I honestly have no excuse for it being however long it has been since I last updated. I do apologise, I had written some of this a long time ago, and it is only now that I have worked up the courage to complete it. This is the final chapter of this story. If anyone has any questions about it, I would be happy to answer them. I may begin writing again, bit I will see how I go. Once again, I do apologize, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
"Dad, where are we?" a teenage brunette asked the taller man he was standing next to, his eyes skimming over the overrun garden and deserted house that looked like it would fall down at any given minute.
"This is the house where I grew up, although it does look a bit different to what I remember" he mused, eyeing the overgrown bushes disdainfully, as well as the stubborn weeds that had pushed their way up in-between the large, flat stones that had once made up a path. The elder male walked up to the old, wooden gate, pushing it open warily and wincing at the high-pitched noise it made. "Ok, it's definitely different to what I remember" he dead-panned. A young blue-haired girl walked up to her Dad and took his hand in hers, staring up at the house in front of the small family.
"I'm sure a little bit of magic would help" the children's mother and the man's wife suggested, walking up and stopping next to her youngest, while waving her fingers around.
"It's gonna' need more than a 'little bit' of magic", the boy remarked, earning a sharp look from his mother.
"It's scary" the youngest of the group whispered, shielding herself behind the eldest in the group's legs. Her Dad smiled softly down at her and picked her up, settling her on his hip.
"Why don't we make it a little less scary then, what do you say?" he suggested, looking at his wife. She laughed softly and went to stand in the gateway, wriggling her hands once more as bursts of green magic flowed from her fingertips, working together to rein back the overgrown life, and to bring back the once beautiful garden. Magic worked its way over to the bent over and sickly looking tree in the corner of the yard, transforming it to give back its youthful wonder, the old, frayed ropes of the splintered swing was strong again, the seat smooth so you wouldn't get hurt from sitting on it. Leafless, brown bushes were reborn and the flowers long dead were given the chance to bloom. The weeds shrunk down, allowing the stone path to reclaim its rightful place, the dirt clearing, returning the stones to their birth colours.
All in all, the front of the house now looked great.
"What do you think Helia?" Flora asked her husband "Is it like you remember?"
"No, it's much better" he replied as he wrapped his free arm around her slim shoulders, kissing her lightly on the temple. "Thank you, for everything" he murmured quietly, the words meant only for her ears.
"Anything for you Love" she whispered back.
"Daddy, come and look what I found" a shrill voice called. Helia groaned as he stood, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like 'I'm getting too old for this'. He made his way out the door and onto the porch, a smile lighting up his face as he saw his wife and son, standing just beside the porch steps. Both were watching over the youngest member of the family, who was jumping from one foot to the other, a bright smile lighting up her face. The young girl suddenly turned around, and seeing her family, ran up to them. She jumped up the steps and grabbed a hold of her Dad's sleeve, and pulled him down the steps.
"Come on Daddy, you gotta check this out!" She kept pulling at his sleeve with all her strength, Helia looked back at his wise and found her with a fond smile on her face. He then began to follow his daughter obediently, his wife and son following behind them. The young girl led them through a small pathway created by tall hedges, and while the girl was lucky with her height, the rest of her family had to push through branches and twigs that were jutting out.
The path opened up, and in a small clearing, surrounded by the previous hedges, was a massive beech tree. Its branches spread out, and even though the rest of the garden seemed to have suffered from the neglect, this tree was thriving. The family of four looked up in wonder at the magnificent tree.
Helia stepped forward, and his show bumped against something hidden under the layer of leaves. He knelt down, and sweeped the leaves off. He picked the object up and turned around to show his family the plank of wood. He then turned back to the tree and walked towards it.
"We had a cubby house here, it must have broken up and fallen out of the tree over the years" He dropped the plank and peered up into the branches, trying to catch a glimpse of any remains of his childhood playground.
"Can we climb it, please, oh please" the girl ran up, begging her father. Helia looked back at Flora, and when she gave a nod of consent, he picked the girl up and lifted her towards the first branch.
"Now don't go too far up" he warned her, but she was already gone, up into the trees dense branches. Helia chuckled at his daughters antics. He walked back to his family and sat on the ground, content to sit and reminisce while his daughter played. He was soon joined by his wife, who cuddled close to him, and his son.
"You know, we built this when I was a kid, before Liora was born, but my Dad, brothers and I, we would spend days out here, trying to make it the perfect cubby. And then when we finished, it just became, I don't know, ours I guess. In the holidays, we would spend hours and hours out here. Whenever my Mum was angry this was our hide out, it was sort of like a refuge" Helia smiled at the memories. "And you have no idea how many tea parties I was forced to participate were held in there, when Liora was big enough, she practically moved all her things into there, her teddies, picture books, everything! My brothers were horrified, all they wanted was their 'Man Cave' back." His son looked at him out of the corner of his eye.
"You know Dad, we could, you know, rebuild it, if you wanted" He said casually, as if it was a second thought. Helia looked at his son in surprise.
"Yeah, it could be a family project" Flora added, "We could even get some of the gang together to help, I know that a few of them have been wanting a reason to have a holiday" she suggested. Helia looked at both his wife and son, a smile growing on his face.
"I would really like that" he said.
"What'cha thinking about big brother?" a blonde asked as she walked onto the porch. Helia turned his head towards her and smiled.
"Nothing much, I'm just having a look at the work we've done" he replied. Liora came and stood next to him, leaning against the wooden rail. They stood there in silence, content with each other's company, both admiring the done up yard.
For it was indeed done up. All it took were some helping hands and hard work to fix the once broken down and neglected area. They had even added some features. Where there was once a shed, now stood a growing veggie garden, with only carrots and potatoes for the moment, but Flora was planning on growing some strawberries as well. Most of the hedges were gone, namely the ones that had surrounded the old beech tree, which now stood proudly, with not only a rebuilt cubby house residing in it's branches, but also, to the joy of the children, fairy lights. There were several new trees and a patch of green, where the children could play. surrounding the porch were newly planted flowers, with baby's breath being the most prominent.
"Image what they would say if they could see the place now" Liora wondered out loud.
"I imagine that Mum and Dad would be happy, but think that the twins would have wanted more room to play whatever sport they would have become infatuated with" Helia replied, his mind being drawn back to the plaque that had been put onto the beech tree that very afternoon. It had been Flora's idea, a way to remember them she had said. Liora leaned her head against her brothers shoulder.
"The kids love it here, Olive asked if we could move out here" Helia said, just as a loud roar of laughter went up in the house, causing both siblings to turn around.
"I don't blame her, it's a great place. But, in saying that, I really don't think I could live here again. It just holds too many memories" Liora said. Helia murmured in agreement and they fell into silence again.
"I still get nightmares sometimes" Liora said suddenly. "It's never going to leave us, is it?"
"I don't think so" Helia murmured.
"You know what really bothered me though, after it happened, the fact that people would keep saying that it would get easier to handle" Liora said, her voice louder than she intended. Helia turned to her, and saw the look in her eyes. It was the same look he got whenever he was drawn back into memories of the past. "Because it doesn't. I don't think it get's easier, I think that we just got better at hiding it."
"When... When I first got back, Flora helped me open up about what had happened, I ended up telling her, and eventually the rest of the group. Having that many people know what had happened, it didn't make it easier, but it made it better, in a way. They began to understand why I was in the moods I was in, and they didn't try to give me words of positivity or anything like that, they just made sure that I knew that they were there when I was ready. Musa even made me playlists that would fit the mood or state of mind that I was in." Helia said, looking back out into the starry sky.
"They did their best, but there were still days when it became too much to handle, when it was all too much. I would have done something drastic if it hadnt been for the thought of you and Flora. I knew that I couldn't leave either of you. I guess what I'm trying to say, little sister, is that even with what we went through, and even with what we still go through, we must still remember to enjoy the things that we do have. I know that there are bad days, and there are really bad days, but we can't let them taint the good days." He finished. Liora stared at him, then back at the stars.
"Plus, Mum and Dad would have wanted us to be happy" Helia whispered, as though if he spoke too loudly if would disturb the night. Liora snorted.
"You do realise that this entire conversation has been terribly cliché, don't you?" She asked.
"And what's wrong with a cliché every once in a while" Helia smiled. He had one last look at the night sky, and then began walking to the door, he held out his hand to Liora and she took it.
They rejoined their family and friends, and spent the rest of the night playing board games (which Timmy won most of but the rest refuse to believe that), telling stories (child friendly ones, of course) and laughing (till their stomachs hurt so much that they believed that they would all have abs in the morning).