𝙸𝚁𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙴. ➪ 𝙴. 𝙿𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚎

𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

"Don't you think the sun is beautiful?" Phillis asked suddenly.
"Hmm?" hummed Ed, who was half asleep.
It was a sunny Friday, the sun setting over the horizon. The air was warm and enjoyable, instead of cold and bitter. Phillis and Edmund had found a large park on a different route home from school. They missed the train and opted for walking since it was such lovely weather. The couple walked, with their hands laced, through the busy streets of London. Businessmen brushed past the two, grunting about taking up the pavement, but the two didn't care. They were content in each other's company, and that was all they could ever ask for. It was Edmund who suggested they sit in the park for a bit. But a bit turned into hours. So, at six o'clock, they lay under a cherry blossom tree as the glorious sun set on another day.

Phillis lay with her head rested in the crook of Edmund's arm, her eyes fluttered closed. The two were practically asleep. "The sun," she repeated. "It's just a big ball of heat and light but it is so much more,
you know?"
"I think you're tired," he said quietly, closing his eyes again.
"Most likely," she shrugged, so she closed her chocolate eyes and lay in complete bliss.

It was twenty minutes later when Phillis and Edmund decided to head back. Their hands swung in between their bodies. "I think I want to marry you," said Ed.
"Huh?" Phillis breathed, turning to look at him.
"You're the only one for me, Philly, I want to marry you one day," he smiled.
When the pair of sixteen years olds were home, they split off. Giving each other a quick kiss, they each left for their respective houses. As soon as Edmund walked into his, he was met by the raised eyebrows of his family. "Where have you been?" snapped Helen.
"I was just with Phillis!" said Edmund, trying to defend himself.
"Just with Phillis? For three hours?" said Peter, with a smirk on his face.
Edmund glared at his brother, "Yes."
"Is she alright?" asked Lucy.
"Yes, she's fine. Where's Susan?" Ed replied.
"Still in her room," his father sighed.
"Still?" Edmund groaned.
Susan had locked herself in hers and Lucy's bedroom for the past few weeks. She only came out for food or a toilet break. She never spoke to anyone; the most they'd got out of her was eye contact. Susan was almost taking Elmer's passing as badly as Virginia.

The Pevensies pitied Phillis. For, she had to go home every night to her grief-stricken mother, who had turned to alcohol for comfort. Helen hated to see her closest friend in such a state. The Pevensies had asked if Phillis wanted to stay the night, or even just the evening, multiple times, but she always refused. She thanked them for their kind offer but she knew her mother needed someone with her. Virginia needed something to distract her from the emptiness of her home, so Phillis gave her a sort of routine. When Phillis would return home from school, she would sit downstairs and read for an hour or so. Then, she and her mother would prepare dinner. They'd sit and eat it around the wireless. Phillis would finish any homework she had before making a start on a new story for the newspaper. Recently, however, Phillis had begun writing real stories. Not the non-fiction kind, but the thrilling, unpredictable total fictional kind. She loved writing, just as her mother had, and wanted to maybe one day publish some books of her own. Phillis liked to think of writing for the newspaper as a sort of stepping stone to where she wanted to be in her life. Her mother told her that her books were good, but releasing them under her own name would almost half the sales. It was only slightly disheartening. She wanted to publish what she wanted, under whatever name she wanted. Whether or not people bought them, she wasn't that bothered; she just wanted her work out there. Sure, she loved covering stories for the local newspaper, but it wasn't what she could see herself doing until she was to retire.

Phillis wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps, but she wanted to do it as herself. Not under anybody else's name.