Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to Wednesday or the Addams family.
The Woeful Summons
It was cruel, even by Wednesday Addams standards that her parents should decide to ship her off to the very same school that they had attended, all merely because she had done the world a favour. She didn't see why this time was any different from the other seven schools that she had been kicked out of, the threat of that school constantly hanging in the air, but never one that she expected her parents would act upon. Why now? And why bother? There was no school, prison, or psychiatric sanatorium that could hold her, had she not proven that already? She gave herself twenty four hours and she would be gone, and finally her parents would be forced to concede defeat against her.
Thunder clashed loudly outside, rain splattered against the murky window panes, but even the glorious weather wasn't enough to spark any hint of contentment, while dark, cold eyes roamed across her dimly lit, gloomy bedroom to rest upon the large black trunk, packed and ready for Lurch to cart downstairs to the car for the morning. At any other time, she might have relished in the sense of dread she felt about the coming morning, but even this was one nightmare that Wednesday found herself wishing to be over with. She wondered if she could wile away the feeling by a bit of light water-boarding with Pugsley, when there was a bright flash of light and her gloomy bedroom disappeared before her very eyes.
She blinked, quite against her own will, and when she opened them again she was truly caught off guard, a rarity in itself, to discover herself standing within an unfamiliar room. Large and spaces, reminding her vaguely of her own family parlour, the walls were covered in dark wood panels and the floor matching wood, covered with an assortment of old Persian rugs, most muted and faded by age. Even the air tasted of dust and age. A varying range of armchairs dotted the centre of the room, forming a large semi-circle, room enough for eight people to sit, each chair slightly different in style and age, different shapes and colour, though the one similarity between them all seemed to be the dark, gloomy shades. She could appreciate that, at least. There was no pastels to be seen.
And in the middle of it all, somehow visible to all eight chars, a large TV screen sat.
It wasn't often that Wednesday found herself lost for words, but she had to admit, even in her own mind, that this was quite unexpected. And very curious. Her dark eyebrows arched high beneath her fringe...right as another near blinding flash of brilliant light illuminated the room and she grimaced, instinctively bringing her hand up to cover her eyes.
"What the...?" a startled, male voice exclaimed.
Lowering her hand, carefully peering flatly at the boy that had seemingly been transported to the room, just as she had been, Wednesday observed the new arrival somewhat dubiously. Wide, green eyes flashed across the room from where he stood, tall and broad shouldered, with thick, honey brown hair and dressed in a large, brown corduroy jacket over a flannel shirt and jeans, the new arrival hardly inspired any great hope in her that he might be her kidnapper. In fact, he looked perfectly average, if, on an impartial level, somewhat attractive, the teenage boy, clearly hardly older then her, seemed even more startled and shocked by his appearance in the room then she felt.
"Er..." the boy blinked at her, lips parted slightly and eyes still far too large. He licked his lips, almost apprehensively, "Hi".
She regarded him blankly, remaining silent as she turned her gaze back to peering around the room, dismissing him as little more than a distraction. It was evident that he was of little use to her right now. She edged closer to the middle of the room, slipping between two of the armchairs to look critically at the large TV screen, deciding that must surely have more clues to her purpose for being here then some random kid. From the corner of her eye, she noted that boy shifted awkwardly on the spot, looking unsure as he stuffed his hands inside his jeans pockets, casting both her and the room around them fervent glances.
"I'm Tyler, by the way," he introduced himself, and Wednesday might have vaguely appreciated his attempts to still approach her, even after she had so clearly dismissed him, had she not been busy trying to solve this far more interesting mystery.
"Wednesday," she replied without glancing at him, her tone cool and even. Still, from the corner of her eye, she noted his lips lift in a warm, bright smile.
"Don't suppose you've got any idea what..."
He was swiftly cut off by another bright light filling the air, causing him to flinch. Wednesday barely flickered an eye, turning to regard to new arrival, who was a girl barely much taller than herself. Pale blonde hair in a wavy bob surrounded a rounded, bright and eager face, some strands coloured, disgustingly in pastel pink and purple around her face. If that wasn't disturbing enough, the bright pink, fluffy jumper the girl was clad in and white floral jeans caused Wednesday to have to fight down the sudden desire to search for her pocket blowtorch.
"Oh, my God!" the girl squealed, high-pitched and breathless, right before there was a loud clicking noise, and suddenly the girl's multicoloured fingernails lengthened into sharp claws, poised threateningly before her, blue eyes wide in fear and alarm, "What the hell just happened? Where am I?"
"Join the club," the boy, Tyler, told her, causing the girl to gasp and widely spin around to face him...he eyed her warily, eyes darting to her claws as he briefly looked as if he was tempted to rock back on his heels. Not taking his eyes off her nails, he smiled tightly, "I'm Tyler".
She eyed him closely, "I know who you are," she said, a little flippantly...his smile flickered and grew slightly downturned. She seemed to notice Wednesday, then, and her eyebrows rose sharply in curiosity, "You, on the other hand..." she smiled brightly at the dark haired girl, who considered her with barely concealed disgust. The girl didn't seem to notice, "I'm Enid".
Wednesday turned away from her...if Tyler was deemed unworthy of her interest, this overly brightly coloured, obviously werewolf girl, was just as pointless to her efforts to seek answers.
"That's Wednesday," Tyler said from behind her.
"Is she...okay?" Enid asked worriedly, voice low, "I mean, is she always that pale?"
"Um..."
"Yes," Wednesday said, slightly pointedly and flatly, hoping to silence the chatter.
It worked and silence briefly fell over the room, but only for a few seconds, before another bright flash filled the air. Enid yelped in surprise and jumped, before a relieved, astonished gasp left her lips.
"Xavier!"
The boy was also quite tall, with a slim build beneath a large dark blue hoodie and dark tracksuit trousers, a pair of slightly muddy scuffed trainers worn on his feet. His light brown hair seemed to brush his shoulders, while brown-green eyes fixed instantly on Enid and sparked with recognition, blinking slowly, if slightly dazed.
"Enid?" he eyed the blonde, blinking slowly, "What are...?" he frowned and looked around, taking the room in, then seemingly catching sight of Wednesday, he stopped, eyeing her with a flicker of curiosity. He took a smell step towards her, narrowing his eyes on her, "Have we met before?"
Wednesday considered him briefly, dark, cool eyes flickering up and down him, "You do seem...vaguely familiar," she said carefully, tone even.
His eyes widened, then, "Wednesday?" he asked, his eyes brightening suddenly, almost frighteningly so, causing the pigtailed girl to eye him slightly more critically, "Wednesday Addams?"
"Yes," she confirmed, tone cool, expression unmoved, and his smile widened.
"Do you know each other?" Tyler cut in, then.
Xavier's head snapped sharply around to the other teen boy at his words, and his entire demeanour shifted, much to Wednesday's muted intrigue. She noted that Xavier's expression instantly darkened and his lips briefly pressed together in a tight, angry line, while Tyler looked briefly as if he regretted speaking at all, though he didn't lower his eyes or back down, the only indication of his own discomfort being a slight tightening of his jaw.
"What's he doing here?" Xavier questioned stiffly, looking away from Tyler with an angry, brooding frown, turning his gaze back to Wednesday.
"The more accurate question would be 'Why are we all here?'" Wednesday corrected him, dismissing him easily as she turned back around to eye the TV screen. The boy was familiar to her, vaguely, and the name, but she had far more pressing interests right now to be overly bothered, "I suspect that our purpose for being brought to this place revolves around this screen," she continued, before a flicker of frustration curled through her chest, her eyes narrowing on the screen, "How or why, remains to be seen..."
Another bright flash of light filled the room and she briefly turned her gaze off the screen to consider the couple that had just appeared...wrapped around one another in a sickening embrace. It took Wednesday great efforts not to gag in disgust at the image of her parents tethered to one another via their lips, her mother's long, shiny black hair freely flowing down her back as long, pale fingers with pointed, black nails cupped at the rounded cheeks of the slightly podgy, dark haired man. Both of them, thankfully remained fully dressed, her father in his black pinstripe suit and her mother draped in the black, fitted floor length gown. Wednesday almost felt her expression warp into an annoyed grimace at the sight.
"Oh, cara mia..."
"Mon Cherie!"
"Enough," Wednesday said sharply, raising her voice just slightly as she turned around fully to pin them both with a dark glare. Slowly, barely detaching themselves from one another, the pair turned their heads to meet her glare. Her lips pressed into a thin line, "If you had cared to detach yourselves for more than a second, you might have noticed that you have been transported to a completely different location".
Calmly, Gomez and Morticia Addams glanced around the room, barely blinking at all at the sight of the three rather bemused teenagers that stood in the same room, each one of them staring at them with varying degrees of embarrassment and shock written across their faces. Enid looked as if she was ready to combust from stifled giggles, while Tyler looked rather wide eyed and Xavier didn't quite seem to know where to look, a slight flush on the back of his neck. Still, the darkly clad couple barely blinked an eye.
"Oh, what a dreary place," Morticia remarked with a gentle, pleased smile lifting her darkly painted lips, eyes roaming the room swiftly, "How delightful. It reminds me of home".
"I almost expect to see Lurch bringing afternoon tea," Gomez agreed with a light hearted smile of his own, easily curling his arm around his wife's waist, bright, dark brown eyes swiftly coming to rest on Wednesday, full of pride and glee, "My little deathtrap, you've out down yourself!"
"Yes," Morticia focused her own gaze onto Wednesday, that small smile still playing across her lips, eyes glittering with something like amusement, "Quite the clever little scheme, darling. But if you think that slipping us a hallucinogenic is going to stop us from sending you to Nevermore..."
"This is not my doing, mother," Wednesday said flatly, slightly irritated that her mother thought her so sloppy as that. She had been taught better, after all.
"Wait," Enid said quickly, causing everyone to look at her. She looked curiously at Wednesdays, all big blue eyes and excitement, a small, eager smile filling her features, "You're going to Nevermore? I go to Nevermore! Hey, maybe we'll be roommates!"
Wednesday eyed the girl with a flat glare, her silence deafening, and slowly Enid's eager smile slipped and a slight blush spread over her cheeks.
"Please forgive Wednesday," Morticia said lightly, sparing the fair haired girl with a brief glance, "She is still adjusting to the idea".
The bright flash of light that filled the room saved Wednesday from having to say anything to argue with her mother's assessment. As the light cleared, a middle aged man came into focus, dressed in a Sheriff uniform, large, wide brimmed hat included. He had a slight greying beard covering his jaw line and cheeks, while there was something familiar about the shape of his face and cheekbones. His eyes, however, were sharp and blue, instantly narrowing into a guarded, if quite alarmed, frown as he quickly looked around the room. He instantly seemed to spot Tyler.
"Ty?" he blinked, and instantly went to walk the short distant towards him.
"Dad?" Tyler stared at him, looking quite taken aback as his father grabbed his shoulder, gripping it almost protectively.
"Where are we?"
"That's the question of the hour," Wednesday said flatly, eyes narrowing slightly on the older man, who instantly looked across to her sharply. She observed father and son curiously...why them? It was clear to her that everyone else in this room was an Outcast, but these two? Tyler and his Sheriff father couldn't be more Normie if they tried, that was plain, so why were they here? What was the connection?
"Donovan Galpin," Morticia said slowly, surprise lifting her thin, dark eyebrows as she regarded the new man closely. Her tone was a touch cooler than normal, causing Wednesday to look back to her parents with slightly narrowed, puzzled eyes, only to find her father also eyeing the Sheriff with a faintly wary glint in his eyes, his usual bright, light smile gone.
Realisation seemed to hit the Sheriff like a slap in the face, his eyes widened before swiftly narrowing into an almost dark, bitter glare and his lips tightened, turning downwards angrily. Tyler shift slightly on the spot, throwing his father a strange glance, before his own green gaze caught Wednesday's eyes, quite against her own will. The boy gave her a confused look, which she could only return with a slightly puzzled twist to her lips, her eyes swiftly moving to roam between her parents and the Sheriff, who dropped his hand from Tyler's shoulder and stepped forward, focused entirely on the darkly clad couple.
"Gomez and Morticia Addams," he said coldly, his voice low, almost an angry growl, eyes narrow beneath the brim of his hat, "You've got some nerve..."
A crackle of thunder cut off whatever he was going to say, startling Enid into jumping and unleashing her claws again, but Wednesday barely noticed. Her eyes immediately focused on the flutter of paper that had appeared in the middle of the room, fluttering seemingly from nowhere onto the black polished coffee table that sat within the centre of the room. She instantly crossed to it and picked it up, the edges of the thick, yellowed paper lightly singed and the smell of burning paper tickled her nose. She uncurled the rolled edges and her eyes were greeted by the sight of slanting, elaborate cursive writing.
"What does it say, my little raincloud?" Gomez cooed at her, the room seemingly falling silent at the arrival of the note.
"'Dear friends,'" Wednesday read aloud, her tone utterly monotone, "'You have been gathered for a very specific purpose, but one that you shall have to discover for yourselves. I have carefully collected a series of recordings of future events, seen largely through the eyes of...'" she hesitated, frowning slightly, before she continued, "'...Wednesday Addams. These recordings are supposed to help in the endeavour of changing the future and helping to prevent so many unnecessary deaths and trauma from unfolding. Be opened minded and remember, the events that you are about to witness have yet to happen and still may be changed. Best of wishes...'" she delicately folded the paper back in half and looked up, finding the room staring at her. She looked at them calmly, "The letter is not signed".
Silence rang out throughout the room; everyone seemed to process the letters words.
"Impossible," Donavon scoffed, shaking his head firmly.
"Unlikely, perhaps," Mortitica said lightly, looking more curious than anything else, lips lifted faintly in a gentle smile, "How intriguing. Oh, Wednesday, darling..." she suddenly looked almost excitedly across to her daughter, her eyes lighting up, "Your first stalker! How charming".
"Recordings told from my perspective?" Wednesday glanced back at the letter in her hands, black nail polish stark against the yellowed page, "I don't know if I should feel pity or violation".
"Sounds like the future's pretty messed up," Tyler said warily, frowning uneasily as he looked at the pigtailed girl, giving her a small, almost shy smile "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm kind of curious".
Wednesday eyed him...perhaps her first judgment of him had been a little harsh; perhaps the boy was vaguely more interesting. Or perhaps he was simply deranged, either way, promising.
"Tyler," Donavon shot his son a stern glare, and he grabbed his shoulder again, causing the boy to break eye contact with the girl and blink at him, "I don't know what's going on here, but whenever a Addams is involved, nothing good ever comes from it," he threw an icy, bitter glare over his shoulder to the family, "Stay clear".
"Well, that should be easy to do, considering we're trapped in the same room together".
"So why don't we at least do as the letter said," Enid piped up, smiling hopefully around the room, breaking Wednesday's flat, cool glare from Donavan. The blonde moved to squeeze between two armchairs, before plopping herself down in a rather garish, dark purple tub style armchair. She looked back around the room at them all, still smiling brightly, "I mean, what can it really hurt to at least give it a go, right? And, the sooner we do watch whatever this might be about, the sooner we can all go about our lives again. Sounds like a win-win to me".
"I'm down for it," Xavier said with a small shrug, glancing at Wednesday, before moving to take the armchair next to Enid, this one a dark, blood red Lawson style chair.
Tyler silently shrugged his father's hand off his shoulder and swiftly moved to take up a seat in the closest chair, an emerald green chair. He seemed to purposely ignore the disgruntled glare his father was giving him. Gomez picked up Morticia's hand and pressed a tender kiss to her knuckles, before the couple moved as one towards two of the chairs, one a rather ornate dark navy wingback and the other a wicker peacock chair, which Morticia instantly gravitated towards, settling elegantly into the chair, hands still linked with her husband's. Wednesday's lips briefly pulled downwards in displeasure, but she silently moved to sink into a leather black wingback that was far too big for her petite frame, clasping her hands together in her lap.
"Come on, Dad," Tyler urged after a moment of Donovan remaining on the spot, glaring at them all. He sounded almost tired, giving his father a wary frown, "Just sit down already".
Slowly, the Sheriff came to sit in the last seat, a rather worn-out looking recliner, his posture stiff and his expression stony as he sat practically on the edge of the chair, ready to throw himself out of it at any given second. The second he settled into the chair, the large TV rippled into life and Wednesday had to bite down on her tongue to stop herself from groaning aloud.
This was going to be torture unlike any other. She both loathed and loved the ingenuity of it.
I have a problem and I told myself I wouldn't publish another story until I finished my Sherlock one...and here I am. In my defence, though, there is shockingly pretty much no stories like this one and I've always been a bit of a sucker of the character read/watch their own lives and react. It was how I first got into writing and then, I ended up moving on from it and into writing OC's, but Wednesday brought me back.
So, slight note of the timeline here, and I will likely go into further detail as the story progresses, but just so you do know, obviously this is set just before Wednesday's first day at Nevermore, same for her parents. But for the others, however, it's set a week or more before Wednesday's arrival, just because I figure that Enid would be all over the fact that a new girl was coming to the school and I really wanted her to be in the dark about it. I also think that Tyler is still largely in denial about being the Hyde, he's already killed and been activated, but he has no memories of the attacks, he just knows that something very wrong is happening and he's secretly trying not to freak out.
Righty-oh, I hope you guys found the first chapter promising. Let me know what you thought, please review :)
