Everything Upside Down

T W E N T Y-S I X: Watermelon and Sparkles

It's them.
It's them.
Energy rushes through me and I hop out of my bed onto my feet. Immediately, my legs wobble wildly and the ground comes at me. Four arms reach out and I grip them tightly. When I look up I see both Fitz and Keefe watching me with worried eyebrows.
"Foster, you good?" Keefe cracked lips smirk and I want to push him away but I fear I'll fall again.
"I fine." I answer, brushing the hair out of my face with one hand.
Fitz grins, "C'mon, get back to the bed."
I let them help me to the bed and pull the covers to my chin, just looking at them. I can't believe. 14 years. In my memories at least.
"Uh, you good there Sophie?" Biana asks, sitting at the foot of my bed and rubbing her lipgloss together.
I nod meekly and find myself wordless again. Luckily I don't need to talk. Marella starts first, "I can't believe we haven't seen you for like, weeks. I mean, you look amazing! I heard you even faded again when Keefe leaped with you. Oof-"
Biana elbows Marella and the blonde girl gives me a smile. "You can't even tell."
The rest of them sit around the edges and watch me. I would normally hate the silent attention, but it's just so good to see them again.
I'm not sure how long we stay like that. A few minutes at least. We make a little conversation after that, but mostly I'm just exhausted. Keefe waves a hand at my invisible emotions and pulls the group to the door, demanding we let me sleep.
For the first time in what feels like forever, I sleep. I mean I really sleep. Not some nightmare filled, sweaty, three hour horror trip. Like real, dreamless, peaceful sleep.
The road to recovery is much quicker than I expected. Fitz and Alden help strengthen my mind form the side effects of the elixir. I still had the memories Mr. Forkle gave me, but they felt more like dreams at this point. He doesn't visit me for a while, but I know he'll be there when I'm ready. Elwin clears me physically within a couple days. And Sandor definitely helps with the physical therapy afterwards to keep my limbs strong after fading. And the Council even gifts em some of the old, banned Pyrokinesis books to work on my ability. Linh has been even more helpful in that area too. Most importantly though, Grady and Edaline help me through it all. Finally, after a whole month of running laps and daily check ups and Telepathy excerises, I'm finally fully cleared.
I leap back from the Healing Center with Grady. As soon as we step out of the light, something feels off. The house is quiet and the air is bland. I know it sounds strange, but I was at least expecting a plate of mallowmelt. I look back to Grady and my suspicions are confirmed as he tries to hide his grin.
I pull my hand away from him and cross my arms stubbornly, "What is going on?"
He clamps a hand over his mouth but I can still hear his high pitched goggles. "N-Nothinggg..."
He sounds so much like a child it almost makes me laugh. Finally Grady composes himself and winks at me. "You should check outside."
I sprint down the stairs not bothering to wait for him. Pushing open the doors I stumble on to the front of Havenfield.
It's glowing.
The fences surrounding the animal pens around covered in soft fairy lights. More lights are streamed around the nearby trees including Calla. Long picnic tables cover the grass adorned with red and white checkered cloth. Plates of dripping watermelons, bowls of Mac and cheese, paper plates and napkins.
It is so...
Human.
Everyone is there with their parents, laughing and running towards me with open arms.
"Surprise!" They yell.
I'm squished with hugs and for a second I think that maybe Elwin will have to come back. Sucking in deep breaths, I regain my usual heartbeat. Keefe clamps a hand on my shoulder, "Foster?"
I nod and grin, making my way towards the tables. I shocked with image of Della using a paper napkin to shoo a fly away, her smile widening when she sees me.
I take a seat in the middle and my friends fan around me. Reaching for a watermelon slice, I nibble at it and look around at them. "What is this for?"
Biana rolls her eyes and takes a bite of her Mac and cheese, "You, silly. We wanted to copy the human 'picnics'. But we're not done yet."
Her mischievous grin makes my stomach do loop de loops and I shove another bite of watermelon down, wiping at the juice with my sleeve.
Grady comes to join us later and we eat until the sun sets. Just as soon as the sky turns dark, I'm pulled away once more. The whole group makes their way over to a small wooden stand near the cliff edge.
"What?" I ask nervously.
"We're not going to ruin the fun." Keefe winks.
I shake my head and laugh. The plan comes apparent once we get closer and I gape at what I see.
"How did you even?"
Keefe waggles his eyebrows, "I have my ways."
I touch the red and white striped base of one of the fireworks gently, "Wow. Just, wow."
"I've never seen one before." Linh says dreamily.
Excitement bubbles up inside me to share this with them. I look around, "Yeah, where's a lighter?"
They exchange glances and I realize what they mean. "Are you sure?"
Biana nods and twirls her hair, "We want to see."
They don't even flinch as a light orange flame burst from my index finger. I run the flame along the strings of the fireworks and let the fire dissipate as I step away. We all run a backwards with our eyes to the sky and fall to the grass.
For a moment there is silence.
A loud boom. The stars are sparkled with reds, blues, greens, yellows. Another pops up and an Alicorn of purple glitter races across the sky. I laugh but it's lost in the explosion of the fireworks.
I look down for another second and I'm choked up by their expressions. They're amazed. They're happy. I am too. Finally, it feels like it took forever. I can't take back what happened, what I manifested, but I'll always have them. I'll never take that sort back.
I turn back and watch the sky burst open with sparkles.