𝙸𝚁𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙴. ➪ 𝙴. 𝙿𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚎

𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

Phillis sat in between Susan and her brother as she watched the rain pour down from the skies above. The great day Peter had promised had gone down the drain. Lucy stared glumly out of the window, whilst Edmund fiddled with the bottom of an expensive-looking chair. The other four decided to play an original game from Susan, in which they would guess the origin of a word from a particularly thick dictionary. "Gastrovascular," Susan spoke up. "Come on, Elmer. Gastrovascular."
Susan had already accepted that Peter was lost in a state of mind and Phillis was too focused on her book now, so she turned her attention to Elmer.
"Is it Latin?" Elmer asked, completely bored out of his mind.
"Yes," Susan nodded at the boy.
"Is it Latin for 'worst game ever invented'?" Edmund asked, emerging from beneath the chair. He received a laugh from everyone except Susan and Phillis. Susan sent him a glare and Phillis merely rolled her eyes as she continued to turn the page, however it didn't go unnoticed by Edmund. Susan huffed and slammed the dictionary closed, causing Phillis to jump, which made Edmund chuckle, to which Phillis sent him a glare, similar to that of the one his sister had sent him seconds before. "We could play hide and seek?" Lucy suggested.
"But we're already having so much fun," Peter said, using the same sarcastic tone Phillis had heard Edmund use so many times before.
"Come on, Peter, please!" Lucy pleaded.
Edmund huffed and Phillis couldn't help but silently agree with him. She wasn't in the mood to play, but felt obligated to or else she'd make Lucy sad, she'd receive some snarky comments from Edmund, which would put Susan and Peter in a bad mood from having to tell him to behave so many times and she'd receive a bucketload of questions from Elmer. So, she figured it wasn't worth it. They'd play a couple of rounds before everyone got bored and gradually dispersed. "Pretty please?" Lucy whimpered.
"One, two, three, four," Peter began before everyone got up and ran to find a spot to hide in hopes of being crowned winner for a brief moment of glory that no one would remember within the week. Elmer grabbed his sister's hand and dragged her towards a spot he'd found yesterday, which he had thought would make a great hiding place. It was a small cupboard under the stairs and the two siblings quickly slid in before slowly closing the door, trying not to let it creak. But as soon as they closed the door they heard Lucy scream from upstairs, "It's all right! I'm back! I'm all right!"
Elmer and Phillis sent each other curious glances before dashing upstairs to see what all the fuss was about. Phillis spotted Edmund peek out from behind a curtain and Peter came running through. "Shut up, he's coming!" Edmund snapped at his younger sister.
Edmund huffed loudly at the sight of Peter before sending a nasty look to Lucy. "You know, I'm not quite sure you two have quite got the idea of this game," Peter chuckled.
"Weren't you wondering where I was?" Lucy asked, looking disgusted at the fact that none of her siblings even gave her sudden absence a second thought.
"That's the point. That was why he was seeking you," Edmund said in a typical Edmund duh-tone.
Susan emerged from one of the corridors, a cheerful grin on her face. "Does this mean I win?" Susan smirked.
"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore," Peter said.
"I've been gone for hours," Lucy furrowed her brows, staring at the five children who seemed to loom over her. They all gave her worried glances before she began to explain about a magical forest at the back of an upstairs wardrobe, where she met a faun named Mr. Tumnus. And so, the remaining five children went to investigate said wardrobe, Elmer was amazed that they were even entertaining the idea. Susan examined the inside of the seemingly normal wardrobe, whilst Edmund knocked on the back of the piece of wooden furniture. The only even slightly abnormal thing about the wardrobe was the intricate designs and detailing it had on it. "Lucy the only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe," Susan sighed.
"One game at a time, Lu," Peter said.
"We don't all have your imagination," Elmer glanced at Lucy.
The five turned to leave until Lucy spoke up. "But I wasn't imagining!"
"That's enough, Lucy," Susan muttered.
"I wouldn't lie about this," the crack in Lucy's voice and the hurt in her eyes was enough to make Phillis almost believe in this magical land in the back of the upstairs wardrobe, but it was too impossible. How could there possibly be a complete new land in the back of an average wardrobe?
"Well, I believe you," Edmund began and Phillis let out a frustrated sigh at the next words, which she knew would only make things worse.
"You do?" Lucy asked, utterly confused.
"Yeah, of course. Didn't I tell you about the football fields in the back of the bathroom cupboards?" Edmund joked.
"For God's sake," Phillis rolled her eyes at the boy.
"Will you just stop?" Peter glared at his brother. "You just have to make everything worse, don't you?"
"It was just a joke!" Edmund tried to defend himself. Phillis sighed, as she'd thought what he'd said to considerably funny, but completely unnecessary and quite rude.
"When are you gonna learn to grow up?" Peter sighed.
"Shut up! You think you're Dad, but you're not!" Edmund screamed into Peter's face before storming off.
"Well, that was nicely handled," Susan sighed before following her brother. Elmer jogged after her too, as he knew Edmund enjoyed his company and thought maybe it would be better to talk to a friend rather than family. Peter and Phillis turned to look at one another and Phillis sent him an apologetic glance, knowing just how easy it can be to lose your temper around Edmund. "But it really was there," Lucy muttered.
"Susan's right, Lucy. That's enough," Peter said before turning to leave.
After Lucy had closed the wardrobe, she turned to see Phillis still stood there. "Do you believe me?" Lucy asked, her tone laced with hope.
Phillis took Lucy's hand and lead her out of the room. "I don't know," she whispered. "I mean, I understand what it's like to have all the older ones gang up on you. It's horrible, I know. But surely you must understand how absurd it does sound, Lu? I'm not saying it's not real, I'm just saying it sounds... like something from a book. It's the sort of thing that just doesn't happen in real life."
Phillis was only a month younger than Edmund, but he seemed to think that month made him ten times wiser and more intelligent than her. It was quite irritating, Phillis thought.

Lucy nodded, happy that Phillis hadn't shut down the idea completely. The young brunette clutched onto Phillis' hand even tighter and leant into her warm side.