Chapter 6: Poof, the mirror monster destroyer!

— Poof's POV —

He understood little about things. To be fair, he was only a baby. He was a rather smart baby, too. However, complex things were still beyond him. Why his daddy kept losing his temper with Timmy lately was one of those things. Was his daddy mad because Timmy had got hurt? That did not seem very fair. You should only be yelled at when you do something bad, not when bad things got done to you.

Timmy had done nothing bad, at least, not until he began kicking and hitting at his mommy and daddy. It had shocked Poof very much to see his kind, protective big brother act that way.

Sure, sometimes Timmy could be silly, and wish for irresponsible things, but he never tried to hurt anyone. So he had been shocked when he had hit at mommy and daddy when they tried to help him with his nightmare.

His parents had explained it to him that Timmy had not been taking a tantrum, he had taken a seizure. He remembered that Timmy had got hurt before by taking one, but he did not know what a seizure was. They explained humans could sometimes lose control of their bodies, the way fairies lost control of their magic.

That made sense; when he got sick or hurt, his magic became hard to control and things he did not want to happen, happened. He wondered what it felt like to not be able to control how your body moved.

According to Timmy, he was having a nightmare and was trying to fight off a monster who was hurting him, unaware of what he was actually doing. Nightmares were scary and monsters were even scarier. He'd probably fight really hard too, if a monster was attacking him.

But…all that moving about had made his brother, already sick, really, really tired. He had been looking forward to playing with him today, but Timmy looked like he was going to stay in bed all day.

"Poof…." He sat at the foot of his brother's bed, playing with some sponge blocks. Timmy had tried playing with him, by asking him to spell out a few simple words and applauding him each time he got it right, or helping him whenever he got it wrong. However, Timmy kept dozing off, and his parents insisted he let his brother take another nap.

Poof was bored, and he wanted to play, but both his mommy and daddy were in chairs beside his brother's bed, keeping watch so that he did not take another seizure.

Maybe if his brother woke up, they could play? Thinking that, Poof threw a sponge block at him, hoping to rouse him.

"Poof, don't!" Instead, his mother scolded.

"Wanna play with Tim-me!"

"Timmy needs his rest, sweetie." His mother picked up the sponge block that had bounced off his brother's chest. "He'll play with you once he feels better."

"Poof, poof."

"Timmy's going to be staying with us for a while. You'll have plenty of chances to play." His mother reassured, handing him back his block.

"Hey, if you want to play Poof, I have an idea. We can go to Timmy's room and check his mirror for him." His father stood up and held out his arms invitingly. "You can tell your big brother that there is no scary monster living inside of it. That way, he won't have another scary nightmare."

"Poof, poof!" He was happy with this idea. He'd get to help his big brother!

"That's a great idea, Poof! Timmy will be thrilled to hear that you both got rid of the scary mirror monster." His mother smiled at him.

"Poof! Poof!" He announced, waving his little rattle happily, poofing himself and his daddy into Timmy's room.

No one was in here, but he could hear noises downstairs; Vicky shouting at the clone Timmy to clean faster. He looked around the room a little nervously, but he saw no scary monster. It really had just been a nightmare his brother had, or…

"Poof…." He spotted a big, dark stain on the mirror as if it had been burned by something.

"Yeah, Vicky was chasing him all over with her flamethrower." His daddy tsked, shaking his head at the burn mark. "This was right before he took his fall, so this burn mark was one of the last things he saw before he got hurt. No wonder it showed up in his nightmare. We really should get rid of it."

"Hmm…" Poof stared hard at the burn, frowning as he wondered what to do about it. He went up to the mirror and tried to use his little hand to rub it off, but that did nothing. Glaring at the mark that had scared his brother so badly, he decided he'd just have to vanish it with magic.

"Poof, go way!" He zapped the mirror, wanting the burn to leave, and shrieked as his magic bounced off, ricochetting behind him.

"Aaah!" His father cried out and Poof turned to look at his father, who was looking a bit charred.

"Dada…?"

"I'm fine Poof, haha…ouch, but I think my wand just got incinerated."

"Poof, poof…." He frowned, looking back at the mirror, confused. He had not only failed to vanish the burn, he had added another. Would his poor brother dream of two mirror monsters if he saw this?

"Magic kinda reflects off of glass, haha…I guess I should have warned you about that." His father laughed nervously. "But, hmm…if Timmy's parents see the mirror all burned, he'll get in trouble. Vicky will probably lie and say he was playing with matches or smoking. Too bad we can't just get rid of it…"

"Poof!" Poof's eyes shone as a brilliant idea occurred to him. He took his rattle and, rather than blasting the mirror, he used it like a club to smack it, breaking the glass to pieces.

"Eeep! Poof, watch out, glass is sharp!" His father caught him and pulled him away from the shattered mirror.

"What was that noise!?" Vicky's voice came from downstairs and her footsteps sounded on the steps. Poof froze, not knowing what to do, whilst his father looked around, found a baseball, opened the window and pointed to the fishbowl.

"Poof, let's get back inside!"

"Poof, Poof!"

His mommy looked at them, surprised by how quick they had returned and tilted her head quizzically, sitting down the book she had begun to read in their absence.

"Well, that was fast! Is everything ok?"

"Poof, poof!" He happily announced his accomplishment of destroying the scary mirror monster that had given his big brother a nightmare.

"What do you mean, you destroyed the monster?"

"Poof…." He had been hoping to be praised, so his mother's confusion disappointed him.

"Well, you see—there was this burn mark—" His father recounted to his mother what he had to him about how the mirror was damaged. "Poof took it in his mind to destroy the entire thing."

"Sweetie, you did not get cut on any glass, did you?" His mother asked worriedly, and he shook his head.

"Poof, poof." He had destroyed the mirror-monster unscathed.

"Well, that's good." His mother's relief turned into a scowl as she looked at his father. "Cosmo, what if he got hurt? I thought you'd have learned about attentiveness after all this!"

"I know…I just…did not realize he was going to hit it, haha…ooh, and uh…before he hit, he tried to blast it and…it…umm…well bounced off and zapped me…. and disintegrated my wand…."

His mom slapped her forehead, irritated. "I can't even…! Why did you not—!? Poof is a baby, he has an excuse, but you—? Every fairy who's ever used a wand knows that glass deflects magic. You should have warned him!"

"Poof, no fight, poof!" He had wanted to be told he had done a good job, not make his parents fight.

"No, your mom is right." His father gave him a pained smile. "It's just lucky it hit me and not you."

"Poof, poof, poof!" He tried to desperately tell his mom how dad had protected him from any broken glass. His mother just sighed, but at least she was making a tired face now instead of an angry one.

"You better go to fairy world and register for a new wand. Maybe if you do it now, while Jorgen is busy preparing for Timmy's treatment, he might not notice and yell at you for it."

"Riiiight…. s-sorry Wanda. Do you think you'll be ok here with Timmy?"

"Yes, I can take care of him."

"I dunno, if he takes another seizure, you weren't strong enough to hold him down…."

"Actually…" His mother waved the book she was reading. "I poofed this up. It's all about seizures, what causes them, and what to do if one occurs. Apparently, we're not supposed to restrain him."

"What? But they do it in all the movies! Like, stuff a sock in the mouth to stop them from biting their tongues, and hold them down so they don't hurt themselves."

"It says here that while movies do that because it looks dramatic, it can actually hurt them. Putting stuff in their mouth can make it hard to breathe. Tongue biting isn't actually common in seizures at all. Also, holding them down just adds to their stress and confusion, causing them to panic. You're also likely to end up hurt yourself while doing it."

"That's true enough." His father winced and then crossed his arms, looking mad. "But I can't believe TV movies have lied to us all this time!"

"I'm guilty as well for thinking it was the correct thing to do." His mother confessed. "You think that they'd take a little more care in portraying medical emergencies with the way people mimic what they see on TV!"

"Poof, poof?" He jumped onto his mother's lap to peer at the book she was reading. He could understand nothing and the only picture was of a brain separated into different colored portions. "Boring, poof…."

"Yes, it's a dry read, but it can help me help your big brother next time he takes a seizure."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" His father asked as he sat down on the end of Timmy's bed, laying a hand on his brother's right foot that was hidden by the blankets. Timmy stirred, but he did not wake, much to Poof's disappointment.

"Well, it says to turn them on their side to help their breathing. It'll help drain any excess saliva so they don't choke. We're also supposed to remove any sharp or restraining objects on their body or around them. Make sure they're not in a place where they can fall from, or get anything tangled around their necks…and to monitor their breathing." His mother frowned. "I wish there were more we could do for him. Poor little thing…."

"Poof?" He asked, pointing at the picture of the brain, not understanding what it had to do with a seizure.

"Well, a human body has its movements controlled by the brain. We too have brains, but ours are used just for thinking. Our bodies rely on a magical current to make us move. Humans have their entire body rely on their brain to send electrical signals to each part of their body to function." His mother explained and stroked Timmy's hair back. "A seizure happens when all those electrical signals get crossed. A gigantic thunderstorm happens in the brain and the human body loses all control over its movements."

"Poor Tim-me….!" He looked at his brother wide eyed. He had a thunderstorm happen in his head? That sounded terrifying!

"I'm going to bookmark this page; it's full of important information to have on hand." His mother declared. "And I know what bookmark to use."

She held up her wand, but her face fell into a look of confusion and then a deep frown when the object she had summoned came out of his father's back pocket.

"Hey, what are you doing with the mother's day bookmark Timmy made for me?"

"Oh, this!" His father seemed confused himself for a moment, and then hit his forehead. "With everything that was going on, I forgot all about that thing!"

"It's not a 'thing', it's a sweet, loving gesture." His mother sniffed. Poof could still remember making them the year before last with Timmy. Since his mommy liked to read, his big brother had showed him how to make a homemade bookmark.

"Yeah, yeah." His father brushed it aside. "Well, Timmy and I were trying to look up possible trivia questions for the quiz game that's going to be part of the fairy festival and it fell out of one book. I was going to give it back but, well…. with everything that happened, it slipped my mind."

"Ah, I see…" His mom frowned, tapping her chin. "What book did I leave it in?"

"I-I don't know. We were cleaning up all those books when I just found it on the floor."

"Yes, Timmy was telling me about how you tried to study for the trivia game—oh, but I guess there's no need for me to tell you what Timmy and I spoke about."

Poof did not understand the meaningful look in his mother's eye, but his father laughed, pulling on the collar of his shirt in discomfort.

"Haha…. w-well, maybe I'll go and register for a new wand. Wanna have it before the fairy festival next weekend…Poof, do you want to come with me to grandma's?"

"Stay, Tim-me." He pointed at his brother. His father nodded, not too disappointed with his decision to stay behind with his big brother.

"Oh, okay…I'll see you guys later…"

"Cosmo, make sure you're back before tonight. Jorgen is going to come and fetch Timmy and I for his treatment and I don't want Poof here alone."

"Sure thing! No problem! Promise!" His father reassured and then paused. "Uh…Wanda can you Poof me to fairy world?"

His mom groaned, holding up her wand, and his daddy vanished. Poof sat down beside Timmy, watching as his brother slept, hoping he'd open his eyes but also worried he might have a storm happen in his head again.

"Your worried about Timmy, aren't you?" His mother affectionately patted his head. "Don't worry, your mommy is going to be learning a treatment that'll make him all better tonight. It will take a while, but your big brother will get better."

"Poof help?"

"You helped by getting rid of that scary mirror, right?" She gave him a lopsided smile. "But be careful around glass, sweetie. Magic blasts right off of it. It's good that it hit your daddy and not you."

"Poof." He pouted, crossing his arms. That wasn't a nice thing to say about daddy.

"Well, with your father's recent behavior, he deserved to get a little singed."

"Poof, Poof?"

'I'm not mad at your father, it's just…I hoped that this awful accident would have at least learned him the importance of using caution and staying vigilant."

"Poof…."

"I know he seems really sorry for it; and he really did do a good job earlier with Timmy. I don't know what I'd have done if he hadn't been here during that seizure."

"Scary."

"Yes…it was scary, and poor Cosmo was all by himself when it happened the first time. I knew seizures were bad, but I never realized just how nerve wrecking they were to witness. To go through that so close to witnessing the accident would fray anyone's nerves."

"Poof, poof."

"Yes, your father has had it rough; and Timmy is having it even rougher." His mother gently stroked his brother's arm, making a sad face and poofing up more blankets. Poof mimicked his mother and poofed up his favorite baby blankie to put on top of his brother, who felt as cold as a popsicle.

"Poof help Tim-me, help Dada?"

"We'll work together, sweetie, to make your big brother and your daddy back to their old selves, body, heart and mind."

"Poof, poof!"

His mother laughed a little and gave him a hug. "That's my brave baby. We'll make them better even if we have to fight off a million mirror monsters."

"Poof!" He'd be willing to fight off a billion mirror monsters if it meant his brother wouldn't have another nightmare.