Chapter Five
A Siblings Farewell

Francesca
Todayland August 2037

Franny lounged on the newly fixed couch that was pushed against the half wall separating the TV lounge from the large family room – a large screen that hardly got any attention from any Robinson member. Being far to engrossed in their own enjoyment to give it a second glance. With her knees drawn in, skirts pulled around her legs to cover herself, and a book resting in her lap, the real world around her melted away.

She turned the worn-down page of her book to start the next chapter. The printed text faded from years of use, but she had read it enough times to know the ends and outs. How it began always hooked her in. The middle making her heart flutter with excitement and twists of plot. The stories ending causing her to gasp in shock. Every detail was always remembered no matter the gap between each read.

She smiled when she reached her favorite part of the story.

The daring sword fight between hero and villain. Protagonist verses antagonist.

The pictured fight in her head projected around her – swallowing her body whole into the imagined world of Darrigon. The young boy stood before his entire village to face the witch. A sword in hand, held incorrectly, to protect his only family member from being taken. His younger sister stayed behind him on her hands and knees on the dirt path. Franny flipped the page over while the battle began. The boy blocked the shots of magic that came his way from the murderous witch.

The boy dodged. He swung his sword every chance he got, but he couldn't get close enough to land a single blow. Franny, having read plenty of other books with sword fights, knew the boy was clumsy and uncoordinated with the heavy steel blade. The page was turned once again. Her lips parted from the excitement of the read. The boy was struck down, a scream from his lips to sound the pain, and a bleeding wound to show it. His sister had run up to him. His name cried from her lips. Franny loved that his sister became the protector. She pictured the girl's hands glowing a bright white from the magic she surfaced to fight against the witch.

Something grabbed Franny's shoulder, causing her relaxed body to tense and jerk about. Her book slipped from her lap to fall on the floor with a loud thunk. Her hands flew up near her face, balled in tight fists and ready to swing. She lifted herself from the couch to swing her body towards the person daring to sneak up on a blackbelt. Franny came to face her two older brothers, Gaston and Art – Gaston being the one to have touched her shoulder.

"Gods, Gaston how many times have I told you not to do that?" Franny exclaimed while lowering her hands to rest at her sides. "Don't you remember the blackeye you had for a month last time?"

"Sorry." Gaston just shrugged with a lopsided grin. "Mom and dad would just laugh at me if it happened again."

Art, the middle sibling, stepped up from behind Gaston. A few inches taller than Gaston and a full head taller than Franny. His smile warm as he spoke up. "We're sorry to have disturbed you Francesca, but we are finally ready to take off and didn't want to leave without saying goodbye."

Franny made a face at the use of her full name. The only people who used her full given name were their parents. Otherwise, she was called by her nickname.

"I had forgotten you guys were headed out today." She responded.

Gaston pointed a finger at the high ceiling. "We were supposed to leave two days ago, but Art here decided to pick up extra delivery shifts that took him away."

Franny glanced towards Art with a raise brow. It was a bit surprising to hear considering he hated working extra hours. But he only gave her a simple shrug.

"We'll see you in a few days when we get back. Maybe have a dinner? Just us three." Gaston suggested. Franny's smile faltered a bit and certainly didn't go unnoticed by her brothers.

"It's all right, Franny." Gaston pulled his little sister into his side after wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "They will understand you not being able to come."

Franny fidgeted with her white painted nails. "I know but still, I feel terrible. Dad and Maggie have been bugging to see all three of us together for months now. But with Joe and Billie gone until September, Fritz and the others still away on vacation, the only ones left here are Bud and Lucille. I can't ask them to watch Wilbur during the day while Cornelius is working. I know how his work schedule can get, so I need to be here."

Art lifted her chin with a finger, looking into her soft, chocolate eyes as he spoke in that tone that always seemed to reassure her. "We understand, and so will our parents." He gave her a large grin. "You know what you need?"

She raised a brow and tilted her head.

"A brother sandwich!"

Franny jumped in surprise. "What?!" Gaston's arm tightened around her shoulders. "No! No, don't!"

Her brothers ignored her pleas and lifted her feet off the ground. Their arms squeezed her tiny frame just enough to make her shirk. Franny kicked her feet in attempt to free herself. Gaston and Art only laughed at her failed struggles. After a few more seconds her older brothers finally released her back to the ground. Her hands brushed out her skirts before pushing her brothers further away. She tried to be annoyed with them, but their smiles were contagious, and causing her own to brighten. With a laugh and shake of her head, Franny lifted on her toes to peck them both on the cheek.

"Tell Maggie and Dad that I'm sorry again, and I'll try to visit the next time."

Gaston reached down to grab his duffle bag – a bag overstuffed. "We will." With his lopsided grin he headed for the front doors.

Art followed suit. "Oh, and Franny," he turned his head back in her direction, "try to stay out of trouble will ya? I'm not sure Cornelius can handle two troublesome children."

Franny furrowed her brows before she started pushing her brother out the opened door – pressing her palms against his back, withdrawing them, and shoving once more. "Oh, shut up! If anyone is the troublemaker, it's you." She huffed.

Art simply laughed at her while he crossed the yard. Franny watched her brothers toss their bags into the boot from the threshold of her front door. They gave a final wave goodbye after climbing in and soon enough the car disappeared in the sky. Franny remained on the front porch long after she lost sight of them. This sudden feeling began to surface within her. With a heavy sigh and half turn of her body, Franny's smile faded when she gazed through the opened door of her home.

For the first time since I can remember, the house … feels … quiet and empty. The lonely feeling spread around her heart as she realised this. Knowing the house was much too large for only five people and a dog.

Her eyes turned to spot her thirteen-year-old son through the large window on her left. Wilbur had spent all morning, through till midday cleaning up the mess he caused last night. She had allowed him to use his father's refurbisher to repair all the broken furniture first thing. Currently he was on his knees scrubbing the floor with all his strength to remove the crusted food that glued itself.

"Hmm." She reacted after Wilbur got frustrated at the macaroni and threw the scrub brush across the room, mumbling to himself, then getting up to retrieve it. With a soft smile, Franny almost moved to find her book and continue reading but she decided not to, and instead turned back towards the city in the distance – across the lake.

It still seemed strange to her, growing up along with the new city itself. She remembered a time when all the buildings looked the same, square with rectangular windows, made from wooden frames and exterior bricks – tall and small – during her elementary and middle school years. That is until the horrible factory explosion that caused the destruction of the city around 20 years ago and leaving it in ruins – after she was forced to move away a year before it happened. Looking upon the city now … you couldn't even compare Old Town to Todayland. Everything was different. Every building had something different than the ones around it. Some were extremely tall. Others were a bit smaller. Wider or thinner. Travel bubbles decorated around the city buildings as they moved to their destination. The shining metal tracks of the monorails winding throughout the downtown area.

Her husband had truly changed the future. His future.

The city seemed to brighten with a sudden flash of light.

When Franny first met Cornelius all those years ago, he was known as Lewis. A withdrawn, shy twelve-year-old boy finishing up his sixth year of education. She had seen him around occasionally in the halls of school or the library. Talking only briefly with him if the occasion called for it. The day of the science fair was when she learned he was an orphan – the day his life changed with the invention of the memory scanner. The pride shining beyond his glasses at seeing it work. How learning the volunteer scientist ended up becoming his forever family.

Despite all that that happened to him, Franny clearly remembered that day as the one Cornelius first told her she was right. Everyone, all her friends and family, thought that ten-year-old Franny was crazy. Crazy to believe in her dream. That day – for her – will always be when she found someone who believed in her. Believed that she was right in saying frogs had more musical ability than people. How her heart had swelled with joy from hearing his words. Words that only fueled her ambition to work twice as hard to make it true and show him he wasn't wrong to believe in her. It had taken her a few years, but the night Franny successfully genetically enhanced her frogs, she was overcome with excitement. They sang. All of them.

She ran. That night, she ran with the tank pressed into her chest, her skinny legs carried her a little more than five miles to Cornelius' front door. Knocking repeatedly against the wood until someone answered her. Cornelius was the one to answer the knock that night, finding her panting and bent over – hands on her knees. Despite being out of breath, she rapidly told her best friend the news about her frogs. Franny still laughed when remembering he had to drag her inside the kitchen, give her a glass of water, and deep breaths before he was able to understand what she was saying. She had pulled him to her tank to show him. When her star-pupil sang, she bounced on her feet with her joy as Cornelius congratulated her success. In her exhilaration, she ignored the touch on her arm and wrapped her arms around his waist – burying her face in his sweater.

A loud crackle of thunder rattled her ears and brought her forth to the present. She glanced around to find herself still standing on the porch and falling victim to the pouring rain. With her dress heavy and glued to her legs, Franny rushed back inside the house. Closing the door behind her and wrapped her arms around her torso to try and settle the shaking of her body. She sighed heavily at her dripping skirts on the marble floor. Franny reached up to untie the ribbon in her hair to place it on the wooden table that decorated the wall, her wet hair tumbled down her back after removing the few pins that kept her bun in place. A quick kick of her ankles allowed her heels to slip off and clutter to the floor. Franny quickly trudged her way through the entry way, into the family room, and towards the curved staircase that led to her bedroom – leaving droplets of water in her wake.

"Dearie?" A soft, frail familiar voice caught her attention on her ascend. Franny held the banister to glance down at Lucille – Cornelius' mother. "What happened to you? You're all wet."

Franny felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment at being caught in her current state. She gave a guilty grin while her free hand rubbed the back of her neck. "I might .. have gotten caught in the downpour while giving a sendoff to my brothers."

Lucille nodded her head, placing her notepad in her lap and removing her glasses to clean them with a cloth. "I see. You best get upstairs and into dry clothing before you freeze. It's quite chilly."

"Of course." Franny headed up the steps two at a time before she paused and went back down a few so her mother-in-law could hear her without having to shout. "Would you mind keeping an eye on Wilbur until I return?" Her gaze shifted to him – still on his knees scrubbing away the hardened food glued to the floor. "Making sure he doesn't run off before he's done?"

Lucille softly smiled in her direction with a nod.

Returning a smile of thanks, Franny quickly rushed up the rest of the stairs and down the hall. A draft crept over her, up her arms and circling up her bare legs. Her arms wrapped back around her chest as shivers began again. She quickened her pace down the hall until she reached the doors to open. Without bothering to flip the switch, she crossed the space to the attached bathroom – pulling the zipper down from beneath her arm to her hip and pulling the soaked fabric over her head. She discarded the fabric into the laundry bin when she entered the bathroom. Goosebumps dotted along the naked surface of her skin. Franny reached into the glass shower to turn the knobs, sending the tap from the shower heads – a rush of steaming water falling like the rain outside.

Franny spent a moment adjusting the knobs to the temperature she found pleasant. Upon finding it, she flicked the extra water from her fingers and stepped back. Reaching behind her to unclasp her bra effortlessly, dropping it to the floor along with her underwear. The heat of the running water was enough to cause the mirrors and shower glass to fog over. Franny could barely see herself in the reflection.

With the room feeling like a sauna, Franny stepped inside the shower, closed the door and stood under the rush of water to let it relax her. Her eyes fluttering closed with the massaging pound of water in her hair and shoulders.

After another moment, Franny reached for her shampoo to work in her scalp. Rubbing the pads of her fingers in massaging circles to lather the soap through the hair on her scalp. Rinsing her hands clean of the white soap, she tilted her head to rinse, letting the shampoo wash over her ends to clear the oil and dirt. Sighing happily from the feel of her fingers in her hair, though they will never feel the way Cornelius' do. After standing unmoved longer than she wanted, she grabbed her conditioner, followed by her body soap.

The steaming water turn cold sooner than she liked, so the last part of her shower was spent washing away conditioner with cold water. With a quick turn of the knobs, the water flow was cut off and she opened the shower door to grab her towel hanging from a hook nearby. Franny wrapped it under her arms and stepped onto the fluffy bath rug placed under the shower door. She reached up to gather her long hair, gently squeezing to remove the extra water, and looked up towards the bathroom door when the faint squeak of the hinge sounded.

"Ahh!"