Autumn Nights - A Narnia Oneshot Challenge

She's Still Our Sister

Author's note: Hi friends!!! Thanks for dropping by! So, at the very, very last minute (i.e. yesterday), I decided to join the oneshot challenge made by Magic_of_narnia!! I'm in the middle of a sememster of university right now, so I don't know how caught up I will be able to stay. Also, please be patient with the middling writing quality of some of these oneshots—they are written in quite a rush😅. Despite that, I hope you enjoy whatever I manage to post!! Thanks for coming along.

-Judith

Prompt #1: Change

"Lu, it's not you, I promise. I'm just a young woman now, and I need my space." 

Lucy kneaded her eyes with the heel of her hand. She sniffled. 

Susan rubbed her back. "Please don't be upset with me, Lu. You'll be a good girl, won't you?"

Lucy stood up. "I don't really feel like talking about it right now. But I'm happy you're getting your space." 

"Lu—" 

She wasn't listening. She was already out of the room. 

~~~

The floor was cold beneath Lucy's back, autumn air seeping through the old window panes. Every autumn, Father remembered that he needed to replace the windows and every spring he forgot to do it. Lectures needed writing and papers needed grading.

She stared at the ceiling, tracing the cracks in the paint with her eyes. 

"Studying the ceiling constellations, are we?" 

Lucy sat up. "You could've knocked." 

Peter shrugged and sat on the foot of Susan's bed. He popped a kernel of kettle corn in his mouth. 

He extended his handful. "Popcorn?" 

She pushed herself off the floor and plopped down next to Peter, shoving her hand in the paper bag. "Where'd you get it?" She asked, through a mouthful. 

"The Apple Festival. Main Street's closed and all the stands are up."

Lucy straightened, eyebrows springing into her hairline and toes curling. "I forgot about that!" She stopped, face falling. "Susan and I used to go together." 

He nudged her shoulder. "Why don't we go?" 

"Really?" 

"Sure. I think you could use a change of scenery." 

She grinned. "Let me put on my jumper!" 

~~~

Cerulean blue melted into yellow-orange as evening settled over Main Street. Tents lined both sides of the road, housing goodies of all sorts: candles, pumpkins, bushels of apples, pies, tarts and scarves. A local swing band provided entertainment outside of Mr. Beasley's music emporium. Children chased each other down the sidewalks, candied apples in hand, faces sticky from the red glaze. 

"There's a tent with old books up there," Peter said, pointing in the distance. "I think you might like some of them." 

Lucy ran up to the stand, stopping at the first book that caught her eye. Peter caught up, laughing. She whipped around. 

"Look!" She held up a book, green cover tattered along the edges. "It's a treasury of fairytales from around the world!" 

Peter took it. He thumbed through the pages. "It looks lovely. You should buy it."

Lucy flipped open to the price tag and her face fell. "I can't. It's too much. I've already used my whole allowance for the week." 

"How much is it?"