Friday Addams || Xavier Thorpe

22

Wednesday, Thing, and I entered the old pilgrim building. It was worn down with only a wall made of wooden logs that were dark gray. Thing tapped out a message on my twin's shoulder. "I was expecting more too." She responded with pursed lips.

"Who you talking to, little girl?" I jumped as a homeless man spoke who I had not noticed before. He had overgrown hair and a long beard.

"Use 'little' and 'girl' to address me again and I can't guarantee your safety," Wednesday threatened the man, offended by the title.

The man didn't seem to back down or be afraid of two young girls. "This is my place! Get out!" He demanded.

"Thing, a hand here?" Wednesday asked, without amusement toward her pun. The hand crawled up the man's pant leg and pulled his beard away, causing him to shriek and grab Thing with both hands.

"Hey! Hey! Get off me! Get off me!" He screamed as he ran out of the building. Thing let go of him and quickly joined Wednesday and I.

"There's nothing here," I said with a sigh, still not entirely wanting to be there.

Thing tapped out another message to my twin, telling her to touch something to get another vision. "No, I can't just touch something. My visions seem to happen spontaneously."

"You could always ask Mother for help," I suggested, wanting Wednesday to grow closer with her.

"I would rather dye my hair pink than ask mother for advice," was her response as Thing tapped out another response. I started between him and my sister. "Oh, you want me to prove it to you?" She raised an eyebrow and touched a random wooden pole. "No," she touched the wall of the structure, "Nothing." She walked over to pick up an object. "Ah, I bet this will give us some real insight." When she touched it, nothing happened. "My visions are as predictable as shark attacks." However, when she touched the door post accidentally, her head snapped back as she fell to the ground in a vision. I kneeled next to her, waiting for her vision to finish and for her to wake up.

"Friday! I saw her, the girl from my visions!" Wednesday exclaimed as she woke from her vision and quickly stood up. Friday mimicked the action of returning to a standing position. "Her name is Goody Addams, and I believe she is our ancestor from 400 years ago."

A strange sound was heard from outside as it began to rain, sending a tickle down Friday's spine. Thing seemed to hide behind Wednesday. "Must've been the bearded man from earlier," her sister tried to reason.

A snarl was heard as an eye appeared outside a crack in the wall. Friday hid in an area she hoped the monster could not see. After a moment, the beast had gone into the woods with Wednesday trailing after it. "Come on! Come on!" She yelled before slowing down after losing its track. The rain pelting down even further.

"The monster's human," I muttered under my breath. Xavier's form took shape from out of the trees as he held an umbrella over his head.

""What the hell are you doing?" He asked, holding the umbrella over Wednesday and I's heads.

"We were chasing the monster," my sister explained as I stayed quiet, knowing it wasn't very intelligent to chase the beast who murdered Rowan.

"You saw it? Do you have a death wish or something?" He asked in disbelief, beginning to walk back to Jericho with them.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, with a tilt of my head. I was wondering why he would've been able to find us.

"I overheard you say you were checking out the old meeting house," he responded, "it's lucky I showed up when I did."

"I did learn one thing. The monster is human. It's tracks turned from monster prints to human ones," the pig-tailed girl stayed with determination to solve the mystery written on her face.

"Show me." The brunette demanded. I pointed out where they had last been to him but the rain had already washed them away. Xavier seemed unimpressed with the discovery.

"The rain washed them all away," I frowned as my sister spoke. Xavier scoffed in reaction to the loss of evidence to prove her point. "I know what I saw."

"I'm trying to keep an open mind," the boy explained, facing forward as he walked.

"How big of you," Wednesday snipped at him, not understanding why he wouldn't just believe her. I remained in silence behind them, starting to agree with and understand Xavier.

"I do think you might be right about Rowan," he solemnly stated.

This caused me to perk up. "Why the sudden change of heart?" I asked, grateful he was finally coming around. I could not remain upset with him for much longer.

He paused for a moment before responding, "I texted him again today. I said maybe we could meet over spring break and go snowboarding again like we did last year. This time he texted right back, said he wouldn't be able to make it."

"Only you never went snowboarding last year," Wednesday continued for him, picking up on why he would gain suspicion.

"Part of me wanted to blame his recent weirdness. I didn't want to think something bad had happened." He started at the ground in silence, upset about the loss of his friend.

"The cover-up is always worse than the crime," I said, having learned this from my twin. I put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him before quickly pulling away.

"Now I need you to be honest with me." I nodded before he continued with his sentence. "Why'd you come out to the old meeting place in the first place?"

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Sorry for the wait! Here's a chapter to start of the school year!