Mysteries and Wonders, March 11th

Sunday afternoon. The sky was light grey, the sun was missing but its rays flashed across from beneath the grey sky, making the environment glow. I sat under the giant chestnut tree that was facing the magnificent castle over head. Why weren't we allowed inside? Surely it was strong enough to hold tourists.

The weather forecast on my laptop said it was going to be raining near the evening and it would be at least less than 19 degrees. I wondered where Arthur was, ever since yesterday he had disappeared and didn't come back till late 12 o'clock at midnight.

I spotted two people walking with an adorable, white Labrador with one rainbow umbrella sheltering both of them.

"Hey look its Merlin!"

Just when I was about to look away, the tall dark haired figure yelled out my name and directed the other person's dark eyes towards me. To my relief it wasn't Valiant or Nimueh, it was Morgana and Gwen. I lifted my arm and waved, plastering on a happy smile on my face.

They let go of the small Labrador and followed the pup towards me. The pup practically sprinted to me, its tongue hanging out as it panted and short, stubby legs stretching apart for more stride.

"Good afternoon," Gwen greeted when she reached me, picking up the pup, telling it to be quiet as it yapped wanting to return to ground level.

"Afternoon Merlin, oh will you shut up Artie!" Morgana commanded to 'Artie' and returned her gaze to me, "I see you're enjoying yourself, sitting there alone staring at the cloudy sky," she said sarcastically.

"Yeah... I was day-dreamin' for a bit, that's all," I replied, chuckling as Artie whined, "Artie? That's an interesting name"

"Hahaha, yes, I agree," Gwen laughed, while Morgana just rolled her eyes, "He was named after Arthur. We got him a few months ago"

I reached out my hand and rubbed Artie's soft head affectionately while he was trying to lick my palms. I stared at Artie as Morgana took him from Gwen's arms and put her finger to her lips, telling him to be quiet, but he rebelled and nipped her. Gwen and I laughed while Morgana started to complain about how Artie wasn't trained properly.

Accidently, I glanced at the pup's eyes. Blue. His eyes were blue, just like Arthur's and they also shimmered with the pools of intelligence and confidence which Arthur also reflected.

"Is there a reason why you named him Artie?"

The question managed to be answered with an abrupt pause and tense silence. Morgana's eyes yet again flared with depression and sadness, Gwen began fidgeting with her fingers and heck, Artie even muted.

"Is something wrong?"

Morgana was the first to return to reality and spoke up, "Arthur was the one who bought Artie, he was the one who promised us that he'll stay with us until we died, he was one who comforted us when we gave up hope for the school," she whispered, "Why? Why did he leave us?"

At this point, Morgana was about to break down into tears, tears that matched the cold, dripping rain that began falling from the ever grey skies above. I watched silently as she shivered when a chilly gust of wind blew by spraying cool water under her umbrella.

Gwen invited me underneath the rainbow umbrella, but I declined and stood up, ready to return home. That is, if Arthur wasn't there...

"You can come over to our house," Gwen offered again, "I bet your freezing"

I couldn't protest to that, I was freezing my ass off at the moment. Joining their group, I followed the girls through Duncan Street (which wasn't very far away from the park) and stopped at an ordinary brick house covered in vines and vegetation. I could already guess who does the gardening.

"Guess who did the gardening!" Gwen whispered into my ear, "Looking at this house, you can already guess who did it"

I nodded in agreement and took a peek at Morgana, making sure she wasn't listening. Artie barked as two more Labrador puppies scuttled towards us when we entered the gates and into the house.

One was jet black with a shining coat and the other was golden brown with shining green eyes which was rather unusual for a dog. They both had a loose collar around their necks. The black Labrador's name was Pearl and the golden one was named Fearless.

Letting Artie go, he ran towards his friends and began to yap at them.

"Well, Artie certainly has Arthur's major attitude," I remarked, "Pearl is like me being bossed around by Arthur and Fearless is like Morgana trying to stop the fighting. All we need now is a Gwen"

Morgana laughed and Gwen blushed in embarrassment. Leading me inside, Morgana ushered me towards the lounge room and told me to make myself at home while she went to get me something to eat.

The lounge room was rather large; pot plants placed in the corners of the room, long wooden shelves nailed against the smooth cream walls, the soft sofas we were sitting on lay gently in front of a large rectangular window with a light shade of red curtains behind us, the flat screen TV in front of us, and a small purple rug placed on the golden brown wooden floor with a small basket placed at the edge of the rug in the corners of the sofa.

There was a miniature picture frame with a photo of Gwen and Mr. Swadling in the park playing tag. Gwen must have noticed me staring at the photograph and snatched it out of my view.

"You guys look cute together"

My comment sent Gwen's cheeks flaming red. I chuckled inwardly as she began mumbling something about a 'brother'.

"Brother?"

"Mr. Swadling is my brother for goodness sakes!"

I blinked. Was she joking with me? They look nothing alike!

"Really?"

"Yep, he's my step brother"

"Oh! So that explains the reason why you two look so different from each other"

Gwen nodded as her flaming blush began to fade away. I wondered if he lived in the house with the girls. No, probably not, but then again life never stops surprising you. After all, we are life's game.

"Does he live here?" I couldn't help but ask, "It doesn't look it he does though"

"That's because he doesn't," Gwen said with a broad smile, "He lives next door"

There, the surprise just popped up. "That must be convenient having a teacher as a brother; you'll have more help than other in the school"

"Yeah, I guess so"

We immediately turn our attention to Morgana as she came into the room with a tray with soft, warm blueberry muffins freshly naked out of the oven. The aroma filled the room as it was placed down in between me and Gwen.

"Oh dear... Here come the pups!" Morgana warned, quickly pulling out a baby bottle of warm milk and crawled onto the floor pretending to mimic one of the pups, laughing at the same time as one by one the pups got their own share of milk.

The soft texture of the muffin brushed against the walls of my mouth, the sweet syrupy taste of blueberries and the warmth filled my whole body as I swallowed. I have never tasted a muffin as good as this one.

"Is it good?" Morgana asked, standing up as the pups returned to their game, "I actually managed to cook these for once, and without burning them at the same time!"

Gwen laughed as she carefully tried to not drop any crumbs onto the floor. Joining in, Morgana sat down on the single sofa and waited for us to finish. I scoffed down the last bite and complimented Morgana's cooking skills while Gwen nodded in agreement and said that her best friend improved a lot.

"OK. To more serious business," Morgana brought up, "And yes Merlin, it's about you-know-who"

I desperately wanted to heave a loud heavy sigh of annoyance but Gwen's stare stopped me dramatically and I obediently waited for her to begin.

"Do you like him?"

Her blunt, straight-forward question shocked me; I had never thought the day when I had to confess would be so soon. Then again, this was Morgana and Gwen, they won't tell him, right?

"I guess so," was my pathetic answer, but what else could I say? Although Lance and Gwen both guessed that I liked him, but I never ended up confessing.

"I guess so? What kind of answer is that?" Morgana pushed, forcing me to answer bluntly and honestly, "Although we know your answer, but we wanna hear it come out of your mouth, so we can be sure"

Gwen gave me a look as if to tell me that it would be better if I gave up and confessed. Sighing, I let every moment with Arthur pop up from my mouth.

Although the spare times with him were not particularly mind blowing, it was still considered valuable information to Morgana and Gwen, and much to my dismay, they immediately told me what he was up to and why he was being so bipolar.

"We all agreed to this, the fact the Arthur is being like this probably because he is confused or either is playing around with you," Morgana announced.

I didn't say anything and waited for more information and interpretations to be thrown at me. Gwen hesitated but gained the courage to tell me the truth.

"I-I'm sorry, but I don't think he's actually that serious with you..." she squeaked, nearly choking on the words, "I know what he's like when he is in love"

Those words seem to pierce through me like an arrow travelling at the speed of light. Morgana looked at me with sympathetic eyes and apologized with Gwen. Should I believe them? Or should I take the advice and move on?

The questions went round and round in my head until finally they were pinned down. I felt a little disappointed with the conclusion and now I didn't know what to do when I meet up with the bloody prat. Perhaps I could walk away and give him the cold shoulder, or maybe I could just confess and then walk away. No, that would way too selfish.

"I think you should have a talk with him and see how he responds or reacts," Gwen suggested, taking another muffin to calm her nerves, "I can see that he still likes Sophia and heck, he has always had eyes for that good for nothing Barbie doll anyway!"

Morgana nodded, agreeing with Gwen on every word. I sighed and picked up the empty tray that was covered in muffin crumbs.

"I'll go put this away"

Morgana smiled, "Thanks"

In Morgana's Kitchen

When I walked into the kitchen, the first thing I noticed was how unhygienic it was here; obviously Morgana hasn't washed up after herself.

There were plated scattered on the benches, crumbing lying around on the tiled floor, cupboards were left wide open which had bowls and plates that wasn't even in order, small and large pots sitting on the rusty stove, dishes that still needed to be washed and the oven left open with another tray on it but this time with a flat cake on the tray.

"Whoa... This place needs some cleaning..."

Suddenly I heard rushing footsteps barge into the kitchen.

"Morgana"

Standing there was Morgana; she was panting and probably just remembered how hideous her kitchen had been. Trying to calm down and regain her normal cool and stable appearance, she put her hand up whenever I tried to talk.

"I forgot to clean the kitchen today," she said between pants, "You really didn't need to see this. This must be pretty scaring for you"

I let out a warm laugh, "No, no. I'm fine, I've actually seen worse"

"Oh, I'll just that wasn't sarcasm"

"No, it wasn't. You have to see my momma's cooking"

With that, Morgana let it out and gave me a happy smile of relief. I noticed Gwen was leaning against the door frame listening to the conversation without interrupting. Putting down the tray, we left the kitchen and went back to the lounge room.

A loud bark could be heard as we walked into the lounge room; it resembled Artie's bark really badly. Hearing the bark, Morgana and Gwen dragged me along toward it, but quietly took a peek out the front door.

It was Arthur and Mr. Swadling.

"What are they doing here for?" I asked quietly, grabbing Artie's mouth forcing him to silence.

"I don't know, isn't that why we sneaked here in the first place?" Gwen replied, pinching Morgana to get her attention while asking the exact same question.

Morgana suppressed the urge scream out in pain, "I don't know! Stop being so impatient and wait and see what happens!" she hissed at us.

So that's precisely what we did, wait and sit. I noticed Mr. Swadling pull out a sheet of paper and hand it over to Arthur and looked from right to left in alert. Arthur thanked him and went the opposite way, while the teacher went back to his house. From a distance I spotted Sophia standing next to a red sports car and gave Arthur a kiss on the cheek when he entered the car. The car then drove away.

"What that on about?" I asked, letting go of Artie's mouth while Artie snapped at me and trotted off.

"Arthur's up to something," Gwen mumbled, "And I don't think it might be a good thing either"

"What makes you so sure about that?" I wondered, standing up, "Did he do something in the past that was really bad?"

Gwen and Morgana exchanged glances and finally looked at me, "He has secrets even we do not know of, and since we don't know them that must be pretty frightening," they said in unison, "We all think he's up to something bad, but with Swadling allying with him, then it must be awfully important"

I looked at them as if they had just gone mad. Gwen sighed and explained again but in a more adult to child way. All I could do was nod every time she asked 'do you understand?' and stare at me as if I had no choice but to understand.

Morgana looked down at her watch that was on her right wrist and informed me that it was already 4:00 pm and I should be heading home by now, otherwise my mother would be panicking and worrying for absolutely no particular reason. I went back inside and asked Gwen if I could borrow her umbrella just in case it rains again.

At 4:10 I left the house with goodbyes and warm hugs. It began to rain too.

So now I'm left with a lot of things to think about, especially cracking the code to Arthur' mysterious actions and secrets...+

Thank you reviewing :) and I apologise for not updating sooner.