Chapter 8: Back On This Side of the Door

This is just filler so y'all can skip unless you want to read it anyway. I threw in a couple extra scenes.

Peter, who was fast asleep and in the middle of a very good dream, was awoken rather rudely by a weight on his chest. "Peter!" Lucy shouted. The wind was nearly sucked out of his lungs when she landed on him. "Wake up! It's really there!"

"Lucy, what are you talking about?" Peter groggily groaned. Lucy had turned the light on in the room and he was quite overwhelmed by the suddenness of the whole situation. His vision slowly focused so he could see his sister, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Narnia!" Lucy exclaimed. "It's all in the wardrobe like I told you!" Susan then came into the room, obviously woken by the hubbub as well.

"You've just been dreaming, Lucy," she said in an exasperated tone, as if she was a mother trying to tell her child to eat their greens for the fiftieth time.

"But it wasn't a dream!" Lucy insisted. "I saw Mr. Tumnus again! And this time, Edmund went, too!" Silence fell over the room. Peter's vision had now adjusted to normal and he saw Edmund standing by the door, absentmindedly picking at a stray thread on his bathrobe. But at the mention of his name his eyes flicked up and filled with something that Peter could not quite place.

"You…saw the faun?" Peter dared to ask. Edmund was just about to reply when Lucy interjected.

"Well, he didn't actually go there with me. He was-" she then stopped mid-sentence and a look of confusion came over her face. "What were you doing, Edmund?" Susan and Peter both looked at him expectedly. Then, he decided to do the nastiest thing that he could think of. He didn't know why he said what he would say next, just that he would enjoy the look on Lucy's face. Edmund made his eyes go wide and innocent and cracked a little smile.

"I was just playing along," Lucy's face immediately fell. "I'm sorry Peter, I shouldn't have encouraged her." Her eyes welled with tears. "But you know what little children are like these days," Now Lucy's face was very nearly on the verge of collapse. Edmund looked right into her eyes and finished with the most sinister and nasty tone he could. "They just don't know when to stop pretending." With that, Lucy lost it. She rushed out of the room, letting out great sobs. Susan followed after her. Edmund had the nerve to laugh as Lucy ran out crying. Peter at once threw back his blankets and shoved his brother onto his bed, his expression burning with anger. He raced out of the room, too and down the hallway. However, when he rounded the corner he saw Lucy hugging an old man. Susan stood frozen. The man before them was the Professor. They were surely in for it now.

A pounding of footsteps sounded up the stairs. "You children are one shenanigan shy of sleeping in the stables!" yelled Mrs. Macready. She stopped short when she too saw the Professor. "Professor Kirke," she bowed slightly in acknowledgement. "I told these mongrels that you were not to be disturbed-"

"Nonsense, Mrs. Macready," responded the Professor in his grandfatherly tone. "I'm sure there's a simple explanation." He gently pried Lucy off him and passed her off to the old woman. "But now I believe this one is in need of a spot of hot cocoa." Lucy stopped sniffling at the mention of one of her favorite drinks. Peter and Susan, thinking that the matter had settled, turned to go back to their rooms, but the Professor cleared his throat. They stopped, cast a glance at one another, and turned around slowly. He didn't speak another word just then, but motioned with his finger for them to follow. So they did; down to the end of a hallway and around a right turn. He opened the second door on the right side of the hallway and showed them into an expansive study. There was a messy desk with a lamp, a few chairs, several historical-looking objects, and more books than either Peter or Susan could count. The Professor sat down and lit his pipe.

"It seems you've upset the delicate internal balance of my housekeeper," he said quietly.

"We're very sorry, Sir," said Peter sincerely. He just wanted to get out of here and get back to sleep. "It won't happen again." He turned to leave but Susan grabbed his sleeve, stopping him.

"It's our sister, Sir," she said. "Lucy."

"The weeping girl," replied the Professor simply. "What of her?"

"She's upset."

"Hence the weeping," smiled the Professor sarcastically.

"It's nothing, Sir," Peter insisted. "We can handle it."

"Oh, yes, I can definitely see that," Susan took a deep breath and dared to tell the old man the reason for their sister's outburst.

"She thinks she's found a magic land. In the upstairs wardrobe." During the first part of her sentence the Professor didn't react. But as soon as Susan mentioned the wardrobe, his eyes lit up, his face looked awestruck.

"What did you say?" was all he asked. Peter and Susan exchanged another glance.

"The wardrobe upstairs," Peter repeated loudly and slowly. Perhaps the old man was hard of hearing. He motioned for them to sit in the chairs opposite his desk. "Lucy thinks she's found a forest inside."

"She won't stop going on about it!" Susan added.

"What was it like?" asked the Professor, with a curiosity that was too strong for Peter's liking.

"Like talking to a lunatic!" exclaimed Susan.

"No, not her! The forest!"

"You can't actually be saying that you believe her?" asked Peter dumbfoundedly.

"You don't?" the Professor asked him, equally as perplexed.

"Absolutely not!" Susan said. "Logically it's impossible!"

"Logically?" repeated the Professor. "What do they teach in school these days?" he then whispered under his breath.

"Edmund said they were just pretending," Peter chimed in.

"And…he's usually more the truthful one, is he not?"

"Well…" the brother and sister looked at each other uneasily. "This would be the first time…"

"Well with that knowledge in mind, and with her inisting she is, as a matter of fact, not lying…then, logically, you must therefore assume that she's telling the truth."

"You're saying that we should just…believe her?" Peter asked, confused.

"She's your sister isn't she?" sternly said the Professor. "You're a family. And I'd say it's high time for you all to start acting like one." As much as Peter and Susan did not want to admit it, he was right. "Well no need for you to stand here and listen to an old man like me ramble any longer. Off to bed with you both." And he would not let them say another word before he ushered them out and shut the door. But Peter and Susan did not go to bed. They instead went to the kitchens, where they saw Lucy sitting all by herself, clutching her cup of cocoa, wiping her nose. It was a sad sight to see. Peter and Susan came in and stood by her.

"Hello, Lu," Peter began. "Listen, we talked to the Professor and we think that-"

"I don't care what you think!" Lucy exclaimed. Both her older siblings were quite taken aback. "And I don't care what you say, either! I don't care what he said to you! Both of you can just go ahead and write to Mummy and tell her anything you like! That I'm mad or queer or something. I know I met a faun in there and-" she paused for just a moment. "I'd wish I'd stayed and never came back! I just met him and he's been nicer to me than any of you have! You're all beasts!" With that, she grabbed her cup and ran out of the kitchen, presumably to her and Susan's room. Peter and her stood there absolutely stunned. Lucy was always such a kind and patient girl, sweet and understanding. She never became angry with anyone, ever. And she certainly did not yell. A small tear trailed down Susan's cheek. She remembered a time when she and Lucy were close, nothing could separate them. But then she grew up.

"I'm going to bed," Susan murmured. After Peter composed himself he too went back up to his and Edmund's room. When he entered Ed was asleep in his bed. Peter burned with anger. He grabbed a pillow off his own bed and whacked Edmund with it. He let out a yelp and sat up.

"What was that for?!"

"Oh, shut up!" Peter shouted. "You've been awful to Lucy ever since we got here. Now you go and play games with her to set her off! We're not stupid, Ed! We all know you did it out of spite!"

"But it's all nonsense!" Edmund protested.

"Exactly my point!" Peter said. "Lucy's probably been entertaining herself with this game to distract her from all that's going on! What good do you think it'll do by mercilessly teasing her one day and encouraging and playing with her the next!"

"I thought-" began Edmund. But he couldn't finish his sentence. He couldn't think of anything to say.

"You didn't think anything at all!" Peter yelled. "This is exactly like you! Always picking on others weaker and smaller than yourself. You've already gotten in trouble plenty for it at school."

"Like you're some king!" Edmund snapped back. Neither of them said anymore. Peter just shook his head and crawled into bed, not as restful as he was before.

The next couple of days were awkward, but better than they had been. Lucy had been sullen and withdrawn from her siblings. She had been drawing an awful lot, presumably about the magic land and the faun. She would hide them when Peter and Susan would try to ask to see them. She also would not talk to them. Both of them felt awful about the whole situation. Susan thought it best to mind her own business and Peter did his best to stop Edmund from jeering at her. The rain had broken and it was now a bright, sunny, and rather warm afternoon. Susan had the idea of playing cricket and they all surprisingly agreed to the game. Except Lucy. She sat under a tree, sketching a picture of Mr. Tumnus with his red scarf.

"Peter winds up, poised to take yet another wicket!" he cried happily. He let the cherry loose and aimed right at Edmund, who was supposed to bat. I say supposed because he was staring off into space, only being brought back down to earth when the cherry hit him in the side. He was thinking about his plan to get Peter and Susan into Narnia. He knew the queen wouldn't wait forever. And he so wanted to taste that Turkish Delight again.

"Wake up Dolly Daydream!" Peter chuckled when Edmund jerked in pain.

"Why can't we play hide-and-seek again?" he asked, almost innocently.

"I thought you said it was a kids' game?" asked Peter as he went to fetch the cherry to roll it again.

"We're not playing that!" Susan said. "We could all use the fresh air."

"It's not like there isn't air inside," grumbled Edmund. Peter hated to admit to himself that he kind of had a point.

"Are you ready?" he called from behind their makeshift mound.

"Are you?" Edmund called back, readying himself with the willow. Peter rolled the ball. This time Edmund hit it. But he hit it so well that it sailed through the air and crashed right through one of the mansion's windows. Peter gave Edmund a look and all four of them raced towards the house. When they got to the proper room, they discovered a destroyed suit of armor that looked very old. The cherry was sitting right inside the helmet.

"Well done, Ed," Peter sneered.

"You rolled it!" Edmund accused back. The four of them then heard voices in the hallway.

"Mrs. Macready!" Susan exclaimed.

"We've got to hide!" Edmund said quickly. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. He bolted out of the room. Lucy, who still had not said a single word, followed him. They tried all the doors on the level, but they were all locked. Edmund was the one leading them throughout the halls. Peter couldn't help but feel like they had been in this area several times before. Indeed he was proven correct. After a few more door's worth of trying, they finally found one that was unlocked. They all ran inside. Peter and Susan were almost relieved until they saw what was on the other side of the room. Edmund ran right towards the wardrobe and opened the door. "Come on!" he urged.

"You've got to be joking," Susan said lowly with disdain in her tone. Lucy did not hesitate and ran right into the wardrobe. It was only at the sound of Mrs. Macready's voice getting near the door that Peter and Susan too raced into the wardrobe. Peter did not shut the door all the way, as he knew that it was a very foolish thing to do. He put his eye up to the crack to check if Mrs. Macready would enter the room and discover them. He heard footsteps stop outside the door and saw the knob begin to turn.

"Get back!" Peter hissed. There was then quite a bit of shoving and pushing as they all jostled for position inside the wardrobe. It at first appeared to be much bigger than he thought, for when he was sure that he would reach the back of the wardrobe, it was never so. Peter felt a heavy feeling in his stomach. Could this be? He did not have time to finish his thought. He stepped on Susan's foot and tumbled with her to the ground. But this ground was not the wooden floor of the wardrobe. This was soft, powdery, and very cold and wet. He and his sister slowly exchanged a look and then dared to turn around. They could hardly believe what they were seeing. There before their eyes was the light of a winter's day and the unmistakable landscape of a snowy forest. Peter and Susan quickly scrambled to their feet.

"Impossible!" Susan gasped, wonder in her eyes. But this was not impossible. This was very, very real. They had found Lucy's forest after all.