confusifying | wicked | book 3/3

Elphie

This is insane.
Bringing Nessa back felt so much different, I've not seen my mother in twenty years.
Nessa passed away at the age of eighteen, when I brought her back she stopped ageing externally.
Will mother be the same?
We're outside of the lounge doors now, we came back to munchkin land to introduce our Mother to everyone, Nessas barley spoken and Mother is persistent on pushing her chair.
Nessa hasn't complained but I know it's irritating her.

I open the doors, everyone stares bewildered at us, then Albert jumps up.
"Melena!" He cries, rushing towards us.
Glinda gasps at her name.
Mother and Albert hold each other tightly and I march over to Glinda and the rest.
"Surprise." I say flatly, "Nessa did something."
Nessa scowls at me, then looks embarrassingly at Boc.
"I mispronounced another spell," she says on the verge of tears "Melena was brought back to life,"
Boc bursts out into laughter Nessa looks shocked and mouths has he gone mad? to me.
"Nothing is ever normal with us, is it?" Boc smiles, Fiyero moves past him on the sofa and stands up to hold my hands.

"Elphaba," I hear our mother call, "who are all these people?"
I point to Glinda and Boc and assign there names to there faces, then I pull Fiyero close to my chest.
"And this" I say sighing deeply "this is my husband."
Mother looks so happy, then the face drops, she hastily scrambles out of Alberts arms.
"Husband..." she mumbles "Frexpar, where's Frexpar?"
Nessa stares up at me, willing me to tell her so she doesn't have to.
"He passed away four years ago, in his sleep."
Mother screams and buries her head into Alberts arms.
He holds her tightly and sways slowly.
"No, I'm okay, I'm okay." She says suddenly, whipping her head back up, she aims a pleasant smile towards Nessa who, returns it limply.

Mother saunters around the lounge for a while until she beckons me out into the hallway, I follow as obliged.
"Something wrong mum?" I ask glancing swiftly back into the lounge to check that Nessa is alright.
"Is my room still upstairs, has anything changed?"
I shake my head,
"Not really, but me and Fiyero sleep there now, But this massive house definitely has room for you." I reply cheerfully.
Mother looks up the giant staircase,
"Childhood room?" She asks dazedly "did it change."
"I'll show you." I say calmly, walking carefully up the stairs.
Mother following excitedly behind.

We make it to the top of the stairs and I carefully open my childhood rooms door.
Mother stares in amazement and sorrow.
I've replaced some of my pictures on my wall, incase I'm ever feeling nostalgic and want to come in and look.
Mother walks into the middle of the floor and drops to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
I crouch down beside and place a hand on her back.
"Oh Elphaba, you shouldn't have to be seeing me like this." Mother sniffs "I'm supposed to look after you."
She looks around her, at all the history is the room.
"What's that?" She quizzes pointed at the aged painting above Nessas old bed.
"Frex had it painted there for Nessa to look at, because she has to lie on her back." I say slowly, hoping mother won't start crying again.
Instead she sighs and brings her eyes over to my half of the room.
"Pictures," she mumbles, crawling over to my wall.
I venture over myself.
Barley any of them have me in them, mostly Nessa and a few of us both.

"Your both so beautiful." Mother whimpers "I can't believe I missed all of this."
She gently strokes the pictures with a delicate touch.
Tears roll down her cheeks.
"She looks so much like you, Nessa does." I whisper softly "she doesn't care to hear it but she does."
I glance past my mother and stare at the pictures myself.
I hope Nessas okay downstairs, I'm sure Albert will look after her.
"Elphaba," Mother whispers softly "thank you for showing me these."
I put my arm around her shoulders, Mother pulls me in close.
For the first time in twenty years, I've been hugged by my mother.
I don't ever want her to leg me go.
Mother reaches over and points at a photograph of Nessa that I believe was taken by me.
Nessa is sat elegantly on her chair, covered in a thick blanket, reading one of my favourite books as a child.
"My baby," mother whispers "is she in pain?"
I shake my head.
"No, Nessa can't feel them but she isn't in any sort of pain." I say feeling knowledgeable.
"The world hasn't been kind to the both of you, I'm so sorry." Mother mumbles, sad again.

We both sit in silence, staring at the pictures on my wall.
Until I finally break the silence.
"Mother, I think you and Nessa should spend some time alone together." I say, smiling at her.
"I want nothing less," mother agrees, grinning back at me. "Your so clever Elphaba, I always knew you would be."
I blush, my mother just complemented me, I feel so good about myself that I almost forget everything for a brief moment.
"And my darling Nessarose, a principal." Mother says beaming brightly at me "I couldn't be happier."
There's laughter echoing from downstairs, mother and I both stare at each other and smile brightly.
We venture back into the lounge to see what's happening.
Fiyero is stood in the middle of the room, holding a rusty bucket, only the bottom of the bucket in on the floor.
He holds the bucket to his face and stares at us through it, a bewildered look upon his face.
"What in Oz?" I chuckle.
Fiyero places the buck onto the floor,
"It's your sisters fault!" He cries.
Glinda roars with laughter and places a hand on Nessas shoulder, Albert and Boc share a doubtful look.
"Don't drag Nessa into this!" Glinda exclaims "you used the dodgy bucket."
Fiyero folds his hands up dramatically and raises his chin to the sky.
"In my defence, they both looked dodgy." He whines.
Nessa smiles merrily and shakes her head playfully at Fiyero.
"All I said was that you should use a bucket to move the vegetables, I didn't tell you to not try it out first," she says chuckling softly to herself.
Mother puts a hand around my waist and whispers the word.
Family
To no one in particular.
Yes, this is my family and I wouldn't trade it for anything.