Could Have, Should Have, Didn't - A Narnia Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Three: Never To Be Heard

A chair squeaked on the floor as Edmund's dad, Christopher Pevensie, sat down, the smell of baked bread and some casserole filling the atmosphere. He smiled at Mum. "Dinner looks wonderful dear."

Dinner. A family dinner. Family. All together.

When he looked right, he saw Lucy and Susan; when he looked left, he saw Peter, Mum, and Dad.

Edmund's cheeks flushed with pure happiness, his whole chest felt light and full at the same time. He had to pinch himself to make sure this wasn't a dream. Something he'd conjured up in his brain like he used to do so much back in London.

Somehow, it wasn't.

After so long of eating dinner apart, they were a normal family again. Most likely Edith, Rita, Timothy, and Robert were doing the same. Feeling the same.

Or, somewhat.

"Would you pass me the salt?" Susan asked, the pink of her sun dress complimenting her complexion. She seemed happy. And he was glad to see it.

He picked up the salt and passed it to Susan, one side of his mouth upping into a smile when Peter laughed. Their joy made him warm to the tips of his toes. So long, he'd waited to see this. Just eating dinner together was enough to make his heart full.

Like a normal family.

Helen dished herself some casserole and then passed the pan to Dad. "How were your last days of school, Edmund and Lucy?"

School. Ed grumbled but masked it by stuffing a corner of bread into his mouth. Everything had been happy, but now with the mention of that horror...

"Wonderful!" Lucy replied, selecting two pieces of bread and putting them on her plate. "I made a bunch of new friends!"

"You always were the one to make more friends than any of us." Pete spooned the casserole onto his plate and sent it Susan's way.

That was the truth. Pete, no matter how much he praised him, never seemed able to make many friends, nor did Susan. Maybe they were all just too different for anyone to like them. Even Lu only seemed able to make acquaintances at school and nothing else.

Nodding, Susan put her own portion of food onto her plate, still sounding grown up. "Mum's found a school near here that you can attend Lu, and you Ed, though your time in school is nearly done."

Hurray. More school. More horrors. Only for a few more months, he tried to remind himself.

"Speaking of you, Edmund." Sniffing Dad folded his napkin. "Did you make any friends in school?"

He wanted the ground to swallow him up. Because, no, no he had not made any friends.

Not any real ones anyway.

A few fake friends that were a bad influence. Plenty of enemies. Plenty.

Ed came home with more bloody noses and lips, and bruised arms than Lu brought home new friends.

But for the sake of his parents, he swallowed heavily and attempted to brighten up. "School is school, you know? I got mostly good grades, I worked hard."

He left off anything about friends, because he had nothing to share concerning that. Unless Caspian counted. But he hadn't been in school, he'd been in Narnia, and his parents could never understand that.

Sympathy was bright in Susan's and Lucy's eyes. They knew he never had a good time making friends at school.

He hated the pity.

However, his parents seemed satisfied with his answer.

Or, at least, Dad did. He grinned. "Helen told me you had a hard time in school when you were younger, Ed. It's nice to hear my kids are hardworking and likable. I would be saddened to hear it any other way."