Lotus |1| The Umbrella Academy

Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Three:

Lotus found them in the living room once again, Five had returned from informing her of them leaving and he was standing in front of the group.

"I'm sorry." Allison shook her head, "Am I the only one that's sceptical here? I mean, how do you know all about what's his name."

"Harold Jenkins." Lotus grumbled, finding her seat on the bar stool. They all turned and looked at her, she frowned.

"You look..." Klaus blinked, "In a dress."

She huffed, her soaking wet hair dripping onto the ground. After Five had left her in the spare room, she had gone off to find a pair of pants. Instead she found Grace, wandering the attic alone. The women had brightened when she saw Lotus, and told her the same story she had listened to before Five had forced her to go to the Commission. She promised Lotus to bring a clean outfit to her room, insisting that she could no longer wait to have a shower and clean off her leg. When Lotus emerged from the shower, she found a sun dress folded on the bed. She groaned picking it up, it was a bright yellow and reached her knees. Nevertheless she wore it now, her ruff sneakers standing out against the bright colour yellow.

"Yah, yeah, whatever." She huffed, "Carry on."

Five shook his head and snapped his fingers, regaining the attention of his family. "Yes, Harold Jenkins. You know those lunatics who attacked the house?"

Klaus clicked his tongue, "Oh yeaah, I think I remember those guys."

"Yeah. The ones that attacked us while you were getting drunk." Diego chirped, glaring down at his tiny brother.

"Ya. Them. They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back, and preventing the end of life on earth."

A crease formed in Allison's eyebrows, "The Temps what?"

Lotus sighed, "His former employer. Apparently they monitor everything time and space."

"Yes. To make sure that whatever is supposed to happen... happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days, so I went to Commission headquarters and intercepted a message meant for said lunatics." He pulled out the small piece of paper from his pocket again and pointed at it, "Protect Harold Jenkins. So he must be responsible for the apocalypse."

There a long silent stretch where everyone just looked at each other, trying to make sense of everything that Five had just said. Allison's voice was the first to break the silence, "What do you mean Time and Space?"

"My skin is on fire!" Klaus groaned from the sidelines, Lotus shot I'm a concerned glare but he raised a hand and shook his head.

"Do you have any idea how insane this all sounds?" Allison questioned, an amused expression on her face. Five glared, "Do you know what else is insane?"

He waited, waiting for anybody to interrupt him, to tell him anything different. His eyes found Lotus', "I look like a 15 year old boy and Lotus, a new comer looks like a 16 year old girl! Klaus talks to the dead, and Luther thinks he's fooling everybody with that overcoat." The boy shook his head, "Everything about us has been insane. It always has been."

"He's got a point." Diego muttered.

"We didn't choose this life."

"No, we didn't." Lotus chimed in, "We're just living it."

Five nodded, he shifted on his feet and winced, it was a quick change in his demeanour and it seemed she was the only one who picked up on it.

"But last time we tried to stop it, we all died."