Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards Vs Aliens or any of its characters. Everything belongs to CBBC, Phil Ford, and Russell T. Davies.
Tom's POV
I was sitting outside on the swing set my dad had built for me a few years back. I used the sole of my foot to push off, just barely going back and forth maybe a foot. I looked down at ground as my shoes made impressions in the dirt beneath me. I sighed as I looked up and noticed my dad coming out. "Hey Tom." He said. "You should be excited about Quinn coming over." He thought I would be, but it seemed he and gran were more excited about this than I was.
"Does he have to?" I asked, not even trying to be enthusiastic about it.
"Well, no." Dad sighed, almost seeming disappointed. "It's up to you, but I thought it'd be fun. You boys haven't seen much of each other lately."
"I'm not sure I feel up to it." I hadn't felt up to much of anything lately. Much less playing games with my mates. It had been almost two months since mum had died and ever since, I haven't seen much of my friends outside of school. Today would be the first time I've had Quinn over since it happened and I wasn't sure if I really wanted to. The only reason it was planned was because Quinn had pleaded with his mum to talk to my dad; he apparently missed me.
"Well, it's up to you, but you know I think it'd be good for you two to get together and play some football." I think this might be the first time I've seen my dad urging me to play football. I remember back before mum died when he was urging me to put the ball away. "How about you come have your tea and think about it?" I nodded at the suggestion and followed him inside.
I sipped my tea slowly and took only a few small bites of the biscuits gran made up for us. I didn't feel very hungry as the few small bites seemed to fill me up easily. "Thomas." Gran got my attention as my mind seemed to wander easily. "Doing alright my darling?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
"Are you sure having his friend over is a good idea, Michael?" Gran turned to my father whom just walked back into the room. "Thomas might be unwell."
"Ursula, he's fine." Dad insisted. "It's from being cooped up here for days on end. I promise you, once he's out having fun in the garden with his friend, he'll perk up." Dad looked at me. "Do you feel up to that, Tom?" He said it was up to me. I truly wasn't sure I wanted to have Quinn come over but I felt like if I said 'no' that I'd be disappointing him; I couldn't do that to him.
"Yeah." I forced a smile and then forced myself to finish my tea.
Quinn came to the house at half past two that afternoon. Once his mum had dropped him off, we headed out back. Quinn had come prepared, bringing his own football with him. Of course there would be nothing else he'd rather do.
"You know I have one right." I remarked as we headed out back passing by the big apple tree. It was currently bare—it had some leaves but it was losing them.
"But this one is better."
"Sure it is." I couldn't help but laugh.
"And it's lucky too!" Quinn added. "Now come on!" He kicked the ball towards me and I ran after it, then kicking it back at him. Then once he had the ball back, he attempted to charge at me, kicking the ball way past me. As I headed to go grab it, Quinn cheered for himself. "You're a bit rusty Clarkey."
"We'll see." I challenged and then kicked the ball back at him, attempting to play my best like I would during any school match.
"Now there's the Tom Clarke I know." Quinn commented as I made the ball go past him for the fourth time. And by then I had forgotten all about not initially wanting him to come over. I was actually having a good time. "So, is it weird with not having your mum around anymore?" Until he asked me that.
"Yeah." I said, frowning and feeling awkward. I bit my lip, trying to focus more on the ball. I didn't want to think about my mum right now. That would just ruin the fun we were having. Why did he have to go and ask that?
"So what happened to her anyways? You never said." And there was a reason for that. I didn't want to talk about it. Not to mention, I couldn't be honest about what actually happened.
"Can we just play?" I snapped.
"Okay, sorry." Quinn almost seemed hurt. Quinn kicked the ball towards me and then I attempted to kick it back harder. It ended up going the opposite way than I had intended it to go. Quinn and I turned to watch the ball go through the branches of a tree and not come back down.
"Not so lucky now."
"Didn't realize you were so touchy." Quinn seemed upset about his ball. And in honesty, I felt bad about it. But I also was a bit upset about his questions. Katie was right about him not knowing about boundaries. "Sorry, next time I won't ask—I just get a bit nosy." I sighed. I knew he didn't mean anything by the questions. He was just curious. But it was hard for me. "But my grandad bought me that ball as a birthday present." We walked over to the big tree and looked up.
"I see it." The ball was stuck in the branches about four feet up. "We can easily climb up and get it."
"I'm not going up there." Quinn protested.
"Are you scared?" I asked, almost not believing it.
"Last time I climbed a tree, I fell and broke my leg." Quinn explained. "I'm not doing that again." He took a step back at the thought of climbing the tree himself. "Maybe we could shake the tree and it'll fall out." Quinn was optimistic and he actually attempted it with no luck.
"I can get it." I didn't hesitate to climb up the tree and then push the ball out of it. "Got it?" I called down and Quinn held the ball in the air.
"Yeah, wow you're pretty high."
"This is nothing." I had climbed up this tree way higher before. The few branches I climbed up to get to his ball was nothing. "Watch." I then began to climb up the tree higher.
"Wait Tom!" Quinn called back at me, but I ignored him and continued climbing. "You're going too high!" Before I knew it, I was high up in the leaves and branches. When I looked down at Quinn, he seemed as small as an ant. I sat on one of the big branches and waved at him. "Wow you're really high!"
"I've been up here many times before!" I called down. Though Quinn would never know the half of it.. Once, there was this perfect apple that I could see from all the way down there where Quinn was standing. It was during the summer when the tree was full of leaves and grew the apples. My mum used a spell which helped us get up here so I could pick that one apple; that had been a great day. I could remember it clearly like it was yesterday.
"Tom! Come down!" Quinn yelled.
"Not yet!" I stood up carefully on the branch. I wanted to see if I could go higher than where the magic took us. "I'm going to climb higher!"
"Be careful!"
I grabbed the branch and continued to climb. But then, I grabbed a smaller branch and it snapped. I then began to fall. "TOM!" I heard Quinn scream as I tried to grab onto the trunk and other branches but was unsuccessful. I was only able to slow myself down as I came crashing down to the ground, landing on my right arm. Along with a few scratches, I had felt a sharp snap deep in my arm. I grabbed hold of my arm, trembling and then I began to cry.
"Tom!" My dad rushed to my side not even a few moments later. He must have heard me scream. "What happened?" He looked between me and then Quinn.
"I f-f-fell..."
"I told him not to climb so high." Quinn added. He did try to tell me but I didn't listen. It had been fun and I wanted to keep climbing. I was stupid and picked the wrong branch. "But he kept going higher."
"You were climbing up there?" Dad asked and I nodded as the tears poured, making my vision blurry. "Tom, that's dangerous."
"My ar-arm…" I whimpered.
"Shhh, it's going to be okay." My dad scooped me up into his arms and I leaned my head against his chest as he carried me inside.
"Oh Michael, Quinn's mother is here—" I heard Gran say and stopped mid-sentence once she saw me and dad come inside. "What's wrong?"
"Tom fell out of the apple tree."
"Oh dear!"
"Mummy." I looked over, watching as Quinn went over and hugged his mother tightly. I felt slightly envious at the sight.
"Is there anything I could do? Call an ambulance or anything?" Quinn's mother offered.
"No, we'll be okay." Dad insisted. "You guys can go. I've got this."
"Are you gonna be okay, Tom?" Quinn asked, looking worried.
"He'll be alright." Dad assured him.
"Come on, we should give them some space." His mum urged.
"Bye Tom, feel better." Quinn then left with his mother.
"Michael, there might be something I can do to help." Gran offered.
"No Ursula, magic isn't needed." Dad insisted. "I'm just going to take him to the hospital—"
"No!" I exclaimed once I heard him mention going to the hospital. I hated hospitals and I didn't want to go if there was a way to make this better with magic. Doctors always made it hurt more.
"Tom, we have to."
"No, gran can use magic."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Dad was reluctant to try anything when magic was concerned. He would never understand it since he was an unenchanted.
"Mum would have tried something."
"Michael." Dad turned to Gran. "At least let give him something for the pain. It's a potion and it should make him a bit more comfortable. You know how long you can end up waiting in emergency room." I looked up at dad, hoping he would be okay with that.
"Please dad." I pleaded. "It hurts."
"Alright." Dad allowed it and then Gran left momentarily to go make this potion that was supposed to help with the pain. Meanwhile, dad brought me over to the couch. I laid down with my head on his lap and he began to gently stroke my hair back. "It's going to be okay."
"I could have used a spell to stop it—from me falling like that." I admitted.
"But you didn't?"
"Quinn would have seen." I knew that my friends could never know that I was a wizard. They couldn't see me do magic or they would know. So I had tried to grab onto another branch to stop myself; but it didn't help much.
"I see." Dad nodded. "Now why were you climbing so high anyways?"
"It was fun." I shrugged. "I thought I could go up to the top."
"Tom, you could have broken more than just your arm." It was safe to say that my arm was broken. It hurt enough to assume as much. "You may be a wizard, but you're certainly not invincible." And I'm just a kid. I knew he was thinking that too. He always used that as an excuse when gran wanted to show me some magic.
"Because you won't let me learn."
"Not yet." Dad corrected. "You will learn when you're old enough." I hoped he wouldn't go back on that. But it also wasn't clear on when I would be old enough. "Right now isn't the right time."
"Mum would let me learn now."
"Well she's not here." Dad sighed. I knew how much he missed her and how hard this was on him too. "Hey, now magic isn't everything. Before this, you and Quinn were having fun."
"He asked about her." I admitted. "I can't even tell him what happened." Though I didn't like to talk about it anyways, I sometimes wondered if it would make it easier. But even if I wanted to, I couldn't tell my friends about the incident. "I know it's none of their business but…"
Dad seemed to understand, but I wasn't sure what he was getting at first. "Was not wanting to have Quinn over have anything to do with lying to him?"
"I don't like hiding. I don't like lying to him." It wasn't just with Quinn. But with Katie and everyone else too. I felt like I had to pretend I was someone else at times. Especially now without mum, I felt it more and more. It was true I had gran here now, but it was different; I felt alone.
"I know it's hard." Dad attempted to relate as best he could. "And I know it may seem like I won't understand." He was right about that. "But I do. And it's really hard now, but I promise it will get easier. And I have this feeling that one day, you'll be able to tell someone all about this—and you. Someone you can be honest with; someone special." I had a feeling dad ended up being mum's special person.
"I hope I won't have to wait until I get married."
Dad laughed and then he kissed me on the forehead. "Please promise me you won't climb that tree again—that high. You scared the life out of me."
"I won't." I promised. "Trust me."
Gran came out of the chamber and then over to us with a hot mug. "Okay, this should help with the pain. You'll have to drink all of it." I took the mug and I wanted to spit it out after the first small sip. But I forced myself to drink it, knowing it would be worth it for the results. Minutes after I finished the potion, the pain in my arm had subsided.
"Is it better?" Dad asked.
"A little." It still hurt, but not as much as it had. I knew we would still be going to the doctor's despite how much I didn't want to.
"Well, we should get you down to the hospital." Dad was on his feet and he picked me up before I could protest. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get home." I couldn't argue with that. And I knew the potion wouldn't last forever.
We were on our way quickly to the hospital and the wait seemed endless. I was almost wondering if the potion would last long enough before they actually were free to see me. But eventually they brought me back. They had me x-rayed and put into a cast for six weeks. And that was the last time I ever attempted to climb that high; without using magic.
A/N: I got some inspiration when I was rewatching "Cave of Mela-Gto" and it was mentioned that Tom fell out of a tree as a kid. This did turn out differently than I originally thought it would.
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