Hello, it is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter! This was one of those ideas that was just a daydream and then I decided that I would go ahead and write it. In this chapter, we see Sammy, Justin's ex-long-term partner, help Lucy, Eli's ex and Justin and Sammy's children's nanny, look for her lost earrings. But, in the end, they share more and end up finding something that they didn't know was missing :3 I hope you enjoy!
My life, like anybody else's, has changed greatly over the years. Once upon a time, my heart soared as I perched upon my best friend's shoulder and we grinned from ear to year, both elated that together along with our other friends, we had been part of the team that lead to the youngest Pokémon Champion in history.
I still live big moments like that. I still participate in battle. And I still grin from ear to ear alongside Ash as we embark other happy adventures together. But sometimes, these days, the moments that make my heart pound in my chest are a whole lot simpler.
And although these moments do give me a flutter and they do cause me to tingle, they also soothe me far more than anything else ever could. I adore the big moments. But to tell you the truth, I live for the little ones.
This story is a little moment in time. But containing a whole lot of heart. So, I cannot wait to begin.
"And which story will it be tonight, I wonder?" James crouched down in front of the bookshelf in Katie's room with her snuggled against his back, her arms around his neck from behind as she eagerly peered and even more eagerly relished in his little routine. "Will it be this one, perhaps?"
The seven-year-old giggled heartily because she knew what was coming! I watched from the end of her bed as, before she could even shake her head in response, James shook his own head to himself and made a nope noise with his lips.
He tossed the book about a girl disappearing to a world down under onto the floor!
Katie's small hands flew to her hands in delight and now that her Uncle James was mimicking scanning a ring clad pointer finger along all the delightful books on her shelf, she copied his gesture by shaking her own head.
He had yet to reach for another title and procced to do the same thing when she came out with her own words.
"Not that one, Uncle James." She told him in a voice decorated by a sound that sounded like a merry hiccup before wrapping her arms back around his neck from behind adoringly, nuzzling her cheek against the patch of his back between shoulder blades.
James coyly turned over his shoulder to look at her engulfing him with affection and somehow managed to keep a straight face. But I couldn't ignore the fact that his cheeks were nearly stinging as red as mine.
I couldn't exactly mock him; my own heart was ablaze with love for the child!
Yet again, his finger scanned the shelf and, yet again, he reached for a book that was surely end up on the floor along with the rest. With my acute vision, I watched James brush past the one about the boy who ended up living in a giant fruit as well as the one about the girl with magical powers in her empty stare and even the one about the wretched old couple!
Both Katie and I watched James' sparkling fingers hook out the thin book about the feline creature who always seemed to get herself into trouble and had a pension for a nice soft-boiled egg.
Seemingly, we all had similar antics and would find ourselves in them in the next couple of seconds.
"Hmm, this one is such a good one." James mumbled, seemingly to himself. He, however, heard the throaty grunting noise that came from the child clinging to him as she played along and so, with a grin stretching his mouth wide, that poor paperback was tossed to the side as well! "Where could what we want to read about possibly be? Is it even on the shelf?"
James' hands reached behind himself now that they were not occupied with book selecting or book throwing shenanigans and hooked underneath the back of Katie's legs as she hitched herself up onto his back and into a piggyback position.
This time, his countenance wasn't so still as he turned to look over his shoulder and shared a glance with Katie who of course was staring back at him with a dazzling diamond tucked inside her iris. She had heard a question from her uncle, and she knew the answer so, unlike at school, she didn't hesitate to speak it aloud.
"No!" she bellowed before she giggled to herself at how much gusto she had just possessed. As she waited for James to answer, her own cheeks contained the blush of a rose, and she rubbed that warm skin of hers against the shirt that her uncle was wearing.
Needless to say, he didn't tell her off. If anything, he held her legs tighter and encouraged her to hug onto him further.
Craning his neck as much as it could strain to do, he planted a kiss to her forehead. He wasn't encouraging a blush there, but it still made a rosy patch appear in an instant. However, his next antics caused rosiness all over her face as well as glee.
James made a sudden move to hitch her onto his lap instead so he could answer his own words in return.
"Oh, how silly of me! The story we want is kept in a much weirder place than the bookshelf!" he pretended to revolve his eyes in his sockets before they even crossed over to look at his nose, his ring adorned finger poking against his own forehead sending a very clear message. Katie chuckled. "We'd better see if we can dig it out, shall we?"
James' mouth stretched softly towards his ear as, before he decided to make the moves to carry her over to the bed, Katie evidently wished to get her own message across. The seven-year-old girl held either side of her uncle's face and she tickled her nose against his forehead.
It was clear that she treasured that mind of his, no matter how many stories he kept locked inside there and how weird a place it could be sometimes.
James' cheeks warmed even further to beat mine for the winning blush, but he seemed to use this love to fuel him, lifting both himself and Katie up off the floor before carrying her over to her bed, settling her there after another kiss upon her forehead.
Unlike how I would have meant it in other days of my life, I meant no harm when I decided to uncurl myself from my position and jump down off the bed after he had settled Katie underneath her covers and perched on the edge of the mattress himself.
You see, I spied the discarded pile of books on the floor and decided to make myself useful by putting them away. It wasn't my house, but it was my duty. James made Katie so happy. And those books were treasured, in spite of all of the antics. Katie had accumulated quite lovely ones to keep in the spare room at the Morgan Household. It was only natural that I looked after them like they were my own.
James thanked me immediately and that made me know I was doing the right thing. I could fault him for a number of things over the years, but lacking manners was never one of them. Even when he was trying to steal me, I had to admit that he was polite!
He continued to settle himself on the side of the bed next to Katie and make sure she was tucked under the covers in the way that she liked, her beloved bear there next to her. I couldn't help but feel that he was taking a long time but when I was done rearranging the books and was beginning to leap back onto the bed myself, I realised that he was waiting for me.
That caused my chin to lift higher. And not that I was intent on revealing this to him, but it caused my heart to thump a little louder. I knew there was a reason that I didn't scold him for potentially riling Katie up too much before bedtime. The time for calmness was then upon us. But not only was it the time for that but it was the time for love too.
I decided to move to snuggle under Katie's other arm, opposite to the one embracing Mr Hugsy, and listen to the next instalment of the kind of tales that James liked to tell the seven-year-old.
"Where did we even get to last time?" James asked Katie, his head inclining on the one side as he looked down at her under the covers, his gesture causing one side of his bobbed locks to appear longer than the other.
I knew in my heart that James could recall perfectly well and was only including the child in it all. I also suspected Katie's next actions and was proven correct when she couldn't stop herself from unhooking her arm from around me and using that hand to trace through his silkily soft strands as they draped there.
She answered her uncle while her eyes were fixed on lavender tendrils instead of meadow hued orbs surely containing even more stories that she longed to hear.
"We came to the end of one of their adventures." She spoke to strands of hair, her small fingers combing through it like they were a magical bead curtain that led to a wonderful place.
James made an ah noise in response and wasn't put off with where her attention was directed. He was quick to understand.
"So, it's time for a new adventure with our dear friends?" he mused. Katie nodded, meeting his gaze just once before going back to what she was doing. James wasn't fazed. His smile made ripples on his skin like a pebble produced when it plinked against the water as it stretched towards his ear lobe again. "Let's get stuck into it then."
It never ceased to thrill me how transported I was by James and his fictional tales, even more so by the ones that he concocted with the little girl that I loved so much in mind. Another thing that I would've never spoken aloud is that I didn't understand why Katie's twin brother, Ben, didn't want to stick around there and went to Delia's house instead while Ash and Misty were out for the evening!
I often found myself almost as enthralled as Katie did. I may be happy to say a number of things aloud, but that certainly wasn't one of them!
But never mind that. I had a story to listen to. And a world to immerse myself in.
My own legs stretched out under the covers as I readily did so.
Like was the case most mornings, our young hero, beloved Katie, awoke with her arm being raised above her head. Her immediate reaction – her immediate thought – was to groan.
Who could possibly be pranking her so early in the morning? Was it her brother? No. He usually slept in later than her. Was it her new baby brother? No. It couldn't be. His head was no longer wobbly like it was when he was first born but he wouldn't do things like that to her.
As Katie remembered the reality that she was in, the sunshine streaked into her heart as much it was glittering through the gap in the curtains on one special morning. The groan that had escaped from her the second after that she had woken up had disappeared and a smile twitching her lips apart replaced it.
As usual, she was not alone. She had never been alone, not really, not even when she used to pull her legs to her chest and convince herself that she was. There was always more out there for her. There always would be more out there for her.
But now that she had the best companion in the world, she did not need anything else. She did not need more. She was not greedy. All she needed was her friend.
Katie, still smiling, sat herself up in bed and gazed her eyes upon the being that had awoken her from her slumber. She bent her elbow and brought her arm closer to her face so she could inspect closer.
Immediately, he twinkled back at her. He was smiling.
"What does he look like today?" Katie exhaled and spoke in a breath like a whispery wind, stretching her own legs relaxedly out underneath the covers. She didn't like to interrupt James when he was telling a tale, but she always asked this question.
I, for once, wasn't anticipating it and I couldn't help but glance over at Katie, not wanting any interruptions! Fortunately, I had the deftness to alter my countenance again before the child could be hurt by my honesty.
James wasn't hurt in the slightest, from my actions or Katie's ones.
I didn't know how he did it. He answered straight away like he was speaking about somebody he truly knew.
I supposed, he did in a way.
"He looks a little swollen today. Like he slept a bit too deep and puffed in his sleep a bit too much." James said, his own face altering so his chin jutted forward, his eyelids half closed and swelled, and his lower lip hung past his top one. Katie giggled straight away and needed to hug her legs closer to her body. "But he's still elegant. Somehow, he's even acquired a hat from somewhere."
Even more impressed than I was with how much he could make up on the spot, I found myself nodding privately to myself that the seven-year-old knew what the word acquired meant and didn't need it replacing with a simpler one.
In the same way that James perhaps could see into other worlds and tell their stories, Katie had eyes destined for that as well and engaged with her uncle in a way that could cause others to feel rather excluded.
But I enjoyed it!
"A hat? Is it a really tall one?" she wondered. James made an mm noise, nodding his head emphatically. Katie's legs were stretching back out under the covers and now that she was looking at him rather than his hair as well as playing with it, her arm was back around my middle. "I t-think he spins it on his tail."
James' eyes widened in their sockets. He didn't think the child was weird, nor was it weird what she was saying. His mouth let out a mumble of agreement before proper words followed suit.
"Oh, you're so right about that." his eyes shrunk back to their usual size, and he smiled again, continuing to look down at Katie as they shared the time before her sleep time together. She spied the twinkle in his eye from the second that it began to form. "Perhaps that hat will be a big part of their adventure today?"
As James wondered, Katie was enthralled. I was intrigue too but, unlike me, the seven-year-old girl began to clamber out from beneath the covers that her uncle had so attentively tucked her under. Again, he did not scold her. He knew that he could not mould somebody as certain as Katie and he didn't want to. He knew that it was important to have her as relaxed as possible before bedtime.
How she got to that place didn't matter. James knew his place. He shuffled down to sit on the floor so she could sit cross legged behind him on the bed and play with his hair while the tale continued to be told.
I was a little irked! But I wasn't entirely alone either. I was left under the covers with Mr Hugsy. I was still a part of the moment. And, if I listened well enough, I might even be part of the story.
Katie's little fingers massaging his scalp, James got down to brass tacks.
As Katie's friend, the smoke breathing creature etched upon her arm smiled back at her and continued to swivel that black hat on the tip of his tale, something told her that, on that morning, they were destined for an adventure like no other.
Instead of wondering where on earth he had got that hat from – whether he made it or he stole it or he purchased it – Katie just knew that it would be an important part of the day. And her friend clearly must like it. So, she liked it. As much as she liked him.
You see, the two of them were inseparable. And not just because he was drawn onto her skin and didn't ever go away! They understood each other more than anybody else did. They could say things to each other that they couldn't usually speak aloud. And, even if they didn't feel like talking, they knew that they felt the same things in their hearts.
Katie was thinking this as her initial thoughts of the morning became a memory that grew more and more foggy and her friend continued to tug her towards the new day, both figuratively and literally. She always knew that she didn't care what sort of day they had, as long as they shared it together.
This was a thought of hers that would grow challenged as the day progressed. Her dear friend took her to one of her most favourite places on earth. Of course, she was happy to be near him! She would be happy to be near him anywhere.
But where he took her on that day made her heart fill with all of the sunshine of the land, not just that first morning streak of sun.
"I'm glad they like being by the sea as well." Katie found herself interrupting once again as she couldn't help but share her thoughts, not needing any sort of equipment and using her fingers to comb her uncle's hair back and out of his face, into a ponytail. "It's one of my favourite places to be too."
As I glanced over from resting the back of my head against Mr Hugsy's leg but for some reason not wanting to get too close, I couldn't help but observe Katie making it plainly obvious where her other favourite place was by the way that she paused brushing James' hair. She wrapped her arms back around his neck from behind again and rested her chin on the top of his head.
I didn't feel envious, but I could feel my heartbeat thudding in my cheeks like James experienced as the little girl doted upon him in this way. I knew that he was wondering what he did right to get so lucky. And, to tell you the truth, I was thinking this as well!
That man must be immune to karma, I thought, or had he managed to make some sort of deal with it?
With a gratitude filled sigh that escaped him, James wrapped his own arms behind him to engulf the little girl while she clung onto him in return. His head tilted back so that her chin ended up closer to his nose than the back of his head.
"What's your favourite thing about the seaside, little darling?" he asked, inadvertently dropping the g off the end of that word as if he was not only informing Katie of another of the tales in his arsenal but was acting it out for her as well.
James could feel her little legs uncrossing behind him from the second that he asked this and instead wrapping around his torso to be even closer to him. His head remained leaning back, so her chin was still against the bridge of his nose and the bone moved and grooved inside of him as she spoke.
He wanted to make her feel as important as both of the characters in the story were. After all, everything was born from her. They wouldn't exist without her. And certainly, parts of him wouldn't exist without her either.
Unlike me, he was better at saying his thoughts and even these were the kind of notions that he did not hold back.
"Oh, I love the sea because," Katie began and she needed a moment to compose herself, her toes dancing away from James' body as she for once relished in the opportunity to speak. Speaking to him was never hard. "Because it's so big and sparkly and home to the most amazing creatures and can take you anywhere in the world." James didn't interrupt her, nor did he correct her. He moved his hands away from being behind and held her heels in the one hand as they rested above his lap. "It's just the best."
Katie near enough sighed all of the air out of her lungs and she would've surely collapsed back into the bed with me if she hadn't been so anchored onto her Uncle James! I wouldn't have minded in the slightest. I would've welcomed it. But I knew that there was no tearing Katie away from him at the best of times, and certainly not during story time.
James' heart must've surely been hammering a million beats per minute with love as he interacted with the child. Or perhaps her company soothed his soul so much that his heart didn't need to beat in the slightest and their connection would still keep them alive.
He leaned back to speak to her once more even though, to soothe the passion and adrenaline that caused her to light up like a thundercloud from the inside out, she was again occupying her hands with styling his hair. Her neck was again straight rather than dipping back to allow her chin to make contact with him.
"I'm sure our friends feel the same and those wonderful points will show up in their story today as well." James told her in a voice that was unmoving as a perfectly level open road and yet contained all of the love in the world inside its quality.
Katie's toes twitched near him. Mine did underneath the covers as my head slipped and rested against Mr Hugsy's furry belly rather than just his leg. I wondered whether I should move away or if he would be offended.
I didn't have the time to make a decision or offend him either way. It was time to listen! I just had to stay put and do that, didn't I?
Katie and her loyal friend loved everything about visiting the sea and not just because it was something that they liked to do together. Both of them were drawn to bodies of water in the same way and in different ways too.
And as well as this, together and separately, they loved the way that the sunlight hit the water just right on some days. It made the ocean look like it was reflecting all of the jewels and all of the treasures that could be hidden underneath it. Thanks to pirates not doing their job correctly and stealing the loot for themselves, of course.
Above this, above the physical treasures that could be lurking underneath the water in which reflected the skies that loomed over its vastness, it was home to beauty like you would not believe. Of course, some people were very aware what was out there and longed to swim alongside each and every life that lived under the water.
Not these two though. Yes, they loved feeling the wetness on their skin and the salt on their lips and their blurring eyes making out the magic that revealed itself to them. But they also understood that some beauty was to be left alone. Some beauty was secret. Some wasn't to be disturbed.
They both loved the sea. Loved being by it. Loved exploring it. Loved the smell of it. But above all, they respected it. They spoke with love in their hearts the importance of respecting it.
This is why on the day that the two of them decided that their next adventure was to be by the sea, their hearts changed from feeling so very alive to filling with grief when they saw what they saw.
On one particular day, devastatingly, it dawned on the two heroes that someone-
Would any of us find out what had been done?
In the split second that I was snatched away from the riveting world as put forth by James, I couldn't help but wonder if I would. This made me unable to stop myself from accidentally snarling my teeth and breathing so hard that it was as if I became the fire breathing creature myself.
Sorry Justin!
"Hi Dad." The voice of a teenaged boy sounded as he decided to stop in the doorway on the way from his bedroom to the bathroom or wherever and lean his skinny shoulder against the wood of the frame. He blinked but then he corrected the situation when he remembered his father couldn't be alone. "Sorry. Hi Katie."
Justin bobbed his head just once, shaking his head and his long locks hanging so close to either side of his face that it was like curtains were drawing his features shut. I noticed that he did not correct himself another time and greet me as well when he noticed his second error, but he did give me a close-mouthed nod.
Thankfully, I had taken a deep breath by that point (inwards, not out) and corrected my own behaviour and my features too, so I wasn't looking at him with quite so much despair!
Needless to say, James looked over at his son with the opposite of despair. And although Katie was back to resting her chin down against her uncle's head, she did raise her arm and wave just once in return to Justin with a finger or two.
James had been reading from memory rather than a book, his legs stretched out in front of him, but his hands fell to his lap as if he were discarding a paperback.
I could have sworn that he was a little confused at being interrupted as well and by someone other than Katie. But of course, softness danced over his face rather than despair.
James openly smiled at his son.
"Hey Justin. How are you doing?" father asked son and when the teenaged boy replied by finding his hands sliding into his pockets and bobbing his head just once as well as pressing his mouth into a more elevated line this time, James added. "What can I do for you?"
Katie was beginning to relax enough to go back to what she was doing, no longer merely pulling her uncle's hair back into a ponytail but using her skilful little digits to form a braid in his locks. However, rather than focusing her eyes down at what she was doing, I noticed they studiously watched Justin.
Almost as much as his father was doing as he tried to work out the reason for the interruption before it became clear.
Justin shook his head once again and it causes his hair to shimmy over each of his cheeks. He did not tuck long strands behind his ears. They remained lulling there like drapes.
His black school trousers didn't allow his hands to leave their pockets. He shrugged, not at this though.
"I just wanted to talk." Shrugs were the bookends of his words. From the head tilt as well as the line pencilling between his father's eyebrows, he knew he should correct himself all over again before he caused concern. "Talk to you." James' neck straightened. And not just because Katie evened it out with her hands! "Is that not okay?"
Justin's eyes were determined to not falter. They were usually determined not to reveal much at all. However, in a single blink that caused his thick black eyelashes to clap together, what revealed itself was a young boy younger than his then thirteen-year-old self.
He found comfort in his dad. He always had done. He always knew what to say. Whether it was for a friendly chat or for something more serious.
James' pupils should have surely expanded upon hearing his son's words as well as recognising his plight which he surely must have. Even so, he breathed out his own nostrils like he was a far more gentle serpentine creature and he momentarily turned behind him towards Katie before back to his son again.
He hoped this explained the situation clearly and honestly before words could potentially brush the wrong way. James needed to have more faith in himself. He was as good at getting his own words across as well as beloved characters stories.
"Oh. Hey, it's always okay to come and talk to me." James began, his hands no longer lounging in his lap and beginning to gesture in front of his chest with even more hope at not brushing his son the wrong way. Immediately, Justin could sense a but, even if that word technically didn't form. "We're in the middle of story time though." Justin's head might've nodded again but James imagined it sinking into his narrow shoulders. "Can I come catch up with you in a bit? We won't be too long."
Even though she managed to swallow it, I heard the whine that ricocheted through Katie's mind as if she had really yelped it aloud! Her hands burying themselves in strands of James' hair spoke of her emotions even if her throat had somehow managed to remain silent.
She wanted to remain with him forever. She wanted to stay tucked inside Storytime forever. She hated going to sleep. She hated trying to go to sleep even less. It didn't work like it did for her brother and that made her confused.
Justin's mouth was back to being as pressed into a line as when he politely greeted me, I noticed. Maybe he had before noticed my expression!
He didn't like to argue back to anybody and certainly not his father. It wasn't even because Jessie and James vehemently discouraged backtalk because they actually parented in a way that wanted to hear what their children had to say, even if it was disagreeing with what they were putting forth.
Justin knew of the bond that Katie had with his dad and he thought it was pretty cute, not that these words would've really formed on the tip of his tongue. He also knew that it probably wouldn't be easy for her with Ash and Misty not collecting her until the next morning.
She needed these bedtime moments. But, although he tried to stuff this notion down, he felt he needed them too.
It felt like so long since he had been a proper kid like Katie was and one that could be soothed by the make-believe tales of his father. He felt like he wanted to be a part of that.
His cheeks scorched as he suggested. His pale complexion made it very noticeable, bless him.
"I can't stay and listen too?" he asked James and straight away, he mistook the contemplative fishhook that tugged his eyebrow up towards the hairline that Katie was fixing. Justin decided to turn to this little hairdresser instead. "Katie?" he said her name, his hands revealing themselves from his pockets. She had been fixing her gaze on him in the doorway the entire time, so no change needed to happen as she heard her own name. "Is it okay if I stay and listen to my dad's story for you as well?"
It was James' immediate reaction for his shoulder to twitch around behind him in order for him to look at the seven-year-old girl behind him, gauging her reaction. He, however, stopped himself before it could get very far, and he instead rested his spine back against the wooden side of Katie's bed.
He privately sighed.
He could feel her toes twitching and Justin could surely see them from the doorway if his gaze dropped. His hands may have dipped back into his pockets, but his stare didn't falter. It was hardly an intense stare, though. He blinked too much for this to be the case. Shuffled too much too.
Katie didn't know why she took her time with her answer when she had made her mind up straight away. Perhaps she wanted to be entirely sure? Or, more likely, I observed, it was probably because she wondered if those dear friends of hers and James' would be able to be revealed in front of Justin.
Like Mr Hugsy only spoke when James was around, perhaps these characters and their stories could only be in the presence of him and him alone.
She supposed that they would all have to find out.
Katie nodded her head, but she didn't smile. She wasn't looking at Justin then. But he knew that it was okay. He knew that he had been given permission. He bobbed his own head, and he smiled even if it was only for me and his father to see.
Furthermore, he even reached and tucked his long tendrils of hair behind both ears as he sat down. Before we all got back into story time, I decided that enough was enough with my snuggling with Mr Hugsy and I decided to clamber onto Justin's lap as he sat down on the floor next to his father.
His fingers were in my fur immediately and that made me feel bad all over again for my expression! Katie remained seated in the same way. James did too. He prepared to tell the next chunk of the story with hands still in his hair.
He had extra ears listening. But, as you will go on to learn as well, it was not this that caused him to falter in the end.
Both the heroes loved the sea. Loved being by it. Loved exploring it. Loved the smell of it. But above all, they respected it. They spoke with love in their hearts the importance of respecting it.
This is why on the day that the two of them decided that their next adventure was to be by the sea, their hearts changed from feeling so very alive to filling with grief when they saw what they saw.
On one particular day, devastatingly, it dawned on them that someone had done something to change the beauty of the sea potentially forever.
Whenever they went to those shores, even on the greyest of days, the line of the sea dazzled for them and winked at them, luring them, and inviting them whether they took the plunge or not. But someone had done something horrific on one particular day.
They didn't know who. Might never know who. But someone had-
Blast! Who was this person and what had they done?!
James with Katie's arms back around his neck instead of sorting his hair and her cheek against the top of his head jumped as if the villain of the upcoming story had leapt out of his imagination and was standing over him, threatening him!
But this was not the case.
The buzzing noise of his phone vibrating in his jeans caused him to jolt upwards, nearly tugging Katie with him or at least sending her flying off the bed if Justin hadn't steadied her in time.
For once, James did not apologise. Not for this anyway. He caught sight of the name ringing his phone and had a mysterious sort of smile to himself. Although he put his phone on silent and hid it back in his pocket, it was obvious that he was going to answer it.
He looked between Justin and Katie. He didn't look at me once. I'll always remember that.
"I've just got to take this, okay?" he said. Just as I thought, it was obvious that he was going to take the call from the way that his hand cupped over the devices shape in his jeans. "I won't be a minute, yes? I'll be right back."
And with that, James was out of the spare bedroom door where Justin had been just lounging and he was even shutting the door behind him. This, however, didn't stop Justin and Katie from hearing his words when he answered the phone, and it certainly didn't stop me from hearing either.
Unlike Justin, Katie's eyes didn't widen with curiosity when she heard her uncle say the words hey you down into the phone before she heard his footsteps padding to another room of his house. Her eyes practically squeezed together so hard that it was possible that they would never open again.
I felt similarly! My cheeks were ablaze, but I at least had enough sense to swallow it down for the sake of the two children. Justin was the one who should have perhaps been the most suspicious, but his body didn't seem to tense beneath me. Perhaps it would when I knew I had to leave his lap and join Katie as she decided to hop into her own bed again, expressionless.
But, in the end, I was shown that the reason that Justin went on to pull his legs to his chest and feel his shoulders sinking into his arms was because he noticed the mood that swept over Katie.
She was disappointed. She was hurt.
Although, at first, he went about it – not exactly the wrong way – but his intentions were off the mark.
Katie didn't feel like being alone. She certainly didn't feel like being made alone by Justin.
"Shall I leave you be while my dad is on the phone and come back when he does, Katie?" he asked, for some reason shaking his head from side to side and unravelling the locks that he had only just tucked neatly behind his porcelain ears.
Maybe he needed some protection again.
Either way, I appreciated that he said be rather than alone. Katie always had me, didn't she? She then had me hooked up inside one of her arms and Mr Hugsy in the other, her taut chin pressed down against the soft plush of her button-eyed friend.
In spite of the quietness that had befallen her – and the room since James had left as if he had somehow taken all of the magic with him - she found her words quickly.
I could see that it wasn't the promptness in which caused a jolt in Justin's eyelids when he heard the words that Katie discovered herself telling him.
"Stay." She said, this word tumbling out of her before the word no could think about appearing instead.
Justin slowly nodded his head. I noticed he did that a lot – shake his head. Nod it as well. Maybe he was more like his father than just his looks. He could have a lot going on in there as well, and often that weight would cause it to sway from side to side or up and down.
Pressing his mouth closer to his chin as he took a pause, little crevices appeared at two places either side of his mouth. Even though Katie was tucked behind me with her arm still around me, I could feel her looking there rather than Justin's thoughtful gaze.
"Okay." Was all he said, potentially buying himself some time before he decided on the words that he wished to say to the little girl. He didn't say it as if he thought she was unusual. It was more simple obedience. Yes, very like his father! "What kind of story is my dad telling you?" he asked Katie, moving his body round so it was in the same position James' was when he was on the side of her bed. Justin, however, remained on the floor. "The pirate and sailor kind, perhaps?"
I couldn't help but feel that this was a good guess on Justin's part, based on the words that he surely would've walked into as well as James trying to continue before the phone call that interrupted him. Katie, on the other hand, initially made it seem like it wasn't.
Her nose took on nearly the colour of my cheeks as it scrunched up but, unlike Justin would've done, she forwent shaking her head. Her other action did all of the talking.
"No." that word appeared. Justin began to see Katie at an angle while she was still focusing on the patch of his mouth that was no longer revealing any dimples. "It's a story just for him and me."
Again, Justin's head spoke in the way that it stiltedly swung up and down. I noticed that he did not seem offended. He did not appear nervous either. He may well have done based on the fact that Katie was kind of hinting that it was none of his business!
But that couldn't have been the case, right? she had allowed him to stay, hadn't she? Both times. Unless she was counting on her Uncle James suddenly changing the kind of story that he was to tell? Maybe to a more sailor and pirate kind after all?
None of these things was the truth. The truth was that Katie said these last words of hers simply to inform Justin how precious that it was. I think that she liked that he didn't pry. And even though a star did make its way into his iris as he wondered what a story just for the two of them entailed, he didn't burst out with desire to know.
That was why, with me in one arm and Mr Hugsy still in another, she told Justin what the tale entailed. She told all.
How a girl called Katie not very different from her at all had a beloved friend who was, yes, technically a serpentine fire breathing creature, but actually snorted water out of his nostrils! He was etched onto the skin of her arm, and they never went anywhere without each other. They went on all sorts of adventures. Had all sort of laughs. They really were the best of friends.
Katie's legs stretched further outwards under the duvet as if she were freeing herself of the apprehension that Justin might find her a little bit stupid. Or worse, she would find the stories stupid. She had to fight the urge not to tuck her legs back up with her body again.
At first, Justin didn't reveal all that much. I was getting a little bit bored of all his head nodding! His hand was seemingly occupied with a patch of Katie's quilt, feeling the soft material in between his fingers. But then, he gave her a smile and offered her a gaze that she couldn't help but look into even if that were the thing that caused her legs to join her body once more.
Justin's hand attempted to roam from the duvet to the ear of the being tucked against Katie's other arm.
"Is there an ursine creature in the stories as well?" he asked, not put off by the way that Mr Hugsy stuck his nose in the air and his eyes remained lifeless, not wanting to reveal any secrets to him. "Maybe Katie's friend is her etching, and the etchings friend is the bear."
I couldn't help but feel a chuckle twitching inside my belly when the seven-year-old did a rare thing and moved Mr Hugsy away from Justin's touch. I could've sworn that his button eye winked at me as she did so.
Justin used both of his hands to hold themselves up as an apology. Katie was already setting him straight.
"Katie's friend is the etching, and the etchings friend is Katie." She spoke. Justin's eyebrows rose towards his hairline as if to say that everything before was his mistake, and that her answer made perfect sense. Katie rested her cheek against Mr Hugsy's head rather than her chin. "He's not called the etching."
Justin's head was on the side again and he had a delicate fistful of duvet to amuse himself with as his eyebrows shot closer to his hairline a second time. It was as if his head was lonely.
"Then what's he called?" he asked. It became clear to him that for some reason, the creature didn't have a set name based on the way that Katie's shoulders drew closer to her ears and her eyes darted from side to side. He didn't have just one name. He was everybody. He was everything. Justin wanted to get to know this mysterious beast. "What does he look like?"
His knuckles were against the side of his forehead as his elbow rested against the mattress. Well, a protective layer of hair existed in between. I wished he kept it tidier like his father had done ever since I had known him!
There's a thing I never believed I would want – a wholesome chap like Justin being more like his father and his questionable past!
Katie's eyes moved from side to side for a different reason this time. It wasn't as if she and James hadn't discussed what the mark of the skin looked like. It wasn't as if James hadn't sketched up a number of different possibilities. It was just that, like he was nameless, he was also faceless. He was everything to her. And he could be anything to her.
It was as Mr Hugsy's nose began to drift down from the air that her answer occurred to her. Or rather, a question did.
"What do you think he looks like?" Katie wondered, her gaze flickering to Justin's eyes so she saw creamy white revealing itself around irises that were as changeable as the sea in hue. She didn't know by which part she was more fascinated.
She didn't even notice she was holding his gaze for a long time until Justin suddenly looked away, his teeth revealing themselves as he contemplatively grinned before his rosy lips hid them as quickly as they had appeared.
"I don't know." He said words to buy himself some more time again, not quite ready to dive into the world of make believe even if it had intrigued him. I decided to clamber out of Katie's arm and onto her lap as a hint for her fingers to begin massaging down my back. It was a hint that was received and acted upon! "I think he's very slender. Graceful. He breathes water out of his nose to make the girl laugh. And when he laughs, water shoots out of his nose!"
Katie's legs stretched back out underneath the covers, and I could feel her palms warming as they pressed up and down the length of my back as if it were dough. I knew that she appreciated that he was abstract with his description just like she and James were. He seemed to know her friend well somehow.
"That sounds about right." Katie agreed, her toes secretly dancing under the covers with each other as her fingers did their own waltz up and down my back. It felt wonderful! She couldn't help but smile to herself as her eyes wandered to the ceiling, her voice sounding like a happy hum. "They… They're happiest when they're together."
This made Justin think of something and, unlike Katie who was still looking at the ceiling even though her mind was travelling through the happy place of tales of make believe, I could see the way it caused Justin's fist to unclench and stop propping his head up.
Although the seven-year-old was seemingly in her own world, she was eased back with the words that Justin decided to say there and then.
He asked her:
"Does the etching ever fade away from the girl's arm?" he wondered, his own palm touching over the place on his arm that had never been specified that that was where the illustration clung to but had imagined it for himself. His gaze travelled from the back of his own hand back to Katie. "Does she ever wake up and he's not there?"
Katie's expression became like a piece of paper. If she hadn't already been doing so, she surely would've shot further up in bed. She was appalled!
She had never been so certain of anything in the world as her head swung from side to side, her eyes like saucers.
"He would never do that!" she exclaimed. Justin didn't mean it maliciously, I don't believe, but he couldn't stop his teeth from being revealed at the vehemence of her response. It had been a long time since he had been so certain of something, and this quality made him smile. "W-Why on earth would he do that?"
Justin's shrug rolled off his shoulders and words came before he had seemingly thought them through.
"I don't know, Katie." He said before he pondered his reasons. As much as she had been filled with gentle determination those seconds before, she mellowed down even softer than usual when she noticed the way that he always made a point of saying her name. Her feet formed a union together. "Maybe there's things she doesn't know about him?" Katie may have quieted down, but she still stiffened. "Maybe there's things he doesn't know about her?"
When Katie found herself looking into my eyes for comfort, I knew all I could do was smile. There were certain things that I could only be there for, and this was one of them. It wasn't my place to tell Justin to stop, because he wasn't purposely winding her up - if he was winding her up at all. It wasn't my place to fetch James either. Who knows when he would be back!
It was up to Katie and Katie alone to proceed. Whatever she would go on to do, whatever she would go on to say, one thing would be very clear. She could find her voice no matter how high emotions ran or how lost her voice felt. She could always find a way. Would always find a way.
Justin reassumed his position of his knuckles against his forehead and one leg was crossed against the ground and the other foot was pressed firmly against the floor, thin kneecap peering about the same height as the side of the bed.
He looked at Katie in the eye. She couldn't help but look at him in return and give him the permission that she felt that he was asking her for. Her right eye watered delicately as she let go of the situation entirely, trusting something very precious to her in the hands of Justin.
She didn't let on whether he was making sense to her or not. She simply gave him the floor.
"Tell me how a story like that would go." she encouraged, nestling back with me under one arm and Mr Hugsy under the other as I realised that the massage wasn't going to continue any further. Katie had limited capabilities and all of them would be taken up with listening!
I, of course, would go onto listen myself. And I would be equally as captured as I was with Justin's father's tales.
Whether he realised that this discussion with Katie would make him discover his storytelling abilities in a form other than song was another thing entirely. He surely must've felt rather on the spot if he hadn't been expecting this at all!
But still, for some reason and somehow, when the ball was handed to him, he ran with it. like when a stage was in his peripheral vision and he longed to find himself upon it, he knew what he had to do.
Clearly, he had words inside of him that he had never known of before.
We all heard them in this moment.
It was unusual for Katie how much sleep she was getting. It shouldn't have been too much of a surprise, however. The day before had been tough. There had been so much that she had wanted to say to other people that were not her dear friend, but she just didn't know how. When she opened her mouth to speak, it was as if she had been rendered voiceless.
What she never could have anticipated is that her friend felt exactly the same way. She never doubted for a single second that they were in tune with one and other. But what she never could have dreamed of is just how far that chemistry could go.
Katie was aware that she was dreaming. She was also aware of how much sleep she was getting. But in the middle of her easing slumber, she knew that she couldn't be getting too much sleep because her friend was always there to rouse her sooner or later.
Rather than waking up with a start as she sensed that something was wrong, Katie drifted away into even more sleep. In fact, she didn't wake up until she was almost late for school. She hated that. Not how long she was sleeping because it was nice to forget all of the confusion of the day before. No, she hated school.
She hated the children and all their questions, all their trying to fit her into a single box and even all of their friendliness. Their friendliness was fake. Surely it would disappear the moment that she showed what kind of person that she truly was. Surely it would evaporate like smoke if she let them into her little secret. And showed them her little friend too.
Her little friend was all that she needed.
She eventually rose to reality with a different kind of confusion in her mind. No longer was it the kind that made her question and made her question why she was questioning. Katie opened her eyes fully and wondered why her arm felt so light. It was only when she took in the light of the brightly burning daytime sunshine that it dawned on her.
Katie brought her light arm right up to the end of her nose to inspect it closely. And when she saw the truth, she gasped.
Her friend had vanished!
The real Katie beside me gasped as well and I felt that urge tickling at my throat.
Justin had been so lost in storytelling that it gave him a bit of a fright. But as soon as he adjusted to what kind of reality that they were indeed in – not the fantastical world that had somehow felt so familiar to him – he knew that he had to make sure that he hadn't pushed it too far.
For all the things about himself he was uncertain of, this was a trait that always remained clear. And shone clearly too.
"Shall I leave the story there, Katie?" he asked, his knuckles unclenching again from being close to his face and his crossed arms instead lounging against the side of the bed.
For once, it wasn't the bigger boy speaking her name that rendered her breathless. Contrasting her prior vehemence, she was then silently certain with what she wanted even if all the words had slipped away from her.
That didn't matter. Her gestures were clear. She took Justin's predictable one for herself and shook her head from side to side, eyes like saucers meeting his and willing him to go on.
This made Justin's teeth reveal themselves all over again, and that time they stuck around for a while. Her absorbing his gestures touched him. But her wanting him to continue did even more so.
And continue he did, thank goodness! I would relish in teasing James that it was time to retire from storytelling and leave it up to his son. But for the time being, I had no words I wished to say, teasing or other time.
I wanted story time to commence and commence forever!
Katie slowly lifted herself out of bed, clutching her arm in her hand as if it were broken. Even though she was lighter than usual thanks to the disappearance of her friend, she felt as if she was carrying all of the weight of the world as she shuffled to the end of her bed.
She didn't understand it. She didn't understand how he could do this. She didn't understand how he could leave her when she needed him the most. It was true that sometimes she didn't feel like talking to others. But no matter how her throat reddened and how much it burned, she always loved talking to him. It didn't drain her like the others. In fact, it invigorated her.
Katie rubbed her arm as if that would somehow bring her friend back to her. She didn't understand it at all.
She knew that he had problems of his own. They didn't speak of them as such. It was more something that she felt in her heart when she looked at him. Something that she knew in her heart when she gazed upon him.
He was troubled. He didn't know where he fit in. He didn't know what other people thought of him. Could think about him if… No. He didn't like to say certain words either. He didn't like his mind to wander too far. How bizarre. He had seemingly wandered far, hadn't he? He had seemingly wandered very far indeed.
What was a girl to do? What was Katie to do without her friend?
She raised her empty hand towards her throat. She had a voice. But what was the point? What was the point if he weren't around to use his?
Fortunately, unlike the serpentine creature of the story, Justin used his voice and as he did so, he lured Katie in and made her think of things she hadn't thought of before and took her to places she simply hadn't been before.
Any other thought that could have possibly been in her mind prior was a thing of the past. Even wondering where James had got to was a thing of the past!
That was a good thing, I realised, when I was one of the only people to look up and see him hovering there in the doorway. James' phone was still in one of his hands but his dominant one was resting over his scarcely beating chest as he observed the scene that was continuing to unfold in front of him.
I didn't smile at him. I didn't tease him either, like I had been so sure that I would do! I didn't berate him either. I instead looked away and got absorbed back towards the story, as I'm sure he was doing, even if he was sharing the private moment with Lynne on the other end of his phone.
The story is the most important story of this story, you see. How it opened young minds. How it comforted them, even though the emotions felt, and the occasions hinted at were a long way off for one of the parties.
Perhaps in some strange way, the mirroring of the tale with Katie's own life over the next handful of years was meant to be. Maybe it was destined. Not just from Justin putting it out there and solidifying it into a fictional world. But from it mirroring Justin's own experiences as well.
We all have those people, don't we? They seem to reflect our every move. Every tear they shed; we have one to match theirs. Every high they soar; we have a memory that brings us alive as well. Every time that we feel so lonely, they have those moments too, where they are so very sure that nobody else feels the same way as them. Perversely, they are experiencing those aching moments at the exact same time.
During those moments in the spare bedroom, Justin and Katie could have never predicted that their lives would mirror each other so, let alone would their fates and their paths and their hearts become as entwined as they would be as they grew up.
For the time being, Justin was that bigger boy who was a mystery to Katie. And to Justin, she was that sweet little girl that he felt was surer about the world than he was. There would always be those versions tucked up inside themselves no matter how much time passed, as well as those versions tucked inside each other's hearts.
And thank goodness for some little secrets. Thank goodness for those small, treasured things. They are not exactly small, are they? And somehow, in spite of its simplicity, James knew the breadth of that moment as he watched from the doorway.
He continued to watch with bated breath. Something had been created. Lines were beginning to connect souls like squiggles on a map. The path was being laid out.
And I for one, as I look back upon this time, know how very lucky I am to not only have witnessed the ignition of the spark of destiny but to have this tale tucked up inside of me. All the tales within this tale. And a great many more.
We will get to them all. Eventually!
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) This was definitely a bittersweet chapter. This is the first time I've really gone into Sammy's feelings regarding his relationship with Justin coming to an end, and certainly how he relates to Lucy. I've written before how they do end up together - but at this moment in time, it's just a kiss that leads to a very casual relationship. It's funny how that happens, isn't it? I'm sure if they dove straight in, they would be very nervous! But this way suits them. More and more as time passes :3 Thanks again for reading and I will be back again on Wednesday so see you then!
Amy signing out :)