindedly. His mother and father were currently talking to Butler. For what reason, he did not know. He felt as if it had something to do with how tired he had felt that morning. That morning when he had woken up, he had felt immensley tired and afterwards had slept a good five more hours before his parents arrived.
Beckett looked over at Myles, who was surprisingly not calling him a simple-toon- whatever that was. His twin brother looked... strange. He looked as if something bad had happened to him, but Beckett had known that there hadn't. True, it had been a little strange yesterday, but that didn't mean that something bad had happened. Did it?
His mother suddenly came into the room, and Beckett saw that she looked like Myles did. Beckett frowned. Why did everyone look so sad? Did they no something that he didn't? And if so, what was it?
His mother sniffed, and came to kneel in front of Beckett and Myles. " I have something to tell you boys..." She began before Myles said, " I heard you talking with Butler. I know what happened." And with that he pulled his legs up to his chin. That should have been somewhat of a warning sign to Beckett- Myles never placed his shoes- even if they were sparkling clean- on the couch.
Beckett stared from his mother to his brother, and hated that he was continually being left in the dark. " What Happened?" he asked, and his mother, who had started to get a glazed look on her face, jumped as though startled.
" Well, um, Beckett you see Artemis is... has... gone on a little trip." His mother said, and Beckett wondered why her voice sounded so funny at the end.
" Like a business trip?" Asked Beckett with a slight lisp.
His mother wiped her eyes and sniffed yet again. " Yes.. Like a business trip." Beckett noticed that there appeared to be water dripping down her face, and yet when he looked up he could see no water dripping down from anywhere. He then realized that she was crying.
Beckett was confused. Surely his older brother going away for a business trip wouldn't make his mother and brother so sad. Would it? He wondered if there was a secret meaning behind her words. As if she was trying to tell him something secretly. If so, Beckett did not get the message.
" I'm gonna go outside!" He annouced loudly before swinging his legs off the couch. His mother looked at him and she looked almost... scared now. She took a deep breath and swallowed before saying," Alright. Be careful." No sooner than her words had left her mouth, Beckett was out the door.
Outside, Beckett was wandering about the grounds, attempting to find anything interesting that he could collect. He liked to collect stuff, although sometimes he had to be careful on what he tried to collect. For example, he had once tried to collect a snake that he had found in their front yard. Needless to say he had gotten into severe trouble in that, and had earned a lecture from his two smarty-pants brothers. Beckett sometimes wondered if he was the weird one, after all, he wasn't a smarty-pants like his brothers. But at other times he thought that he was the normal one, since he didn't go around naming every- Oh, what was it called?- element in the periodic table.
Beckett didn't know what made him do it, but he glanced up and there was Artemis standing a few yards in front of him. Becket smiled. He was back! Beckett immediately turned around and ran bck to the manor. He had to tell his mother. She would be so excited...
When he got there, however, his mother was talking to Butler again, and she had told him that she would be with him in a moment, which only made Beckett angry. Didn't she want to know that Artemis was back?
He was all alone in the sitting room this time around, and somehow it seemed even more... Beckett didn't know what,but it felt strange.
After a while, Beckett finally got tired of the eerie silence and decided to go back outside and look for Arty again. However, when he went back outside to the place in which he had seen Artemis, he wasn't there. He scoured what seemed like the entire grounds of the Fowl Estate, but never could he find his brother.
Beckett, saddened by his failures to locate Artemis, flung himself down on the ground. Why couldn't he find him? He had just been there a moment ago, Beckett was sure of it.
Not long afterwards, Beckett saw a shadow pass over him. He looked up and saw Juliet standing there. She looked just as sad as the rest of them did. Beckett suddenly got angry. What did they understand what he didn't?!
" What are you doing there Beckett?" She asked him, and Beckett saw that she had attempted to make a smile. She succeeded, but it was a sad smile.
" Looking for Arty." He said clear as day, and Juliet's sad smile faltered. She looked around awkwardly before sitting down next to Beckett.
" Um, Beckett, you do understand that Artemis is dead, don't you?" Juliet said, and Beckett found it strange that she had paused in the middle of her sentence. Then he understood what Juliet had said. He knew what being dead meant, of course. It meant that the person couldn't live anymore, and they went up to a place called heaven.
But.. he Artemis wasn't dead. He had seen him with his own two eyes. " No, he's not." Beckett said.
Juliet gave a half smile at him. " And why isn't he dead, Beckett?"
Beckett turned to point where he had seen Artemis. " 'Cause I saw him other there."
Juliet didn't say anything, so Beckett turned back to look at her. She looked even sadder then before. Beckett wondered why that was.
Juliet then shook herself and held out her hand to him. " Come on, there Beck, let's go and get you something to eat." Beckett took her hand and followed. He wondered why she had reacted that way when he said he had seen Artemis. Ah, well, he would ask Artemis whenever he saw him again, wherever he was.
author's notes- when you review, please give your honest opinion, but no flames, please.
oh, and this occurs almost directlt after TLG, so Beckett doesn't understand that Artemis is dead. And yes, he does see Artemis's ghost.