The week after the funeral was the worst, Felicity's Mum kept to herself which left Felicity looking after Teddy. Felix often had nightmares and woke up asking for his Mummy. Uncle James did his best to comfort him but he was still grieving as well. Jackie started working on a memory box for the two of them. She filled the box with pictures and some items that her Mum got her. Felicity tried to put on a brave face, it was hard. School was mostly exam prep and talking about options for the following school year. Felicity didn't speak to Mia much.
"Felicity, Mia's calling you," Rikki said as he looked at her phone.
"Yeah, I will talk to her at school," Felicity said.
"Felicity, you can't lock yourself away forever, it's not good for you. That letter has been sitting on the table for two weeks now" Rikki said as he tapped the letter Flynn had given him.
Felicity thought about what Rikki said. It was true. She couldn't carry one like this, ignoring her friends and leaving Tawny Owl to patrol the city on his own. Jackie and Felix didn't lock themselves away in the rooms after school.
Felicity was brought out of her thoughts when Teddy walked into her room.
"Mummy doesn't want to play with me. She won't come out of her room" Teddy said.
"I'm sure that's not true," Felicity said.
"Will you come and play with me?" Teddy asked.
"Sure," Felicity said as she got up and followed Teddy.
Ben was home alone when the doorbell rang. It wasn't often that Ben found himself in the house alone. His father had told him not to answer the door so Ben ignored it, hoping that the person at the door would get bored and leave but they didn't. Ben sighed and went to answer the door. It was his Uncle Marcello.
"Hello, Ben. Nice to see you again" Uncle Marcello said. "Is your father in. I need to talk to my son about something."
"Nice to see you as well," Ben said trying to be nice, "Dad's not here at the moment"
"No problem. I will wait for him" Uncle Marcello replied.
"He won't be home for ages," Ben said.
"I guess I will try another time" Uncle Marcello said as he walked down the driveway.
(Time Skip)
Felicity walked home from the tube station after spending the day shopping with her friends. They went to Westfield in Stratford.
Felicity loved spending time with her friends outside of school. It allowed her to get away from reality. What she didn't know was that Mia had arranged to meet up with James, Joe and Benjamin.
"I embarrassed myself in front of Ben again," Felicity said, "Why can't I just have a normal conversation with him?"
"You didn't. Ben didn't say anything about it" Eliza said.
"Do you think he knows I have a crush on him?" Felicity asked.
"I don't think so. Boys only notice things when it's too late. Try and talk to him at school on Monday" Mia told her. "Anyway, I forgot to tell you, I brought my prom dress the other day"
"Really. What's it like?" Eliza asked.
"You will have to wait and see," Mia said. "Did you change your mind about going, Felicity?"
The year 11 prom was an event that the students organized themselves. It was one of the main events of the school year after the exams had finished.
"Yeah but please don't tell anyone else that I'm going, especially Robbie. He thinks that he's taking me to Prom" Felicity said.
"You're not going with him are you?" Eliza asked.
"No, I'm not" Felicity replied.
"Are you going to talk to Ben on Monday?" Mia asked.
"I can't" Felicity replied.
"There's no such word as can't, Felicity, just think about it," Mia said, "See you on Monday."
Felicity watched as Mia walked down her road. She turned around and started to walk home.
Felicity wasn't far from home when she had a strange feeling that she was being watched but when she turned around, the street looked empty.
"That's strange. Maybe I'm imagining things" Felicity thought to herself.
Felicity opened the front door and walked into the hallway of what used to be The West Bed and Breakfast. It had closed down, Uncle James didn't want to continue with the business. She could hear her cousins upstairs.
"It's mine, Jackie. Give it back" Felix said.
"No, it's not. Mummy wanted me to have it" Jackie said.
Felicity didn't know what they were arguing over but she knew that she needed to try and sort the problem out.
"What's going on?" Felicity asked.
"Aunt Kate found a china figure in Mum's things and said that I could have it but Felix took it," Jackie told her.
"I want it," Felix said as he tried to stop Jackie from taking it. The china figure fell to the floor and smashed.
"Look what you did," Jackie said, "It's broken"
Jackie stormed out of the TV room, leaving Felicity and Felix alone. The five-year-old boy looked at his cousin.
Firefly stood in the light.
"Sibling issues and wanting to fix things that are broken. Now that gives me an idea" He tapped one of the fireflies in front of him and watched as it flew out the window.
Felicity picked up the pieces and placed them in a bowl on the side. She didn't know if the figure could be fixed but surely there was no harm asking.
"You can fix it, Felicity?" Felix asked.
"I'm not sure. I can ask but I can't promise anything," Felicity said.
"Please, fix it now. Don't tell Daddy" Felix said.
"I don't think I can fix it," Felicity said. "Shall we go and find your sister?"
Jackie had a picture of her Mum in her hands. She looked at the picture, her Mum wouldn't want her to argue with Felix. She knew that her reaction to Felix breaking the china doll was wrong. He didn't mean it.
In the corner of her room, a dark firefly hovered in the air.
"Well, she's not one to hold a grudge," Firefly said as he called the dark firefly back.
Felix knocked on Jackie's bedroom door and then opened it. Felicity stood next to him.
"I'm sorry for breaking the doll," Felix said.
"I shouldn't have shouted at you. It wasn't the right thing to do. Now that Mum's not here anymore, we need to look out for each other and we can't do that if we keep arguing" Jackie said.
Felicity watched as her cousins hugged each other. She was glad that they had each other. It was normal for siblings to argue but Felicity knew that Firefly's out there waiting to make his next move.
