Chapter 17

Quintessential

"Blondie? I'm back!" Cedar called after a long day of work. Briar's case was certainly interesting - she'd have to do some research later.

She listened for a reply.

"I'm upstairs," came a dull response. Cedar frowned. Blondie's bedroom was downstairs, and the blonde reporter scarcely ever wandered upstairs unless she was in Cedar's room.

Cedar put down her belongings on the couch and walked up the stairs to find Blondie. When she did, the therapist was surprised to see her in the guest room, fluffing out the pillows.

"We're having a guest over?" she asked. Truth to be told, Cedar disliked uninvited guests, and Blondie always alerted her two weeks before.

"That's right," Blondie said. She sounded chokey and overwhelmed as she dusted the drawers.

"Oh really? And who might this guest be?"

The blonde paused her cleaning. She turned to Cedar with wide and worried eyes.

"My twin brother. He's been missing for twenty years. But now they've found him."

—

Humphrey Dumpty was sitting on his couch and reading a book on coding when he heard a knock at the door. He stood up, opened it, and was surprised to be met with the curly-haired short girl with the disturbing past. He had forgotten her name.

"Good day," said the young lady.

"Hello," said Humphrey, who was confused why she turned up at his doorstep (or indeed, knew where he lived). (?! Stalker?)

There was a long period of silence. "Sorry, I've forgotten your name. Uh…Is it Mary? Millie? Maudie?"

"What kind of name is Maudie? What an unfortunate soul to be christened with such a label," the girl answered. "It's Madeline. Maddie, if you will." She smiled and grabbed his hand. "I must thank you for accompanying me to go bunjee jumping.

"What now?"

Maddie didn't explain anything about why she had picked him or known where he lived. "I can't drive, so we must take your car. I unicycled here." Sure enough, there was a large bright pink unicycle whose wheel looked like a huge chocolate iced donut.

"How do you know I have a car?"

"I fixed it, remember?"

Oh…right. She had.

Maddie opened the door and climbed in. Humphrey sat in the driver's seat. She gave him a map. Sighing, he followed the directions down roads and highways as Maddie started to create a poem. It went like this:

"There once were two explorers,

And one was very crazy.

The other one wore glasses,

Because his sight was hazy.

The hazy one very disliked

Adventure of all sorts,

And the crazy one was trying

To change his preconcieved thoughts.

She had once fixed his car,

The task wasn't very small.

And now she endeavoured to change his mind,

Once and for all.

So she did the weirdest things

That she could possibly find,

In hope that he would leave

All his stupid fears behind.

Because the moment she met him

She knew he was that kind,

Of person who would hold back

For he listened to his mind.

And now you see, all listeners,

You do not have to fear!

For Madeline will try to fix— OH, HUMPHREY, LOOK, WE'RE HERE!" And indeed they were. It was a large-ish clearing, green with grass. There were some benches and sturdy trees. Maddie jumped out immediately and took some equipment out of a backpack that was shaped as a blob of paint. She secured thick ropes around the sturdiest tree with complicated knots and put on a harness around her geometrically patterned t-shirt and matching leggings. She attatched on her curly head a helmet shaped like a top hat that was seemingly made out of playing cards.

"Do you have a license?" Humphrey inquired, although he was certain what the answer was.

"Of course not! But Briar ran through all the basics with me," Maddie responded cheerfully. She clipped the harness to the thick ropes, then passed Humphrey one. He was too polite to refuse.

The poor blonde sighed again and wondered why he was such a target for crazy adventure-seeking curly-haired woman.

—

Raven giggled as Dexter wheeled her into another room. Which room she wasn't sure, as she was blindfolded with one of his ties (because he didn't have a blindfold).

"Okay," Dexter said, taking off the tie-blindfold.

Raven grinned and looked around. "Woah…" she breathed.

Dex had somehow turned the left wall of their bedroom into a photo album and the right wall into a bucket list. On the left wall lay black and white wooden photo frames hanging around a corkboard. Said corkboard which was strung with blue, purple, and white ribbon, with more photos pegged on the ribbon. Everything was in chronological order.

The bucket-list wall was a scrapbook of photos and brochures which were taped up in the shape of the word 'NEXT…' In the middle was a huge world map with a set of pins that were either blue, purple, or white. There was one golden pin in the state of Charmington, in Ever After.

"That's the past," Dexter explained, pointing to the left wall. "And that's—"

"—Our future," Raven finished in a whisper. "Why did you do all this?"

"Because I realised that before I was always too busy or too tired to go places with you. One day, we'll travel all across the world. Since you'll be out of your wheelchair in two weeks, I've planned and booked a trip to France. We're taking first class."

"No way!" Raven grinned. "Oh Dex, I can't believe…this is amazing and…I…I can't wait, honey!" She grabbed him and hugged him.

"Thank you…for everything," she whispered.

—

Blondie shifted on the couch, feeling restless and worried. She glanced at the clock over and over again. She wished Cedar was with her as some support. She hadn't seen her twin in years - too many years.

At ten-thirty sharp, the doorbell rang. Blondie mustered up all her hidden courage, stood up, and went and opened the door.

Standing in the doorway was a male replica of Blondie. However, he was much taller, he didn't have a fringe, and his arms and face were laced with scars. They stood staring at each other for the longest time. All the courage Blondie had gathered slowly faltered away. This was her twin brother…who had been missing for so long. Her heart beat wildly. She felt weak. It didn't feel right, yet she never felt more happy. He was back! Her childhood best friend was back!

"Blondie?" he asked finally. He smiled that familiar smile.

Blondie started crying. She leapt forward and hugged him. He still felt the same. "Oh Xavier, I thought you were gone! Twenty years!" she sobbed.

"I missed you too, baby sis," Xavier smiled.

And then Blondie knew that despite the fact that he had been in an abusive family for twenty years, and that they hadn't seen each other since they were eight and he had disappeared, that he was the same old Xavier Lockes…the same old twin she loved.

"Come on, Xavier," Blondie said, leading him inside. "Welcome home."