"In-In-Indeed they are! Come, every gone, I know wh-wh-whe-wh-h-hw-ewew-whe-whe-whe-Just follow me!"
Pip was the last in the group. The others were so excited by everything going on that they left him behind without noticing. Isadore did, and took the chance to grab him, covering his mouth, and force him take a different direction.
Finally a rest. Luc really needed to stop for a while, get a shower and eat enough and without a hurry.
Just as he expected, everything going on had served to soften up Sylvia's attitude towards him and make her a purring kitty, always solicitous, ready to give him what he needed or could wish for. She made sure he had the rest he so needed. She closed the door of the bedroom and severely told her children not to make a noise. "Daddy had a hard night," he heard her tell them.
Even though he should have felt grateful for it, and it did help him recover from that hell of a night, that didn't serve to change his mind about her.
It was always the same. After the arguments came the apologies—apologies which seemed like his responsibility, at least the vocal ones, because Sylvia was not the kind of a woman who would degrade herself to the point of asking for forgiveness. A kiss, a bit of love-making that night...
It always worked. For a while. Until the next argument, at least.
But not anymore.
Luc decided it was time to step out of the roller coaster.
He only took a one-hour nap, enough to clear his mind a little. Then, he started packing up his things.
"...What are you doing?"
Sylvia was there, at the door. She had her nightgown on, ready to go to bed after tucking the kids into bed. Luc made an effort not to be a coward and look at her to the face.
"...Sylvia...This is not working..."
"...What?"
"...We tried...We can't say we didn't try to fix this...Or at least I've got my conscience clear, knowing I did what I could...But we made a mistake. We are friends at the most. Nothing more. We are not made to be together."
Sylvia looked like he had just stabbed her in the chest. It hurt him as well...but he knew beforehand that there was no way to do this without everyone getting hurt.
"...You...are leaving me?..." She muttered.
"I am really sorry, Sylvia."
"What made you think...? Is it something I did? Something I said?"
"No."
"I just don't understand! We never...! And then you come and...! Do you really need to do this? Come on, stop acting silly. We will make it work. We will go to counseling! But Luc, the children..."
"I'll talk to them. Of course, I'll be for them, always, when they need me."
He closed the suitcase, trying not to look at the tears running down Sylvia's pretty face.
"I will go back to France. At least for some time. I'll be back to arrange everything." Luc said, finally turning around.
Sylvia at first said nothing. When he tried to make it through the door, she looked at him in the eyes. She practically stabbed him with a stare.
"...Is there someone else?"
Julie's image popped instantly into his mind.
Did it show on his face? Could Sylvia read minds? Or did she know something he ignored? For she started sobbing loudly.
"There's another one!" She exclaimed, like he had just mortally wounded her.
"There's no one, Sylvia. Please. Don't shout." Luc calmly replied.
"Sure there is! That explains everything! Who is she? Is she from work? One of those sexy cat thieves?!"
"I'm telling you there is no one else."
"...Papa?"
Too late. All that yelling had woken the children up. They shyly approached, in their pajamas, looking at them with worry, because all that commotion could mean nothing good. Max looked at the suitcase in Luc's hand and then looked at him in such a way his stomach sank.
"What's going on?" The oldest was afraid to ask.
"Tell them. Come on, tell them." Sylvia frowned at Luc.
Luc felt the great temptation of lying to them. To take everything back, unpack his things and apologize for this.
He used all of his willpower to go ahead with what he had started. Face the inevitable pain.
He crouched in front of his two children to place his hands on their shoulders. "Mes petits...Your mother and I..."
"Your father wants to leave us. He doesn't love us anymore." Sylvia interrupted with bitterness and so, so much sadness.
Oh, the faces of his children! Luc had never felt such a painful sensation.
"Why? Why don't you love us?" Max asked.
"You won't leave us, right, Papa?" Victor was starting to cry.
"Of course I love you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me..." Luc tried to say.
"You just said everything we had was a mistake, including our children." Sylvia again made things difficult to him.
"I never said-"
"I'll be good and eat my greens, Papa, but please don't leave!" Bawling, Victor wrapped his arms around his neck.
Luc wanted to cry as well. He felt monstrous. Why couldn't Sylvia understand this wasn't easy for him either?
She just couldn't see...Love was supposed to make you fly, not sink you deeper into the ground...
"Papa, please don't go...!" Victor kept on crying. Max had started crying silently as well.
...He had to do this...He didn't want his boys to grow up thinking they had to yield to whatever chains they were shackled with...
Luc very softly pushed the little boy away from him and stood up.
When he did so, both children leaped on him and grabbed him with such strength he was genuinely amazed.
"Daddy, don't leave!"
"I can understand you abandon me for some bad woman, but can you really do this to your children?" Sylvia, of course, didn't stop delivering low blows.
The children were actually hurting him. The violence of it all scared Luc. He tried to get them off him but he couldn't. He really couldn't.
"It was really a mistake marrying you!" Sylvia shouted, breaking down in tears. "I mistook you for someone decent! Go! Go with that bitch! Go destroy your boys' life!"
"Papa! Papa, please!" His children kept on pleading.
"You are not a father nor a husband! The cop...What an example!"
At that moment, in spite of everything going on Luc felt...that was not the first time he had had to hear an accusation like that...
...A terrible example for the children...
But who...?
It didn't matter, probably, but hearing that, many different feelings flooded in. None of them were good. And there was a prominent one: fear. Fear of what would happen afterwards, the consequences. The Dip.
What was the Dip? He couldn't tell. That was the worst of the bad things coming into his mind. Just the name was enough to give him goosebumps.
There was this one thing he knew: the mentioning of that subconscious threat brought him an uneasiness he hadn't felt in a long time. And, with that, an unexpected lucidity.
"Papa!"
He looked down at his boys and thought...and thought...
He knew nothing of what was appropriate for children because he never had any!
He had been soft on them not to harm them, but now he used all of his strength to escape from their claws. He had no remorse now: he felt disgust towards them. He pushed them with no delicacy at all, as if they were criminals like those he used to face in the streets, on the battlefield.
"PAPAAAAAAAAA!"
And he didn't feel any kind of remorse when he punched Victor in the face.
He dissolved in dust.
Max and Sylvia let out a synchronized inhuman shriek, and not only Victor but they also burst into electrified sand.
Panting on the floor, Lux let out a rosary of exclamations in his mother tongue. He had no idea of what just happened, but this was not right. Not in a million years he would have imagined he would see something of the sort. Wasn't he dreaming? No, it was all real. The children had marked his body with their little nails.
The thought of Julie was once again his fuel. He quickly got up and ran out of the house. Something weird was happening and he had to make sure she was alright.
Could she be one of those things? He didn't think so. They brought him bad feelings, while thinking of her comforted him. She was very real, and also what he felt for her.
Enough living in denial. There was nothing he wanted more than having her in his arms and call her his.
"Old fool!" He said to himself. "She will never love you back!"
He knew. He knew perfectly, and it hurt. But at least he would be sincere, for the first time in his life.
Wasn't that what love was about: jumping with no parachute?
In spite of what just happened, which still had him shaking, he smiled.
Julie had gotten out to get something for dinner and found the streets were...quite lively, to say the least. People running around calling someone, chasing each other, mesmerized by their reflection on every glass. Right in front of her house, a man and a woman ran out of the fruit shop with their arms full of carrots, which they charged into a Ford before escaping at high speed.
Julie opened the door to her apartment and dropped the keys on the hall table.
"Hello, honey! There are some weird guys outside you should probably get arrested."
But the real weirdness was awaiting her at home, for when she saw Wyatt didn't reply and went to see what was going on, she found her boyfriend standing by the window, with tears in his eyes.
"...Wyatt? Wyatt, what happened?" Julie dropped the grocery bag and ran to him.
"I did have a dog." He cried. "It was a Great Dane. His name was Scooby. We used to go on adventures together along with our friend. Fred, Velma and Daphne. We solved mysteries in a Volkswagen van, the five of us, and it was great—and I've just remembered about it! How does someone forget someone they've known all of their lives? I did! And I feel terrible about it, because we used to be inseparable and now I don't know where any of them is now, how they're doing...!"
He was a nervous wreck. Julie had no idea of what to say to comfort him. The only thing she could do was give him a tissue to wipe his tears with.
"I gotta face the facts..." Wyatt continued, loudly blowing his nose. "I'm not a cop. I don't like arresting bad guys. I'm even scared to fine drivers. Criminals scare me...I...I was made for detective work. You know, finding clues, ask everyone around if they saw something, set traps..."
"Give yourself time. Maybe you're just going through a bad time..." Julie said to him.
"I've thought of it long enough. It's no use trying...It's only going to bring me pain. When one knows precisely what they want, everything else is just a waste of time."
She knew what she wanted.
She wanted Luc's face to be the first thing she saw waking up in the mornings. She wanted to play with that white lock of his. She wanted to give him reasons to smile in that special way.
Wyatt looked at her with sadness.
"...I'm so sorry, Julie...You're the best girlfriend someone like me could have ever wished for...But I must find myself...I must find that gang I belong to...Perhaps if I find them, I will know for sure who I am and what I want...I am a jerk and you're in your right to hate me, but..."
Julie took his hands. "I understand...I completely understand..."
Wyatt smiled through the tears and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek.
"SCOOBY DOO, WHERE ARE YOUU?!" He stormed out of the house shouting.
Julie wasn't sad. She probably had reasons to feel sad and angry but she had this tingling feeling inside.
Wyatt was right. Everyone's heart belonged somewhere, to someone.
She forgot about dinner and ran to look for Luc.
Madame Indigo rose her head from the crystal ball she was looking into and gazed at the group coming into her basement—as many candles and mandala tapestry she put, it was still a basement—without calling.
"I knew you would come." She smirked.
"Hazel!" Sheldon was the one to speak first.
"Ah, it is you, Mr. Mayor! And I see you brought your friends. I sense you came here for a séance, huh? Who do you want to...?"
Sheldon interrupted her, placing his hands on the table and looking at her eyes wide open. "Hazel. The. Witch. Never in a million years I would get close to you, but this time it is urgent, it is something that concerns you and you must help us for once."
"Oh, my, what a delightful young man you've brought me here. But what a dark aura! But it's alright, I can cleanse it and it'll be white as snow!"
"Please, M-M-M-Mrs. Witch, it is v-v-very important. The whole town depends on this. There is this cu-cu-cu-cu-curse...Surely you know by now...You used to be a wi-wi-witch." Joey said.
"And what do you think I am, my good gentleman?" Madame Indigo chuckled, though she seemed a bit offended.
"No, we mean a real one! With green skin and broomstick and all!" Sheldon said.
"Oh, my dear gentlemen, you are very, very tense. Come, sit down, all of you, and have a little tea..."
"Don't you remember your past life?" Kath asked, starting to feel desperate.
"Of course I do! I was an Egyptian priestess! Before that, I was the queen of Atlantis. Then I was burnt in Salem. It was always the same: the price to pay for having unlocked the secrets of the universe...Oh, well, you know what I'm talking about, right, sweetie?" Madame Indigo was still smiling stupidly, and she was already getting everything prepared for a tarot reading no one asked her for.
"¡Ay, ay, ay! This is useless! She'll have to see what we are talking about." José said, looking at someone who was hiding behind them.
It was Buddy's turn to step into the light and show himself to her. Madame Indigo went quiet and then smiled again.
"Well, well, I see we have a distinguished clientele tonight! You brought your own being from another circle of existence! I can summon my familiar, so they can play while I read your future." She said.
"Madame, my colleague and I stole your spell book and cast a spell, and I'm really sorry, but sure you must know how to bring everything back to its place...Can't you?" Buddy said to her, hopping on a chair to be able to look at her to the face.
"Ah, what a naughty spirit! Playing with forces he doesn't understand! Oh, but who hasn't done mischief once or twice in their lives? I used to have stretch marks until I took advantage of the healing powers of the forest, myself, teeheehee!" Madame Indigo winked.
Kath groaned and placed a hand on her face with desperation.
"This was a success..." Treg muttered ironically.
"You, young man, I must congratulate you!" Madame Indigo suddenly told him.
"...Why?"
"Because you are free from knots. You, sir," She pointed at Sheldon as well," I see you did your shadow work as well! Congratulations to you. Don't worry about your friend. He is almost free, but he is doing fine. Soon you will find him. Don't worry, twin flames always find a way to reunite."
Treg's initial mistrust softened. "...You mean..."
"Who else?" Madame Indigo confirmed him with a smile.
"W-W-W-What's that, shadow work?" Joey asked.
"Well..." Madame Indigo leaned back on her seat and crossed her fingers on her stomach. "All of us have a side that we show everybody. The face, as it is commonly known. But there is also a part that stays hidden in the shadows of our being which we usually push and push and push until it is where it can't bother us. It is the ugly part, you see. Our miseries, our dark side. Opening that door you have so desperately tried to close can hurt, you find lots of things that you don't want to see—but there, you will find your true self."
"...Isn't that what's been happening to us?" José said, looking around him. "Looking into ourselves and finding...what we really are..."
"But I thought the spell erased all memories and everything that made a person unique..." Buddy said.
"Oh, spells can alter reality, twist the memories, make people forget...But memories are made of something special. They simply can't be erased. All one can do with them is hide them deep down, that's all. But all it takes is a hard search, and there they are!" Madame Indigo said.
"That means...you never killed the lunatics in us..." Kath said. "...We just need to reconnect with them..."
"There are mechanisms for hiding the shadow behind a wall of bricks, let's say, so you don't even remember there was one in the first place." Madame Indigo replied. "I don't recommend them. You can function in society but, inside, it leaves you dead inside. They are terrible, yes, but they are also very weak, because one only need to mention the elephant in the room..."
"...And the s-sp-sp-spe-spell will be broken!" Joey exclaimed.
Madame Indigo nodded.
"All we need to do is help people connect with the loon inside of them and that's all! We can do that!" José exclaimed.
"You still have a lot to do, but there is hope. You are going into the right direction."
Kath meditated in silence for a moment, then approached Madame Indigo.
"Madame...What you said to Roadie...That thing about the twin flames...Some bonds...Never die, right? Even if you've forgotten about that person and they forgot about you...The bond still exists...The souls call each other...Am I right?"
She didn't need to hear her response. She guessed Lola already knew and was telling her. Tweety and his mistress. Prey and predator. Creators and creations. When you were made for someone, you can't forget them...
"I think the lady here is waiting for you to declare yourself to her." Madame Indigo winked at Sheldon.
"Come on." Buddy looked at Kath. "Say his name."
"...Bugs?" Kath muttered.
Sheldon turned his head towards her. His heart skipped a beat. And after that, it started beating again, pumping boiling blood. He had been happy until he remembered that name.
Bugs Bunny.
Buddy nodded.
"Who is Bugs, Buddy? I don't know. I don't have any idea of who..."
Who made her feel the way she felt around Bugs?
Buddy stared at her, encouraging her to think.
Her head ached so bad, she furrowed her eyebrows in discomfort.
That small shrinking violet...That boy from middle school who did nothing but look at her and never dared to say a word...A boy she was dying to hear from...The person she had always expected to get brave and approach...Always close but distant...
She gasped in such a way she startled everyone. "Ben!"
"Mr. Sourpuss?" But then Sheldon raised his eyebrows, realization hitting him.
"B-Bugs who?" Joey asked.
"Bugs..." Treg frowned in thought. Until the answer came naturally, smoothly. The Bugs Bunny Road-Runner Movie, the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show...Of course! Good old Bugs.
"¡El conejo de la suerte! Bugs Bunny, sí!" José exclaimed.
"We forgot him...He meant so much for us and we all forgot about him!" Kath lamented, covering her mouth.
"He was dangerous. He was the mascot of the studios, the hero, the one who always saved the day." Buddy confessed. "I'm sorry, if we wanted our plan to succeed, we had to..."
The eyes, the front teeth, the hair color...How didn't she notice before?
"Come! We have to find him! There's no time to lose!" Kath grabbed Sheldon's arm and dragged him.
"Wa-Wait!" Joey begged them.
"That's a great shadow work you are doing, but...ahem." Madame Indigo kept on smiling.
Joey stopped to open his wallet and shower her in all dollar bills he found, before quickly following them.
Sheldon wouldn't have been so quick if it wasn't for Kath dragging him away.
"What am I talking to you for? All you have to do is munch on a carrot and people love you..."