Chorus' of screaming children and laughter rang out across the park, bright yellow and red lights illuminating the entire grounds as the sun went down. A fair had come to our local park, and being the oldest Raphael and I were automatically forced into taking Alex and Michael for the day.
It hadn't been that bad, if you tuned out the annoying shrieking toddlers that didn't get as many turns on a ride as they wanted, or the kid that got scolded by their mom for getting candyfloss everywhere. But some of the rides had been pretty fun, and Alex seemed to have enjoyed himself, the large Alligator soft toy he barely held in his arms dwarfed his small frame.
Eyes such a startling bright blue it felt as if I were looking to the sky, he was beyond happy, and it was a relief to see that.
In a way I was glad he was deaf and as bad as that sounded, it would be the only reason I could ever find to justify my statement. Because he would go through life completely oblivious to the horrors of what our old life had been like, he would never hear the constant screaming I had in the middle of the night, he would never have to remember the sound of a large fist beating onto the fact of another person. He would never remember hearing that gunshot.
I watched as Michael ran ahead of us to a stand, dragging Lena behind him, her dirty blonde hair cascading down her shoulders. She laughed, her head tilted back slightly as she turned to look at Raphael, a soft smile on her plump pink lips as she mouthed the words 'five minutes' to him.
Raphael nodded as the slightest hints of a soft small smile on his own lips adorned his brown features, watching her with Michael. Throwing a large ball at a set of pins, intent on winning the large blown up Alien, apparently the top prize for that stand, which I wasn't surprised at seeing as literally everyone on the planet was talking about them.
Our guests.
"Wanna grab a hot dog?"
I looked out to the stand across from us, the line rather long and unappealing, but I was starving. I shrugged towards Raphael, indicating that I didn't mind, and with a tug on Alex's small hand, we headed to join the que.
Raphael cast one last glance back Lena, lingering a moment too long, before following after me.
"Seriously," I stated, "you might wanna stick your tongue back in."
He rolled his eyes at my comment, tucking his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket, boots crunching the dry grass beneath us.
"Just 'cause you got a heart of stone, Wednesday, don't mean the rest of us do."
"Please, you're being ridiculously love sick … I'm just waiting for a basket of kittens to slide past any minute."
"Wow, that was a good one," he drawled out sarcastically, eyebrows raised in mock surprise, "did you think of that all by yourself? Clap!"
"Kill yourself," I replied monotonously, fighting the smile that attempted to reveal itself. "You know you woulda' jumped on the chance to tease me if it was the other way around."
"You? Wednesday Aadams? In a relationship? Please."
"I resent that," I shot back, rolling my eyes at him as we continued to lightly bicker, reaching the que and joining it, Alex remaining quite by my side.
A breeze picked up slightly, hinting that summer was drawing to a close, and as a shiver crawl up my skin I silently scolded myself for nothing bring a jacket, or a hoody at least. Simply choosing to come here in jeans and a polo shirt, but at the time it had been ridiculously hot, and it was only a few hours ago I resented the fact I hadn't stepped out in shorts.
My eyes drifted over the crowd, only just managing to see the back of Lena's head, disappearing every few seconds as someone walked passed and obscured my vision. She was a good shot, being captain of the girls basketball team and all, she'd most likely win the damn alien for Michael, and he'd hang it up with all his other sci-fi merchandise, room decorated with planets and posters as Avatar.
It had barely been a month since their arrival, and the buzz of it all didn't appear to be going away anytime soon, not that I expected it to, it was a scientific and historical discovery after all. Yet somehow, despite all the excitement and the speeches of learning from one another, it still made me feel uneasy. I guess it was due to knowing nothing about them, fear of the unknown and all that crap, I mean it had some sense to it. And I could apply it to this situation, no matter how ridiculously crazy it sounded that aliens had landed on our planet.
Every time I said that to myself it felt just as surreal as the last, in fact I felt pretty damn stupid, and it still didn't feel completely real. I had only seen them on a TV screen, and anything I saw through a TV screen always had a slightly fictitious feeling to it, because it wasn't actually there in front of me.
I hadn't even seen their 'ships' with my own eyes, apparently they were guarded off at every perimeter within a ten mile radius, wanting to see it up close was damn near impossible., unless you had a pair of binoculars on you.
"Earth to Wednesday!"
I snapped out of my reverie, blinking several times until my gaze readjusted back on Raphael, who was snapping his fingers in front of my face. An eyebrow arched in curiosity, before his hand returned to his side tone.
"You could at least pretend to be listening, like you usually do."
"I was listening." I defended, straightening up slightly, my eyes flickering down to Alex, the boy completely in his own world.
"Really?" he snorted out, rolling his eyes the slightest bit, "your lying is just as bad as your smiling."
"And your jokes are as bad as your … face."
I winced at my own words, realising how utterly pathetic that comeback was, and my scowl worsened as Raphael threw his head back, erupting into loud fits of laughter.
"You know how much that sucked right?" He choked out, and I narrowed my eyes at him as he choked out another laugh.
"I'm aware," I said, "you caught me off guard."
"Wednesday, you're comebacks have always been shit … you're just not good at improv'."
I chose to not reply, simply sighing and tutting a little dramatically, causing an ear splitting grin to erupt from Raphael's face, making him more pleased with himself. We fought a lot, and he tended to be too over bearing, but that was just Raphael, he was the unintentional smothering kind. But for someone like me who had spent most of her childhood in neglect, having so much attention, and a full house was a vast change in environment.
It took me months to adjust, whereas Alex settled in perfectly, Penelope was everything our mother wasn't, warm and attentive. She offered him affection, tucked him in at night, little things like that was what really mattered.
It was too late for me to be able to stand any of that, the thought of it terrified me even, and Raphael's consistent teasing was the closest I could ever go to accepting affection. It worked for me, for the both of us I guess, both Raphael's escape goat and defence mechanism, and I found it worked far too much in my favour in avoiding my own problems to stop it.
I found I was finally feeling something I never thought I ever would, here with Penelope, Raphael, Michael and Alex, I was finally happy.
A blink.
An intake of breath.
A scream.
An explosion.
It all happened so fast, so quick in fact it felt as if it hadn't happened at all, except the thick smoke and bursting flames as the Ferris Wheel on the other side of the fair begun tumbling down, metal clashing on metal as bits broke apart. People moved in a blur, away from the growing flames, flocking to the opposite side causing several hundreds of people, children, to crash into us. I grip onto Alex tightly, my breath hitching in my throat as the flames light up the night sky.
I do something I would never normally have done, and grab onto Raphael's forearm, intent on not letting him go. Fear grips me like a vice, and smoke filters the air so quickly that I don't even realise I'm beginning to choke on it, feeling it clog up nasal passages.
"Raph.."
"Stay calm."
He shouts out, pushing closer to me, Alex sandwiched between both me and Raphael, as people continue to crash into us. I look up to the sky, bright lights, moving bright lights that seem to circle the entire fairground, a mechanical sound erupting from it. It fires once more, and this time it hits a lot closer, pieces of a carousel flying off and into the crowd.
Involuntarily I let out my own scream, ducking and encircling Alex within my arms. He clings to my shirt, fear constricting him for completely other reasons, for he saw completely chaos, but heard nothing and that, more than anything, was something that terrified Alex.
Raphael bent down in front of us, his stance firm despite the constant people running and crashing into one another, some tripping over and being trampled over as others rushed around in fear.
"Listen to me, Thalia, listen!"
My gaze flew back to him, fearful blue eyes clashing with determined brown ones, and my lip quivered the slightest bit, attempting to keep it together. I had to keep it together, now was not a time to panic, Alex needed me.
"I need to find Lena and Michael," He stated firmly, loudly so he could be heard amidst the screaming and constantly explosions, "Okay? I can't leave them on their own."
Bullets begun to ring out, but it wasn't coming from any police officers, in fact it wasn't even coming from another human. I couldn't find a way to describe it, my fear and completely boggled mind could only register the word 'robot', and it sounded even more ridiculous that every other thought to plague my mind.
"THALIA!"
"Okay!"
I shouted back, realising I had zoned out once more, ion a completely inappropriate time, I felt frozen, as if I didn't know how to even move anymore. I was back to my ten year old self, hiding in my room in the middle of the night, pretending I couldn't hear anything that was going on the other side of my door, constantly praying it wouldn't be forced open for another night.
"I want you to take Alex and run, you hear me? You run! You go home, and you wait there for me Thalia."
I couldn't seem to find the words to reply, it's as if the large lump in my throat as tripled in size, only just allowing me to breathe.
"I'll meet you there." He finished, before he begun to stand up.
I followed swiftly, one arm around Alex and the other flying out to Raphael's arm once more, this time startling him.
"You promise?"
I question, my grip on him tightening the slightest bit, my tone wavering, breaking, and I fought with myself as I blinked back the stinging in my eyes.
Raphael stared at me for what felt like several minutes, but must have been only seconds, before a cheesy slightly teasing grin spread across his lips, and I silently wondered how he managed to keep his cool together, it was something I had always admired him for.
"Takes the end of the world to let me lay a finger on you Wednesday?" He chuckled softly, easing out of my grip, "I will see you at home. I promise."
I wish I had said more, I wish I had told him that despite not growing up with him, despite not being related by blood, that he would always always be a brother to me. I wish that I had been more open with him about my life, I wish that I had trusted him, and Michael, and Penelope more. I wish I had told him that on my bad days, that when I didn't feel worth it, and that it all felt pointless, that a simple taunt from him reminded me that I had a family now.
I just wish I knew that that would be the last time I saw him.
Hey there, don't really have much to say here, just now that the set up is over, the next chapter will be a time skin, with flashbacks most likely to fill in the spaces. Hal will most likely make an appearance, thank you all for the follows/favourites!
Let me know what you think in the reviews!