Random Moment of Worry and Fun

There was so much that she could do and so much that she couldn’t do.

“This isn’t something I can ignore, Mary, you know that.” Alex said as he sat opposite her in her parlor. “What if he decides that the information about what you can do is more important than you are?”

“Warren isn’t like that, Alex.” Mary protested, interrupting her adoptive brother before he could continue. “He isn’t going to try and turn me into some kind of lab rat.”

“How do you know that?” Alex demanded, “Just because you’ve started to ‘fall in love’ with him doesn’t mean-”

“Alex,” she interrupted again in a much quieter voice, “I know that you worry about me and I know that you’re just concerned that Warren will do to you what you’ve done in your youth.” She held up a hand before Alex could do more than open his mouth, “No, I know that you’re not like that anymore, not really, but that’s not what people see anymore. All they see when they see you is someone whose made a lot of mistakes and that can’t possibly turn himself around. Warren even saw you like that when he first discovered that I was under your protection, but he doesn’t think that of you anymore.”

“And how can you know so much about Warren, Mary?”

She smiled, “It’s something about what I am, and no,” she continued when she read the look on his face, “It’s not that I can read his mind, but I can sort of…infer…what his intentions are towards me. It has something to do with the-”

“You don’t need to tell me how or why you can do that, Marry,” Alex sighed tiredly, “I know that you’re just trying to distract me with science.”

“Is it working?”

“No, stop trying to distract me.”

“It is working.” Mary sounded quite pleased with herself.

Alex had to remind himself that it was his idea to adopt her as his sister, his younger sister, and that this was apparently how she treated siblings. He wondered if this was how she’d treated her twin at all.

(He had no idea that part of the reason Mary was acting like this was because it reminded her of her lost sister. Mary was so used to being the serious sibling that acting differently reminded her of what she’d lost, but it made her happy to have a reminder. Mary’s sister had lost more than Mary had, at least Mary was certain that this was how she felt and if acting like this occasionally helped her to feel closer to her… Mary was more than willing to give Alex premature grey hair. He’d understand in time.)

---

Written for the Random Moment of Delight prompt for this week: http://firebonnet.com/2014/05/11/random-moments-of-delight-19-meet-my-bff/

This is the scene that came to mind as I was reading another blogger’s post for this week’s prompt (http://eclecticoddsnsods.com/2014/05/11/random-moment-of-delight-19-tears-ahoy/comment-page-1/#comment-3855).

So here is a random moment between the adoptive siblings Mary and Alex in my Former Guardian universe.

Advertisement

She Knows

It wasn’t exactly a secret.

No, wait. Strike that.

It was a secret. Just not one that she was in the dark about.

She knew that they had tried really hard to keep her from ever finding out and they hadn’t really failed. It hadn’t been from them that she’d discovered the truth. No, it had been from somewhere else. From a mystical plane of existence she had discovered their attempt at deceit.

(They’d posted it on their ‘anonymous’ social network sites. They had no idea that she’d discovered their ‘totally unknown’ profiles months ago.)

If they thought that they’d be able to get the best of her in this matter, they were sorely mistaken. Still, she allowed them time to plan and revel in their ‘success,’ knowing that the unveiling would have to be done carefully if she wanted to get the maximum results.

She watched day in and day out, as a week slowly passed, pretending that she didn’t have any idea what was happening.

One morning, she woke up and the other side of the bed was empty and from the feel of it, had long since cooled. She a grim look on her face, she dressed and readied herself for the day. The sounds from the kitchen showed that he was still there and that their son had joined him.

Today, today was the day that she would confront them.

With determination in her every turn of the head, she entered the kitchen.

“Where have you hidden the dog?” she asked.

---

Written for today’s Light and Shade Challenge prompt (http://lightandshadechallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/challenge-friday-9th-may.html) only to realize that it was a 100 word or less prompt…

Looks like I’ll have to try again.

Will You Listen?

There are all kinds of secrets

Found throughout the day:

Dishes not wash all the way,

Television on before dressed for the bus,

Brownies made and cleaned up after.

 

(Not everything is too much.)

 

Good secrets come and go,

Bad secrets like to crop up as well:

Homework hidden and not done,

People pushing things under the rug;

Ignore it enough, it’ll go away?

 

(No it won’t.)

 

Bad secrets aren’t the only ones hiding,

Good secrets jump out and brighten your life:

Kittens brought home when you needed a friend,

A first attempt at a child’s sewing gifted, made by hand.

Someone coming over just because, but managing to bring just what you needed.

 

(Woken up at night, given what you need to work from home.)

 

Secrets like to lurk and hide,

They like to make you stumble and your eyes go wide,

But at the same time, they can be quiet and sneak up on you.

A child waking their mother at night,

Seeking peace to sleep by talking something out.

“I’m always here if you need me, if only to talk it out.”

 

(She didn’t mind how late it was or that she had work in three hours.)

 

Families can be loud with their secrets,

Shouting them out and using the bright lights to distract

From the shadows lurking beneath.

They can also be quiet,

Barely whispering about the teeth and the heartbreak.

 

(Just because ‘everyone knows’ doesn’t mean that they understand.)

 

But will you listen as I speak my words?

Will you keep quiet to hear all that is in me?

My secrets are my own to share or silence,

But will you listen to them all the same?

Secrets can choke you, both good and bad, if you cannot tell anyone.

 

(Oh Lord, I pray, listen to my heart as well as my mouth.)

---

Written for this week’s Dungeon Prompts: http://theseekersdungeon.com/2014/03/13/dungeon-prompts-season-2-week-11-secrets/

Partially prompted by a few things coming to light this morning: the children didn’t quite finish getting ready for school and one almost missed the bus, but they’d made brownies after everyone had gone to bed and yet had managed to clean up (almost) completely after themselves. This morning really needed those brownies.