I'm Home

Attempting to explain

Lydia woke up the next morning with Victoria curled up against her chest. She smiled at her sleeping daughter and brushed her light brown hair out of her face. Victoria was different to her siblings. She had inherited a mix of Liams brown hair and Lydia's blonde hair, unlike her siblings dark brown hair, and looked exactly like Lydia when she was her age. Gently, Lydia kissed Victoria's forehead and tried to slip away but Victoria opened her eyes.

'G'morning mummy' she said sleepily. 

'Hi baby' said Lydia, reaching over to the other side of the bed and grabbing Flopsy, handing the rabbit to her daughter 'I was going to go see what I could find for breakfast, want to join me?'

'Sure' she wrapped her small arms around Lydia's neck and clung to her tightly like a koala. Lydia held her close as they walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Victoria wriggled out of her mothers grasp and sat on one of the chair at the dining table. 'Mummy, who were those people last night?'

'Oh, umm' Lydia trailed off as she heard the heavy footsteps of her two older children coming downstairs 'I'll explain later, just don't mention it to Lex and Will, ok?' she nodded and stuck one of the rabbits ears in her mouth. Alex and Will stumbled into the kitchen a minuet later, both half asleep, and fell into chairs. 

'Mum, I'm hungry' said Will. Alex grunted in agreement, her head on the table. 

'Ok, you two had better wake up pretty quickly, your grandparents are coming over today' said Lydia, placing 2 bowls of cereal infront of her oldest kids and a piece of toast infront of Victoria. 

'Thanks mummy!' said Victoria. The other 2 children grunted in thanks and started eating slowly.

'Which grandparents?' asked Will

'Grandma and Grandpa' said Lydia, sitting down and eating a piece of toast too 'But we're going to visit your Gran and aunts soon'

'Cool' muttered Will, finishing his cereal

'But its only you and Lex that are going with them' said Lydia 'They're taking you to see your school, and buy the uniform'

'I still can't believe we have to wear uniform' muttered Alex 'Its so unfair'

'They changed the rules' shrugged Lydia. 'Tori and I are staying here and will supervise the movers bringing all the stuff inside. I'm deciding who get whats room, no complaints and if you don't like it, deal with it'

'Mum, I heard footsteps from the roof last night' said Alex 'Well, it sounded like the attic, but the attic is locked'

'It's the ghosts that live here' smirked Will. Alex's eyes widened and she stared at her mother, who laughed 

'There are no ghosts, its just the wind or old junk my parents left here. Don't stress' she checked her watch 'Quickly go get changed, they'll be here any second' Alex pushed her half finished bowl of cereal away and got up, followed by Will. Just as they'd disappeared at the top of the stairs, the doorbell rung. 

'Come on mummy!'exclaimed Victoria, hopping off her chair and running to the door, jumping to reach the handle. Lydia followed and opened the door for her. Victoria shot out the door and clung onto the first pair of legs she found, which was Delias. 'Grandma!' she said happily. 

'Hey Vicky' said Delia, reaching down and picking her up. 'You've grown since we last saw you' Victoria grinned happily and hugged her grandmother. Lydia hugged her father and led them inside. Victoria made grabby movements at Charles and he swung her into his arms. 

'Hey Vick, where are your brother and sister?' asked Charles, kissing his granddaughters nose

'Getting dressed' said Victoria 

'Want to go get them sweetheart, tell them to hurry up?' asked Lydia. Victoria nodded and as soon as Charles had put her down, she ran upstairs. Lydia looked at her parents and sighed 'We discovered something last night'

'What?' asked Delia 

'Tori can see the Maitlands' she said with a sigh 'And I think that Lex and Will can to, since they said they could hear footsteps in the attic last night'

'Have you told them?' asked Charles 'About the history of this house?'

'No' said Lydia 'Lex and Will might've figured it out, but I haven't told them'

'You should' said Delia 'Especially since Tori probably can't keep the secret' Lydia reluctantly nodded. 

'I'll do it once you guys leave, we'll see how this goes down' there were footsteps and Alex ran downstairs wearing a pair of black leggings with a fox jumper and white high-tops. Will had Victoria on his back and he was wearing blue jeans, sneakers and a red jumper. Victoria was giggling happily as her brother ran downstairs. 

'Hey Grandma, Grandpa' said Alex, hugging Delia and Charles. Lydia grabbed Victoria off her sons back and swung her onto her hip. 

'You guys ready to head out?' asked Delia, hugging Will tightly. They nodded 'We'll be back sometime Lydia, have a good day.'

'Bye guys' Lydia kissed her children on the head and hugged her parents 'Be good please?'

'Yes mum' they groaned, before dragging their grandparents out the door. 

'Have a good day sweetheart' called Charles, as he shut the door behind them. Lydia turned to Victoria. 

'Tori, want to go see the people we saw last night?' asked Lydia. Victoria nodded and they set off upstairs. When they reached the attic, Lydia put Victoria down and gently knocked on the door. 

'Come in Lydia' called Barbara's voice. Lydia opened the door and led Victoria inside. 'Hey sweetheart, how are you?' asked Barbara, putting the book she was reading to the side. 

'Hey Barb' said Lydia, picking Victoria up again and handing her Flopsy 'Can you wake Adam up?' Barbara laughed and shook her husband awake. Adam sleepily sat up and waved at Lydia.

'Whats up?' asked Barbara. Lydia sat down on one of the many beanbags she'd put in the attic as a teenager and set her daughter on her lap. 

'Ahh, well, I figured we'd introduce you to Victoria' said Lydia, bouncing the 3 year old slightly. 'Tori, this is Barbara and Adam, can you say hi?'

'Hi' said Victoria shyly, waving at the Maitlands. 

'Hi Victoria' said Barbara kindly. Victoria smiled and hopped off Lydia's lap, walking over to Adam and Barbara. 

'This is Flopsy' she said, showing them her stuffed bunny 'My daddy gave me him when I was a baby. But daddy's out fighting bad people, he's a super hero.' she cocked her head to the side to look at Barbara 'You look a bit like him'

'Tori bear, we should tell you something' said Lydia. She got up and sat next to Barbara, pulling Victoria onto her lap. 'So, you know how daddy has 3 older sisters?'

'Yeah, one who is above the clouds and aunty Sam and aunty Hannah' said Victoria nodding 

'Well, Barbara is daddy's older sister' said Lydia. Victoria looked at Barbara curiously 

'So daddy has four older sisters?' asked Victoria 

'No baby, Barbara's his oldest sister' said Lydia.  Victoria scrunched up her face in confusion.

'But you said she was above the clouds... that she was dead, like Grandma Emily' said Victoria, looking between Barbara and Lydia. Lydia ran a hand through her hair and looked at Victoria 

'She is dead, but she's a ghost' said Lydia. Wondering if the three year olds mind could comprehend the fact that she was meeting her dead aunt and uncle. 

'Wait... you're a ghost?' asked Victoria after a moment, looking at Barbara and Adam 'Both of you?'

'Yup' said Barbara, linking her hand with Adams. 

'Thats so cool!' said Victoria, she climbed off Lydia's lap and walked over to stand infront of Adam. 'So who are you? I know your name is Adam'

'I'm Barbara's husband, so technically your uncle' said Adam. 

'My uncle...' Victoria looked over at Lydia with a huge grin on her face 'Mummy, I have another auntie and uncle'

'Yes you do baby, yes you do'