Chapter 5 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

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Everyone looks towards Prelude in stunned silence

The words "Forrest is your brother"  leaves his lips for the second time, but they are a lot quieter this time.  "Your Mother is also his Mother."

I'm watching Pine and Parsley, their mouths open and their faces twist with confusion, I glance at Fern and she just smiles at me - Preludes bombshell doesn't seem to be affecting her at all - like she already knows.  Suddenly quite a few things about Ferns behavior are starting to make sense to me, the way she reacted to Prelude and Storm, she must have already known who they were, but how when nobody else seems to know.

I am stood there, like everyone else, also stunned - if Forrest is Storms brother, that must mean Fern is his Sister - oh fudge!!  How can any of them not have known?  My mind wanders away from my own thoughts when I'm distracted suddenly by something quite bright catching my eye behind my Uncle and Cousin.

It's unmistakable, the transparent figure that I am only ever used to seeing at home.  I am used to seeing him but still I rub my eyes to make sure that I'm not seeing things, I've never known him to  venture outside of the house before.  "The Man"  he is standing there like everyone else, but his eyes are fixed on Storm.  What is he even doing here?  Who is he anyway?!  His identity is seriously beginning to bug me.  Who is he haunting - Me?  It must be me he's following, I seem to be the only one who can see him, that is strange enough on it's own -  but why me and why would he be here right now?   This is all getting a little too much for my stupid brain to handle.  He looks up then and sees me watching him - he starts pointing frantically at Storm, then he holds his side for a second before pointing at Storm again - for a moment I feel like he's trying to tell me something, but I can't imagine what.

I'm distracted away from the ghostly figure again by Storm shouting.

"MY BROTHER!!  Now I know you'll say anything!!"  Storm broke the silence, he throws his head back and starts laughing almost hysterically  "MY BROTHER ... Don't make me laugh!!!"

"It true, Forrest, Pine, Jade and Fern are also your Mothers children."

"NO!!  I don't believe you ..... Mom would have told us ..... You would have told us!!"

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you - it was complicated, Please Storm - look at him for Berry's sake!!  His hair - his eyes - his skin colour - can't you see they are exactly the same as your Mothers - Please Storm give me the knife!!"  Prelude is now begging him, Storm has stopped laughing now and is just staring blankly down at Forrest still with the knife pinned to his throat.

Prelude grabs Parsley by the arm and shoves him forward towards Storm "Look at your brother - look at the colour of his skin!!"  I can hear the anger starting to creep back into Preludes voice again.  I am quite irritated by this, being colourblind looking for me doesn't mean a thing, I can't see colour, so I can't see what they see, all I can do is stand watching as the realization starts to set into their faces.

Storm looks from Forrest to Parsley, then back to Forrest again where his gaze rests for ages before he speaks again  "Fudge!!"  I heard him say before he pulls Forrest roughly into a sitting position.  "What is your Mothers name?!"  Storm snaps at Forrest

"Manderine"  he answers back quickly, I can hear the fear in his voice

"Your Lying!!!"  Storm yells at him  "Where is she, your Mother?"

"I don't know ........ I haven't seen her since I was little ......."  he answered nervously, Storm is shouting at him demanding to know why?  "I don't know .... she just walked out on us ..... after Jade and Fern were born .... she just vanished ..... we haven't seen her since."

Suddenly Storm turned to glare quite nastily at Fern, like the mention of her name has jogged his memory making him remember something.  The knife is now away from Forrest and I start to become nervous as he now is pointing it in Ferns direction. 


"You!!!"  he snarls at Fern as he steps towards her.  I instinctively grab her pulling her backwards towards me and away from Storm.  I didn't like the look in his eyes and the way that knife is coming closer to Fern.  He wouldn't - would he?  Storm looked at me for a moment then laughed "Don't stress Tap."  he said as he put his arm down by his side so the knife is no longer pointed at Fern.  "What were you trying to tell me earlier Fern when you said I was colourblind and damn stupid??"

"Your Dad is telling the truth Storm - you and Parsley are our brothers - all of mine and Forrest's colour comes from our Mother,  I thought you would be able to see it."  Storm didn't say anything he just blankly stared at Fern  "Unlike Forrest, I do know where she is - OUR Mother is in that prison where she has been for the past 16 years."  she pointed to the big tall building that is next to the bowling alley.  I can see Forrest and Pine both are staring at their Sister they are totally shocked and confused by what they are hearing.

"I've seen the three of you going in to visit her, I've been in to see her myself, she told me about you and Parsley, and she gave me this ......."  everyone watches as Fern reaches up for the heart shaped locket that is hanging around her neck.  She opens it up then pulls out what looks like a small square of paper at first which she starts to unfold - it's a photograph - which she held out to Storm.  He seemed to hesitate at first, before he snatches the photograph out of Ferns hand, he looks down at it and his eyes widened  "And she gave me this."  she held up her left arm, I'm confused at first but notice Storm staring at the bracelet on her wrist, a leather studded bracelet with a metal skull on it.

"Storm that's Mom's bracelet"  Parsley said.

"Give me the knife Storm."  Prelude snapped holding out his hand, Storm didn't protest, he just hands it over and looks at his Dad for a moment before he looks back to the photograph that he still has in his hand.

I can now see its a picture of a woman with her arms around Storm and Parsley, I presume its a picture of their Mother, finally I get a quick glimpse of my Aunt Manderine's face.

"Has Mom really faded people?"  Storm asks his Dad, but he doesn't look up from the photograph that he is staring at.  Prelude answers "Yes quite a few, but we will talk about that later."

As Fern throws her arms around me the relief washes over me knowing that it's over, the knife is safely in Preludes possession and Storm didn't do anything stupid and nobody got hurt.

"Tap now can we get out of here!?  I need to talk to you"  Fern starts whispering in my ear

Suddenly we are wrenched apart.

"Don't think this changes anything Orchid, I meant every word I said earlier."  Forrest pokes me hard in the chest  "She is green, you are not - keep away from my sister!!"  Forrest and Pine are standing there together scowling at me.

I can't believe they are going to carry on with this!!

"You can both stick your no colour mixing rubbish!!!!"  Fern flew at her two brothers  "Why are you doing this anyway ..... because Dad said so??!!"  she sounded really angry   "I hate him .... Mom didn't just walk out on us like Dad told us .... he lied to us!!"  Fern said  "He has known where she was all the time, he also knew about Storm and Parsley.  He refused to bring us in to see her, he told her that he would never tell us where she is."

"WHAT?!"  Pine is now looking at Fern  "He KNEW where Mom was??!!".   It is quite obvious from the conversation that is going on that Pine and Forrest, and I presume Jade too, have had no idea where their Mother has been and have thought for years that she just abandoned them.  That is what their father has always told them, he hid the truth from them.  Fern starts explaining to them that she had wanted to find her Mother, and knew their Father would be angry if he found out,  so she started to sneakily search online.   She didn't think she would be able to find her, but she tracked her down quite easily because of newspaper articles she had found from around the time that she was caught for her crimes and sent to prison  ........... I stand listening to what she's saying for a while before my mind is suddenly taken elsewhere.

The weirdest feeling suddenly passes over me, then like magic "The Man" starts to cloud my vision and is appearing right in front of my eyes, I even suspect that he has just passed straight through me to get my attention.  We are inches apart and I automatically put out my hand to try and touch him, something I've always wanted to do but have never had the guts to get close enough to try before.  I watch my hand as it just passes though the body of the ghost, I turn my hand over and I can't feel a thing.  I suddenly hear a strange laughter and look up and see that he is laughing at me - I can actually hear him laughing.

 This is not the first time I've seen him laughing at me, like when he is in my room watching me get beaten playing video games, I've seen him laughing at me, just the actions but never the sound.  Right now I can hear his laughter.  He stops laughing suddenly and points at Storm  "Do something before it's too late, he needs help!!."  then he just starts to fade away in front of my eyes until he is no longer visibly there.

I stand there for a moment in shock - "The Man" he just spoke to me - or did I just imagine that he spoke to me.  I start to question if he was even there at all. Have I finally gone totally insane.

I look around, thankfully nobody is paying any attention to me.  Prelude is talking to what looks like a captive audience, Fern, Parsley, Forrest and Pine are all stood around him listening to what he is telling them,  Storm has moved and is standing quite a distance away from them, he is still just staring down at the photograph.

That's when "The Man's" words finally connect with my brain,  "Do something before it's too late, he needs help!!.  when I notice Storm is not standing completely still, he's actually rocking, swaying, somehow he doesn't look stable and he's holding his side - there is something wrong with him.   I start to walk towards him, noticing just how much blood is on his clothes now, a lot more than there was before - fudge - I'd completely forgotten that Forrest had cut him.

I quickly glance towards Prelude who is still deep in conversation, I'm not even sure if he knows that Storm was cut or has even noticed the blood on his clothes in all the commotion.  I glance back at Storm who has now dropped the photo, I watched it leave his fingers and can see it floating down to the ground, his hands go up and are now holding his head and he's swaying like a drunk.

"STORM!!"  I shout as I start to ran towards him,   I can see him going, but am not quick enough, before I reach him I watch him crumple into a heap as he falls to the floor.  It seems for a moment like everything went into slow motion, from the moment the photograph left his hands to now as I watch his body hit the floor, I get this really horrible feeling that this is serious, something is horribly wrong.

"PRELUDE HELP!!"  My shouting alerts Prelude who can see instantly that Storm has collapsed, he ran towards us and threw himself down onto the floor by Storm grabbing his wrist I think to try and find his pulse.   "Forrest cut him before he got the knife off him."  I told him as we both lean over him.  I suddenly become very scared looking at him lay there I can not even see that he is breathing.

Prelude is frantically repeating his name and pulling Storms clothes up so he can see where the blood is coming from.  The minute he peels back his soggy Tshirt, my stomach turns, I wanted to be sick ..... I am literally looking at blood and guts.  I stay looking at the wound for a few seconds more .....  then I am sick, I can not hold it in and have to turn away, on my hands and knees I'm throwing up on the grass.  There is a really deep cut running from his chest right down to the belt of his jeans.    At first when Forrest swiped at Storm, I thought the knife had missed him, then I saw the slice in his jacket and the blood on his Tshirt, but it was only a small patch of blood at first and he didn't act like he was in any or a lot of pain other than I saw him wince once.  That cut must have and must be hurting like hell!!   How had that happened?  I only expected a small scratch, not this.

"STORM NO!!!"  I can hear Prelude behind me screaming, I can hear the crack in his voice, I can tell he's starting to cry, then I can hear he's on his phone "Mango I need help ......"  My head starts swimming as I'm listening to Prelude getting a little hysterical trying to talk to my Dad while the contents of my stomach are still emptying themselves out onto the grass.    

I hear his phone snap shut as I'm scrambling to my feet wiping my mouth.  I turn and see him scooping Storm up off the grass he shouts me and Parsley as he starts running with Storms limp body in his arms, towards the road.  We both follow him on foot in the direction of the hospital, which thankfully is not too far away.

My Dad is stood waiting outside the hospital main entrance for us when we arrive.  He has a trolley waiting inside the door which Prelude lay Storm onto.  I watch Dad's face as he lifts up Storms clothes to look at the cut, he winced at the sight of it then sprung into action, he told Prelude to help him push the trolley and they start running him down the corridor, Dad holding Storms wrist I presume looking for a pulse and is shouting passing hospital staff who take over and help push the trolley, he shouted at one nurse to page Dr Muffin to theatre three.  Me and Parsley who can do nothing but trail behind helplessly exchange a quick glance - Dr Muffin is my Grandfather who is one of the hospitals top surgeons, and they are taking Storm into theatre - is it really that bad??

"You lot need to wait here."  Dad said as he disappears through the double metal doors with Storm and the trolley.  A few minutes later my Grandfather comes streaking down the corridor and also disappears through the same doors without even looking in our direction.  I sat down on one of the chairs, Parsley sits down beside me without saying anything as we watch Prelude pacing up and down the corridor outside the door.

I am very surprised when my Dad came back out through the doors a few minutes later looking very stressed, his reappearance sent Prelude into a tizzy.  "Please No!! - What's happening - Mango why are you not in there?"  Prelude is starting to panic quite badly, I can imagine what he might be thinking, because I am thinking exactly the same.

"I can't stay in there with him, he's my nephew, I'm sorry it's the hospital rules - you know I would be in there if I could be, but don't worry ........ my Dad's in there with him."  he looks over at me and Parsley quickly as he has a hold of Preludes arm and seems to be pulling him away from us down the corridor.  One thing struck me straight away, he had said don't worry - then he had hesitated - he had not said that Storm was going to be okay.

They stop a distance away further down the corridor out of our earshot and start talking, Dad is doing most of the talking, I watch Prelude, his legs seem to buckle, he looks panicked and upset, Dad is holding onto him as I watch my Uncle breakdown.

"Storm, he's fading isn't he!!"  Parsley said suddenly  "I can feel it!!"  I turn to look at Parsley, his gaze is transfixed on the wall opposite, tears are streaming down his face.  "I can feel him fading"  I laughed thinking that was a funny thing for him to say.

I told Parsley not to be stupid and that Storm is going to be fine.  I heard myself say it but I am not so sure, I can still see the awful wound in my head, seeing the look on my Dads face and watching Prelude breaking down further along the corridor - I get the feeling Dad has given him some bad news about the condition that Storm is in.

I kept watching Dad and Prelude, after a while Prelude pulls himself together and they make their way back to where me and Parsley are sitting.  I wander why they always have to treat us like little children, they have no intention of telling us what is going on, or how bad Storms injuries are, and I know if I ask they are just going to fob us off with, he'll be fine, a little like what I've just done with Parsley.

"Who did this Prelude?"  Dad asked him suddenly

Prelude just stood there looking at him for what seemed like ages  "This is where you get to say - I told you so .... it was one of the Freeze kids."  he said finally, I watch my Dad's face switch to an angry expression as Prelude carries on talking  "Storm and Tapestry sneaked out when my back was turned even though they were told not to!!  They went off to meet Fern, when I caught up with them I thought I was going to witness a fading ...." 

Dad looked over at me then and instantly I can see him starting to stress.  I think it is the first time he's looking at me properly since we arrived at the hospital, he wouldn't have known that I was with Storm when his injuries happened.  "Oh Berry!!  What has happened to you?"  he said coming towards me quickly, pulling me up off the chair and starts fussing, in his usual manner, inspecting my neck and face.

"Why didn't you tell me you've been hurt too - This is going to need stitches - how did this happen? - are you cut anywhere else?"  he didn't even give me a chance to answer before taking me by my arm and is leading me down the corridor saying he needed to sort out the cut on my neck.

"In here."  he says and I follow him into one of the side rooms  "Jump up."  he said patting the examination couch as he walks past it on his way to washing his hands.  I watched as he starts picking things up out of tubs and ripping packets, he put everything into a metal tray and places it down on the side of the couch next to me.  He stood back just looking at me  "Tap how did this happen?  I want to know how both you and Storm got cut!!"   

I start to explain to him everything that had happened the best I could remember, he looks pretty alarmed when I tell him about Forrest holding the knife to my throat a few times before Storm distracted him away from me and how Storm had got hurt.  He asked me if I had been hurt anywhere else and even after I told him I hadn't, he started checking me over like he couldn't believe me until he had seen for himself that I am okay.

He started to clean the blood off my neck   "Look that way"  he said pointing towards the door as he picked up a needle, "This might hurt a little" he said seconds before it actually did, not once but quite a few times I felt the needle go into my neck.  He told me it would take a few minutes for my neck to go numb then  he starts cleaning my face.  I tried to stop him, but he ignored me, he is making me feel like a messy child having food cleaned off my face and I didn't understand at first why he is doing it.  "You are going to need a few stitches in you face too."  I frowned at him, then I remembered Forrest running the knife down my face but I didn't realize he had actually cut me  "Was that the knife too?"

He stood there wide eyed as I told him Forrest had run the knife down my face saying he was going to scar it as a reminder so I wouldn't forget his warning to keep away from Fern.  Dad dropped the metal tray that he had in his hand, it made me jump as it crashed onto the tiled floor, I can tell he is shocked by the look on his face.

He swore as he starts to pick everything up off the floor, putting it all back into the metal tray that he then threw into the sink, I thought a little too forcefully.  He washed his hands again and started getting more stuff out of the tubs.  He put the new tray down on the couch "I'll get your neck stitched then I'll sort out your face, we really ought to be getting back to Prelude."  He carried on doing what he was doing in silence at first, once he finished on my neck he stood looking at my face.  "You are lucky that's just a scratch, its not going to leave a scar."

"The baby?"  I ask suddenly remembering, I can't believe that she has totally slipped my mind and this is the first time I'd even thought about her since me and Storm sneaked out of the house earlier.

"Cotton is fine, she's in the baby unit, I'll take you to see her quickly on the way back."  he smiled at me before he carries on stitching my face  "She's where you spent the first 6 months of your life, but she will probably only be there for a week or two as a precaution."  he started laughing  "You know she is exactly like you!!"  I suddenly felt very sick for a moment, thinking he is saying that she is going to be stupid like me and have all of my problems, but he wasn't, he was talking about her colour and looks.  "She's all orange with colourless eyes, your Grandmother thinks she looks exactly like you did when you was a baby."

He took a step back and frowned at me for a moment  "You haven't taken your medication again today have you!!"  I shook my head,  I can't even deny it, because he can always tell when I haven't taken it.  I expected him to shout at me like he normally does, but he didn't.   "Come on jump down, we are done, I'll take you to see your sister quickly."

I followed him down a few corridors and we went up a flight of stairs, I am really surprised when we walked around one corner into a dead end corridor and we were faced with a wall of glass, inside I can see rows of cots some with babies in them.

Some of the babies look normal, but others are quite disturbing, tiny babies in glass bubbles with tubes and wires everywhere.  I guess I must have been like one of those babies once. I am too busy looking at all the sick babies that I didn't notice my Mother, at first,  in a hospital gown standing at the side of the room feeding my little sister.  I'm very relieved to see that Cotton looks perfectly normal and is not one of those sick looking ones covered with tubes and wires, which is how I expected her to be.  "Stay here Tap I need to have a quick word with your Mother."   He quickly disappears around the corner and a few seconds later he's walking through the baby room, I watch him as he takes the baby off my Mother and he hands her to the nurse then points in my directions.

The nurse brought the baby up to the window for a few minutes so that I can look at her.  She looks like a normal healthy baby to me, I am just relieved that there is nothing wrong with her.  This feels awkward staring at a baby through a glass window, I look up at the nurse who smiles at me before she turns away and takes Cotton placing her carefully into one of the cribs.

My parents are still talking and I see my Mother quickly look up at me a worried look on her face, then she looks back at Dad and falls into his arms as she starts to cry.  I am guessing he has just told her about Storm.

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that Mom wouldn't stay where she is sitting up in the  maternity ward alone while she is waiting for news about Storm.   She came with me and Dad, making the journey back down to the threatre waiting area to wait with the rest of us.  I watch her as she is hugging Prelude, obviously the argument from the other night is all forgotten.  Affair and Mulberry have also arrived now and are sat talking to Parsley.  I just sit silently with my head resting against the wall behind me and just watch everyone.

I notice a nurse walking up the corridor towards us with a police officer, I cringe when I recognize him as one of the officers who had dragged me and Fern out of the dive bar, I'm relieved that he doesn't look in my direction.  The nurse points towards Prelude and Dad who have their heads together again a little way down the corridor.  The nurse wanders away after exchanging a sympathetic smile with my Dad, and the police officer stands talking to my Uncle and Dad for ages.  I watch as Prelude pulls the knife out of his pocket and drops it into a plastic bag that the officer is holding open for him, I had completely forgotten that he has the knife still.

Dad walks a little way down the corridor with the police officer and they carry on talking for a while before they shake hands then the Police officer walks off up the corridor talking on his walkie talkie.   Oh boy - this suddenly looks all too serious - I guess Forrest is going to be in some trouble now!!  I start to wander about Storms part in all of this, he might also be getting into some trouble too.

Most of us are now sitting in silence and getting impatient just waiting, me for one I don't know what to say to anyone, I'm not really in the mood to make idol conversation, so I stay silent like everyone else and watch Prelude who is pacing up and down constantly.  I haven't taken my medication so my mind keeps wandering off anyway, which passes the time away for me.

After what seemed like hours of waiting, finally the theatre doors opened and a theatre nurse sticks her head out into the corridor and calls my Dad who quickly got up and disappeared through the double doors into the theatre.  Everyone is now looking silently towards the door, waiting for my Dad to emerge with some news.

He must have been in there for a good five or ten minutes before he came out again, he just stood there in the corridor looking at all of us.

I really don't like the look on his face .................



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Chapter 4 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

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I woke up in the morning and the first thing on my mind is the baby.  I jump out of bed quickly planning to see if there has been any news from the hospital.  I have got up a little too quickly and have to sit back down on my bed while I wait for the dizziness to stop.  My head feels really heavy and it's banging away reminding me that I was a little drunk last night and I'm probably going to pay for it today with a hangover.  I also remember my awful ride home in the police car and all the drama that went with it - I still need answers to why that happened and I'm determined to get those answers today.

I walk into the kitchen to find Uncle Prelude with Storm and Parsley, they have just finished eating breakfast and Prelude is clearing away their dishes.  Storm is a little annoyed and is arguing with his Dad who is pottering around the kitchen tidying up, while Parsley just sits silently watching them bickering, which is the normal scheme with the three of them.  Storm and Prelude always make me laugh, they are so alike it's scary and they bounce off each other constantly.  There is still no news from the hospital yet which irritates me straight away - just how long does it take to have a baby anyway?

I sat down at the table and Prelude dumps a bowl of cereal in front of me, I just look up at him a little gone out because he is giving me food.  "Eat it Tapestry or are you still a little GIT when it comes to eating?"  I pushed the bowl away from me, using both hand, pushing it out into the middle of the table, I wore a look of disgust on my face and didn't take my eyes off his face while I am doing it.  I must have looked like a defiant child, and I suppose I am, but food and me just don't get along, and there is no way he is going to get me to eat it.  Prelude stood looking at me for a moment then tutted and starts shaking his head as he picks up the bowl and starts to clear it away, making a point of doing it loudly.  Yes I'm still a git when it comes to food and I don't do breakfast, just the thought of it makes my stomach turn!! 

Storm and Parsley are both sat looking at me a little amused. I presume because of my behavior and probably the way their Dads reaction to it, I doubt very much they would have gotten away with doing the same thing Uncle Prelude can be very strict when he wants to be.  My cousins, even though they are twins they are poles apart in looks and personality.  Storm is the trouble maker, he is very much like a mini version of Uncle Prelude, his looks, attitude, personality and even his colour. Storm can be very mean and nasty, he's always quick to get into a fight and you definitely wouldn't want to be the one on the end of one of his punches, he is as hard as nails and he sometimes scares me even though he has always been alright with me, he is my friend as well as my cousin, he looks out for me and has gotten into many a fight because of me.

Parsley on the other hand is nothing like his brother, he is a good kid, very timid and shy, and couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag even if his life depended on it.  Every one loves Parsley because he is always kind and polite and never gets into any trouble, its always me and Storm who cause all the problems in our family.  Parsley doesn't have a mean bone in his body, and is over emotional he gets upset way too easily which really annoys his Dad, who is always calling him a wuss and really doesn't know where he gets it from or who he takes after.  He gets his skin colour from his Mom and he looks a lot like her apparently, but I wouldn't know, I can only imagine what she might look like as I've never seen her.

I like Parsley and we get on okay, but I tend to upset him with my mood swings, he can't cope with me, he can't take it when I rare at him or verbally attack him suddenly for no reason, he generally runs off in floods of tears, so he tends to avoid spending any time with me if he can help it.  He is another one in a long list of people who can't be bothered to put up with me or my problems.

My cousins are now as confused as I am, they don't understand any more than I do, why suddenly they have been dragged into this still unexplained situation, why the three of us have been singled out in particular from all the rest and are now it seems under house arrest.  I found it a little strange coming down this morning to find out that the three of them had spent the night here, my Grandparents have taken Mosaic and Coral to the hospital without me and we are stuck here with Prelude who is acting very strangely, even for him.

"I promised Mom I would go and see her today."  Parsley starts moaning quietly looking up at his Dad.  He must be more confused than me and Storm, we are used to stuff like this, we are always getting ourselves into trouble and at the moment it feels like we are in trouble for something.  Parsley doesn't get into any trouble, so why is he included into this?  I sit and try to think of anything that me and Storm have done together recently that might have caught up with us.

"Sorry Parsley, you are going to have to go another day, the three of you are going nowhere today!!"  he patted his son on the shoulder  "Don't worry I'll tell her it was my fault and why."  I couldn't help but laugh to myself - I'm glad at least he is going to tell someone why!!

"Stick this!!!!  If you can't explain what all this crap is about ...... then you can stick it!!"  Storm snaps at his Dad quite nastily  "I've made plans for today, I'm going out whether you like it or not ........ whatever Tap has dragged himself into - it's got nothing to do with me!!"  he said getting up out of his chair quite angrily.

"I'm sorry son but you are going NOWHERE, and if I have to knock you out to keep you in, then I will!!!"  Prelude looms over Storm, both of them staring at each other with their evil faces  "We need to wait for Mango to get home, then we will all sit down together and we will explain EVERYTHING to you then."  he says as he pushes Storm back down into his seat.

Storm after having a grumble turns his attention to me and is staring at me now a very strange look on his face.  "What's your problem?!"  I snapped at him because he is starting to get on my nerves continuously staring at me like that.  Storm ignored my question and carried on staring.  "Storm you are really beginning to hack me off!!!"

Parsley leaned towards me and said quietly "You know why Storm is so narked don't you Tapestry?"  I shook my head

"Shut your mouth Parsley before I fill it with my fist!!"

 "He's FINALLY got Honey to agree to go out with him, they are supposed to be going on a date today, and now he can't go!!"  Parsley starts sniggering then, Storm obviously didn't like it and he is cutting his eyes at his brother  "He's got it bad and has been hassling her for months on the quiet, but I guess you didn't know that?!"  Storm called him a big mouth then punched his leg, which really seemed to annoyed Parsley, I half expected him to run off crying but he didn't.   

"Oops!!  I'm sorry Storm - my tongue slipped, I forgot you didn't want Tapestry to know did you!"  he said sarcastically smirking at Storm  "Well it's about time somebody told him and all this rubbish needs sorting out!!"

"You are a prat Parsley!!"  Storm says quite nastily

 "No, you are the prat Storm!!  Honey is only gonna use you to try and get HIS attention  (he pointed in my direction which confused me)  "I think you even know it yourself!!"  Then he turned to me  "Honey is really upset Tap because you have got yourself a girlfriend and its not her!!  She's always thought you and her ........She's been waiting forever for you to ask her out!!"

"WHAT?!"  I said quickly not exactly sure that I'd heard his words correctly.  "Are you mad?!!  Honey waiting for me to ask her out! - No you've got it all wrong - she doesn't like me that way!!"

"See he's so stupid he doesn't even have a clue!!"  Storm snapped at Parsley

"She does Tap, we all know it - I don't know how you don't see it, or why she won't tell you, but she's been driving us all nuts because of her obsession with you for years!!"  I glance from Storm to Parsley trying to read the expressions on their faces, looking for signs that they are just having a laugh, that they are winding me up ..... but I can't see any, Storm is unusually quiet and looking deadly miserable and Parsley deadly serious.  My head is swimming, I'm sure they have got to have this all wrong - she doesn't like me romantically anymore than I don't like her that way.  Parsley points at Storm  "He's narked because she keeps knocking him back because of you, he likes her and she can't see past you.  He's been trying to hide it all from you because he thinks secretly you like her too and if you knew how she felt then you'd fall over yourself and ask her out and he wouldn't stand a chance.  Basically he's been trying to snatch her away before you get to her."

"Make me sound pathetic why don't you!!" Storm spoke to his brother quite nastily

"Well you are Storm!!!" Parsley snapped back at him  "Tapestry his latest brainstorm this morning is that you've found out he has a date with Honey today and whatever has been going on here since last night, you've caused it to sabotage their date."

I sat in silence for a moment while everything he has just said starts falling into place in my brain.  I then start to laugh hysterically looking at Storm which he didn't like very much, I couldn't help it, this has to be the funniest thing I've ever heard!!  How stupid is he - "Me sabotage your date ........ Oh Berry!!! ....... "  Im having to hold my stomach because its hurting from all the laughing that I'm doing, Storm and Parsley are both just watching me, I'm not sure they know what to think about me having hysterics. "Storm you are a prat - I am not the slightest bit interested in her romantically!!!"  I am finding it hard to speak through bouts of laughing - "She's my best friend and that's all she will ever be to me!!"   He is just sitting opposite me a blank expression on his face now, I'm not sure if it's disbelief or relief   "Honey is all yours .. you have been stressing for nothing!!"

I carried on laughing for ages, imagining Storm sneaking around behind my back trying to steal Honey away, when I didn't want her in the first place, but then I got to think about the other side of it - what they were saying about Honey and how she feels about me - I soon stopped laughing.

Prelude sits down on the empty chair next to mine and starts irritating me straight away because he's continuously drumming his fingers on the table top.  "The Freeze kids, besides Fern, have you come into contact with any of the other three?"  he asks suddenly looking at all three of us in turn.

"I had a fight with a couple of them yesterday dinner why?"  Storm answered, which was news to me, but then I did leg it out of school during the first lesson, so I was not going to know that he'd been fighting at dinnertime.

"Which ones and why?"  Prelude looked irritated

"Forrest and his brother, I don't know the other boys name."  Storm started sniggering  "I've crossed paths with their evil sister too, she has more mouth than both of her brothers."  I looked up quickly thinking he was calling Fern the evil sister.  I cut him a dirty look and was just about to have a go at him when he added  "Not Fern the dark haired one, she is a piece of work for a girl, she's actually quite a sexy bitch!!"

"DON'T EVEN GO THERE STORM - Tell me you haven't!!??"  Prelude looked really distressed for a moment until Storm said he hadn't touched her.  "Good we have enough problems with him and Fern"  he said pointing at me before he went quiet for a few minutes.

"Jade and Pine the other two are called"  Prelude said out of the blue, the three of us just sit and stare at him rubbing his head, he looks stressed out and he has a weird far away look in his eyes. Why would he know their names, I didn't even know their names, Fern has not really said a lot about them, so how does Prelude know them?.  "Why were you fighting with them Storm?"

"They were bullying Parsley and Strawberry for being mixed berries."  Prelude is now grilling Storm over everything that happened and everything that was said, he wants to know every little detail and especially if they picked out Parsley specifically for their bullying.  Storm explained that the Freeze kids had spent the whole of yesterday bullying every mixed berry that crossed their paths.  Not being in school yesterday I'd missed it all, I am yet to see Ferns twin sister and two older brothers, and I'm not sure I want to from what I have heard so far.

I'm sitting looking at Prelude in disbelief as he's telling all three of us that we are to keep well away from ALL FOUR of the Freeze kids, he looked at me when he said 'all four'.  He then went onto to say that I can forget about Fern being my girlfriend because its not happening!!  Straight away I jumped up and started to play my mouth at him,  I told him he has no right to tell me who I can and can't date, but he came straight back at me telling me my parents would be telling me exactly the same thing when they got back.  We are forbidden from having anything to do with them - the Freeze family are trouble and can be very dangerous.  He started to explain something about their father being around here yesterday threatening my Dad .......... but he didn't get to finish telling us because he was interrupted.

Preludes phone starts ringing, I look up hoping it might be Dad with some news, but I am a little disappointed when he answers his phone and it isn't him  "Manderine ............."  he glances at us quickly "I'm sorry!!!"  He pulled a face and looked at his watch  "Just hang on ...... SHUT UP woman and I'll explain!!"  he said as he looks over at us again a little uneasily then slipped out of the patio doors and into the garden where we can see him pacing up and down talking to his wife on the phone, but we can't hear him.

His wife, my Aunty Manderine, the mysterious Aunty that I've never seen, not even a photograph,  because she has always been in prison and my parents have never let any of us visit or have anything to do with her.  She is a taboo subject and is never really talked about either, so I don't really know anything about her other than she's married to my Uncle, she's Storm and Parsley's mother and she's spending the rest of her life in prison, but I'm not even sure I know why.  The only time I ever really hear her mentioned by any of our family is if I'm round at Preludes house, and even then it feels like they try to keep any mention of her to a minimum.  Storm and Parsley are both a little cagey over the subject of their Mother being in prison, they both hate it, but they do go to visit her regularly, unlike all of her niece's and nephew's, who are not allowed to set foot anywhere near the prison.

Storm and Parsley are nattering away to each other, my mind is away, wandering around in a world of it's own and I'm not really listening to anything that they are saying.  I'm incensed!!!  I don't care what Prelude or my parents say, I'm not listening to it, there is no way they are going to keep me away from Fern, there is no way!!  My phone starts to vibrate.  I take it out of my pocket to see the envelope flashing up on my screen.  A text ........ she's done it again hasn't she, I already know it's going to be Fern and she's forgotten I don't read them.  I passed my phone to Storm and asked him to read it for me.

"Meet me round the back of the bowling alley asap!!  Don't tell anyone you're meeting me and don't let anyone see you!!! xx Fern xx"  he read the text out load then looks up at me a little amused smirk on his face  "I'm coming with you, I want a word with your girlfriend, maybe she might know what the fudge all this is about ....... obviously it has something to do with the Freeze's!!"  he slid my phone back across the table towards me as he got up out of his chair.

"No Storm, you can't, we have to stay in!!"  Parsley starts moaning at him but Storm told him to shut up, and to keep his mouth shut when their Dad asks where we have gone.  Storm is like me, he doesn't listen and isn't scared to sneak off and defy his Dad, there was never any doubt that Parsley would stay and do as he's told.  While Parsley is constantly going on trying to talk us out of going, we are closely watching Prelude who is pacing around the garden still talking to Manderine.   We are waiting for an opportunity to bolt, Prelude keeps looking into the kitchen like he's keeping an eye on us, we wait for him to turn his back towards the glass.  The minute his back is turned we seize the opportunity to run, I follow Storm and we leg it out of the house, running as quickly as we can in the direction of the Bowling Alley.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Fern smiles at me and jumps up off the floor from where she is sitting when I rounded the corner. Her face changes when she see's that I am not alone, she stands staring at Storm, her eyes widen and a strange look washes over her face.  "Fudge!!!  Tap I told you to come alone!!"  she looks a little panicked and starts looking around like she's scared of something as she starts to back away from the both of us.  "You shouldn't have brought HIM with you!!"  Storm looks in my direction and we exchanged a quick confused glance.  "I know who you are Storm Orchid, I've seen you ........ She told me."  she's looking straight at Storm while she is still backing away from us, my mind flashed back to the bowling alley and the way she had been looking at Prelude and the mood she had gone into after he left.  She is now looking at Storm in exactly the same way, and how does she know his name?

"Fern?"  I rushed towards her and grabbed her, I think I got to her just as she was about to run  "What's wrong?"  she put her arms around me and buried her head into my shoulder, she's shaking and I'm really confused.  "Tell him to go Tap .... I don't want HIM here!!" 

"Fern what's going on? What's wrong?"  What IS going on here? either I'm struggling badly today and am just not keeping up at all, or things are seriously starting to get very weird around here!!  I feel like I'm slowly beginning to lose my mind with all of the confusion swimming around in it.  "What has Storm done to you Fern?"

"Yes Fern - what the fudge is your problem?!  You don't know me ...... you've seen me? When? doing what? Who is She? and just what has SHE told you??"  he snarled at her quite nastily,  Storm now I can see is getting irritated, he's glaring at Fern and not in a nice way  "Why the fudge are we being told to keep away from you Freeze's??"

She suddenly turned round to face him  "You REALLY don't know do you!!??  I bet they haven't told you either!!!!"  she spat back at him and they just stood glaring at each other for a moment.  "How do you not even see it??!!  Or are you colourblind too??!!"  Fern got right up in Storms face, like she had with me that first day when she had been peering into my eyes but he pushed her away from him quite roughly. "Storm you are either colourblind or very damn stupid - the Purple man - your Dad - he saw it straight away!!!"

 She started laughing suddenly as she turned to face me, wrapping her arms around me and starts to kiss me.  I'm feeling very weird about this, her mood has suddenly just changed again, but also my cousin is stood feet away watching us.  I've got my eyes open and I'm watching Storms face, he's standing there just staring at us kissing, the weirdest look on his face that I can't read.

It all happened too quickly, neither me or Storm saw it coming.   One minute I'm kissing Fern the next I'm laying on the ground, in pain and winded, flat on my back after being roughly wrenched away from her.  Two large shadows are looming over me, I have to squint to see them properly because of the sun - both of them teenage boy's that I've never seen before are glaring down at me.  "You don't touch her again EVER do you hear me!!"  one of the boys snarled at me  "Keep your dirty mixed berry hands off my sister, I'm only going to tell you this once Orchid!!"  I'm slow to react with the shock as my brain is trying to piece together what is happening, I am lay on the floor looking up at Ferns two brothers, both of them glaring down quite nastily at me.  I scramble to my feet but as I straighten myself up I feel a heavy blow to my stomach as one of the boys punches me pretty hard and I double up with the pain.  I can hear Fern screaming at her brother, Forrest, to leave me alone.

I look up searching for Storm who I know is not going to just standby and watch,  I can see he already has one of the boys pinned up against a tree punching him continuously, the boy doesn't stand a chance and I can already see his legs are buckling.  Forrest has also noticed Storm making mincemeat of his brother and leaves me to help him, he goes for Storm, so I go for him.

It becomes bedlam, the four of us are in a huddle fighting.  The brother that Storm was punching is now back with it and is taking a swing at me, but I duck and kick his legs from underneath him and he falls to the ground, as he tries to scramble back onto his feet I punch him in the face and he goes flying backwards again.  Suddenly I'm grabbed from behind by Forrest and I feel something sharp digging into my throat.  Fern starts screaming hysterically and Storm yells at me not to move.  Forrest is holding a knife across my throat.

For a second everything goes silent as everyone freezes holding their breath and stand watching and waiting for Forrest's next move.  I can hear my own heart beating in my head, wandering if and hoping that Forrest does not have the nerve to actually use that knife - if he does, I'm done for!!!

Storm steps forward towards us  "Man put the knife down - you really don't want to do this!!"  Forrest, still keeping a firm hold of me, takes the knife away from my throat and points it at Storm who held up his hands and stopped moving, he froze on the spot where he stood.  "Okay, okay!!"  he said

"Stay where you are purple, don't push me or I'll stick the both of you!!"  he snarled at Storm viciously "Now back up or do you want me to slit your mates throat??"  the knife came quickly back to my throat, I'm kicking myself as I feel it dig back into my flesh, I should have knocked it out of his hand while I had the chance to. Storm took a few steps backwards away from us.

Forrest then starts talking in my ear "Maybe now you might take us seriously when we tell you Orchid to keep your mixed berry hands off my sister - she's been told like I'm telling you now - in future you don't touch her, you don't look at her, you don't speak to her - you see her coming you cross the road away from her, you got me??!!"  he pulled me roughly towards him, the knife still at my throat  "If we find you within a 100 feet of her in future - you won't be getting a second warning - I will be using this knife!!"

I just stood there saying nothing, I am finding it hard to believe that they are carrying on like this just because I am a mixed berry - what are they even doing in this town if they hate mixed berries this much - this isn't normal - who the hell do they think they are!!??  "What do you recon Pine, I think he needs a nice scar to remind him don't you think!?"  Forrest is saying to his brother  "Just in case my warning slips his mind, or he doesn't take it seriously"  The knife leaves my throat and I feel him running the tip of the knife slowly down my face.  I suddenly get a nasty feeling that he means to slash my face.  Both brothers start laughing.

"You don't have the guts - come on stick me!!"  Storm suddenly stepped forward, he has that evil look on his face, I now become very scared because I can see what he is doing, he wants Forrest to wave that knife at him - he's trying to distract him away from me and he's using himself as bait.  I told Storm not to be stupid but he didn't even look at me, he took another step closer to us. 

Forrest took the blade off my face and pointed it at Storm like he had before, Forrest tells him to back off, but Storm isn't listening.   "Come on Forrest - you don't have the balls to use that knife!!"  he snarled as he leans towards him, taunting him. Forrest threw me aside as he lunged towards Storm with the knife.  I watched Storm jump backwards away from the knife.  I thought at first it had narrowly missing him, but I can see now its slices through the material of his jacket, and blood is seeping onto his T-shirt.   Storm looks down as his clothes laughing as I kicked out at Forrest's arm, the knife went flying out of his hand and landed on the grass a short distance away.  There is a sudden tussel as Storm and Forrest both fly in the same direction fighting to get to the knife.  Storm got to it first.

Now the tables have turned, Forrest scrambles to his feet as Storm turns the knife on him.  Fern distracts me for a minute as she runs and throws herself at me, hugging me and telling me we need to run.  I push her off me, but kept a hold of her hand,  I'm not going anywhere, I'm not leaving Storm here on his own with a knife in his hand, he's hurt and he's bleeding and I know he is capable of being stupid enough to use it.  "Storm please leave it now!!"  I shouted as I watch him thrust the knife at Forrest who stumbles backwards trying to get away from Storm and the knife.  Forrest falls backwards and onto the floor, Storm quick to react is on top of him and has him pinned down on the floor and is holding the knife point into his throat, a small trickle of blood starts to run down his neck.

"STORM DON'T!!!"  suddenly Prelude appears out of nowhere, obviously he must have managed to worm out of Parsley where we had sneaked off too, which I'm now very thankful for, I know Storm is never going to listen to me.  "Give me the knife Storm - You don't want to do this!!"  he is yelling at Storm.  That's when I notice Parsley is stood behind him, looking terrified and already looking like he is about to cry. 

"He tried to slit Tap's throat, he was just about to slash his face, he's also stuck me - give me one good reason why I shouldn't!!!!"  Prelude looked at me quickly running his fingers across my neck, I didn't even know I was bleeding until I saw the blood on his fingers, I saw his face switch, I watched the evil glint turn on in his eyes as he's staring down at my blood on his finger tips, but that look was only there for a moment as another look washed over his face.

"Storm, Don't be a damn idiot like your Mother!!!"

"What the fudge does Mom have to do with this?! ..... "

"She's faded people - why do you think she's spending the rest of her life in prison -  she's thrown her life away - please don't you do the same!!"

"You're lying!!!  You'll say anything right now to stop me  - Forrest here, he needs teaching a lesson!! .....He's used his knife and he's drawn blood"  I watched as Forrest yelped, Storm pushing the knife point into his neck a little deeper, a fresh stream of blood runs down his neck, as Storm moves his face towards Forrest's making sure they have proper eye contact.  Forrest now looks absolutely terrified and I'm not too far behind him  "He needs to see that I will use it too!!"

"STORM .... PLEASE ....STOP"

Storm looks up at Prelude, the expression on Storms face tells me he's gone, that evil look, the glint in his eye that only means trouble, I've always thought it's like he gets possessed by the devil - when he gets like this he can not stop himself, he becomes unhinged and he goes too far - I can see he's in pain, I can see all the blood on his clothes, I'm very scared that Prelude is never going to stop him now.

"STORM  YOU CAN'T .... FORREST IS YOUR BROTHER!!"  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 3 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

Earlier that day .........


I'm pacing impatiently around the living room a little annoyed, I have run out of people who I can phone, trying to track down Tapestry who is ignoring his phone to me.  Nobody has seen him all afternoon, he's skipping school and I haven't got the foggiest idea where he might be, although I suspect I know who he is going to be with ... that girl ... Fern.

I really should have taken him with us to Lilly's anti natal appointment, I should have known he would sneak off the minute my back was turned.  I'm stuck inside the house now, and all I can do is wait for someone to find him or for him to come home.  There is nobody around until later who can sit with Lilly so I've got to rely on somebody else to track him down and send him home.

Suddenly someone starts banging on the door really loudly, making me jump, I cringe and glance over at Lilly who is sleeping on the couch, hoping that the awful racket doesn't wake her up.  She hasn't been sleeping very well at night lately, with her achy back and the baby kicking, and she needs to get as much rest as she can.  The banging carries on continuously, who on earth would be banging down the door like that?

As I walk towards the door I can see it's Fern's father, who I've only seen once before briefly in passing at the school earlier.  He only stops banging the door when he sees me coming.  He's standing glaring at me through the glass, and has two quite menacing looking teenage boys, that I've never seen before, standing behind him, who I presume are his sons.  I really don't like the look of the expressions on all three of their faces  ...

This smells of trouble.

"Is my daughter here?"  he snaps quite sharply, as he pushes past me and barges his way inside the house without being invited in, which I think is very rude, I really don't think I am going to like this man very much.  "Fern - where is she?"

"She was here earlier with Tapestry, I found them hiding out, but I sent her home hours ago."  I notice he is staring over at Lilly who thankfully is still sleeping, but I doubt she will be for much longer if this carries on.
  
"Where is he now, is he here?"  he asked looking around

"No, he's not, he's snuck back out again, if Fern didn't go home, then I presume he's with her again, but don't ask me where, because I don't know."

"Well I'm here to warn you ..... KEEP ..... your orange and COLOURLESS son ..... AWAY from my daughter!!" he snarled at me quite nastily  "You are an orange berry, why would you even want to soil your colour??!!"

"Excuse me?!"  I'm a little irritated by the aggression in his voice and especially by the way he said the word 'colourless', people like him really have no place in this town.  I am, however, a little amused by the fact that he thinks I'm a pure orange berry - if only he knew!!!

"I think you heard me okay pal!!!!!"  he snaps learning towards me in a threatening manner  "I'm not having any colour mixing or mixed berries in my family, and especially NOT when it's one of your lot!!!"  I am a little taken aback with his attitude and the things he's saying.    Why live in this town if you apparently hate colour mixing so much and ... what the fudge does he mean by 'one of your lot'?!'  I get the feeling his insult is aimed at Lilly's lack of colour.  He needs to take a good look at himself, especially his attitude, before he goes around judging other people that he doesn't know - after all colour is only skin deep!!

"Firstly, I am not your pal, and I don't appreciate you barging your way into my home in a threatening manner and insulting my family, especially when you don't know a damn thing about us!!"  I am starting to get really angry, because this probably just all boils down to colour, something that shouldn't be happening in this town!!!  "In fact - you can GET OUT of my house NOW!!  Fern isn't here so there is no need for you to be!!"

"Oh I know a lot more than you think Pal - and I'm telling you - keep that boy of yours away from my daughter or I won't be held responsible for my actions!!"  he's raring in my face again

"You better hope he is not with her when we find her Mr, because we will leave him with no doubts about keeping away from my sister ..... and he will if he values his life!!"  One of the boys decides to join in, trying to look as menacing as his Dad, I might have known a family of thugs!!!

"Mango ........ what's all the shouting about?"  Lilly sits up stretching and rubbing her eyes, I notice all three of them have now gone quiet and are staring at her in a strange way.  They are obviously from out of town and I presume they've never seen a colourless berry before, I've seen many people look at her in the same way outside of this town, but still I don't like it, and especially not when it is in our own home!!!

"OUT NOW!!"  I started to walk towards the door to open it, thankfully they followed me without protesting or carrying on with their brutish behaviour  "And don't you worry, I wouldn't want my son hanging around the likes of your lot anyway, so I'll be keeping my son well away from your daughter!!"  I snapped at him as he walked past me  "You just make sure you keep your daughter away from my son!!" 

"If they are together right now, you wanna just hope you find him before we do!!!  You've been warned!!!"  her father said as he walked out of the door.  I slammed the door shut behind him.  They have a damn nerve!!!  Although his last threat made me feel very uncomfortable.

I walked back into the living room, Lilly is standing in the middle of the room looking worried and confused.  I tried to put her mind to rest the best I could, telling her that he thinks Tapestry is a bad influence and wants Tapestry and Fern keeping apart.  The last thing she needs right now is to get stressed out this far into her pregnancy.

I told her it was nothing to worry about, but I am, secretly and silently, very worried myself.  Fern's Father obviously wants them keeping apart because of the colour mixing, and I suspect Lilly being colourless is a big part of it.  I can't say I'm too thrilled about Tapestry being around that girl either, I don't have a very good feeling about that girl or her family.

It's all well and good me telling Tapestry, but he rarely listens to anything anyone has to tell him, if he wants to do something he will go and do it regardless - if he wants something there is no stopping him.  If he doesn't listen, I'm scared of what might happen, they look like a family of thugs, and I'm scared they might actually carry out their threats and Tapestry might get hurt.

My phone starts ringing I answer it quickly.  "I've found Tapestry, he's is in the Bowling Alley, I've told him to come home."   Prelude, he said he would have a scout around town looking for Tapestry before he went to work.  I'm relieved now more than ever, after Fern's Father's visit,  that Prelude has found him!!!

Before he gave me a chance to speak he quickly spoke again  "Mango ........"  he says my name then there is a long uncomfortable pause,  "You are really not going to like this!!".

"What Prelude?"

 "I think we have a problem ......... the girl he's with ............"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


It looks like a scene from a movie, Police cars everywhere with flashing lights and police officers standing around in groups on the pavement talking.  They all stop talking and look in my direction as I'm helped out of the police car that I've just travelled home in.   My hands are released straight away from the handcuffs and I'm rubbing my wrists as I am looking around trying to take in the scene outside our house.  Still the police officer is not saying anything and I can't even begin to imagine what is going on anymore.

I start to walk down the steps, a little unsteadily, I'm feeling the alcohol swirling round in my head making me a little dizzy.  As I reach halfway down the steps that's when I start to hear what sounds like shouting.  I stop walking, hold onto the handrail and stand watching,  Dad and Prelude are standing outside the front door arguing with each other.

"You are over reacting!!"  Prelude shouts at Dad

"I'll show you over reacting if anything has happened to my son!!"  Dad yelled back at him  "Talking of which, shouldn't you be worrying about your own two sons right now and how this is going to affect them - you do realize you are going to have to tell them everything now!!"

"I'm not stupid, I do know, but there is nothing I can do until they get back from the game."

"You wanna hope they get back in one piece, you didn't see them around here threatening - Freeze and two of HER evil brats ..... they are a family of thugs, which shouldn't surprize me really!!!"

"Mango I still think you are over reacting ... just because they are her kids, it doesn't mean they are going to be exactly the same, look at my two, one of them is even softer than you!!"

"Well I'm not taking that risk - you should have grabbed Tapestry the minute you realised who he was with, but work is more important to you isn't it - your loyalties have ALWAYS lay in the wrong place haven't they!!!!"

"That's not fair ... and you know it!!!!!

"Like it's not fair that Lilly is in there breaking her heart right now because of what we have  had to tell her Prelude ......... all made ten times worse by you being with that horrible green evil vindictive bitch ...." 

"Don't you dare ... she has a name ... use it!!!"  Prelude leans towards Dad  "You wouldn't like me calling Lilly names  ...."

Then I saw something I never thought I'd ever see in a million years - Dad swung for Prelude punching him full force straight in the face - I didn't even know he had it in him, especially not when it comes to Prelude who can be a nasty piece of work when he wants to be, he would be the last person that I'd have the nerve to start a fight with.

"You .... are .... unreal ...." Dad yelled at him as his fist made contact with his face.

"BERRY HOLE!!!"  Prelude doubles up holding his face for a moment, then he looks up and starts spitting blood onto the floor with an evil glint in his eye  "Well I hope that made you feel better ..... I'll let you off with that one Mango ...... because I know you're upset ..... but I'm warning you DON'T do that again!!"   They are both just stood there glaring at each other.

"I told you this was going to blow up in our face eventually .... I should never have helped you cover up your sordid mess .... I should have washed my hands of you a long time ago!!!

I ran down the last few steps worried that if Dad carries on that Prelude might go for him, and I doubt Dad would stand a chance against him. 

"DAD!!"  I yelled at him because they hadn't seen or heard me coming, too busy arguing and glaring at each other.  "WHAT IS GOING ON??!!"   Dad span round and just threw himself at me, he didn't answer my question.

"OH THANK BERRY!!!"  He throws his arms around me and he's squeazing me so tight I can hardly breath.  "Where have you been?  You are not hurt are you?"  I didn't get a chance to speak because the police officer standing behind me started speaking for me.

"Mango we found them both in Seth's dive bar, him and the girl."  Dad let go of me suddenly, but kept his hands on me holding me at a distance while he studies my face, I know exactly what he is looking for, signs of me being drunk.   "He is a little intoxicated so I'm afraid we had to cuff him, they both were a handful, but there seems to be no harm done and luckily we found them first which is the main thing!!"

Dad thanked the police officer who said he would phone Dad tomorrow about the other stuff, and that a car would pass by regularly just to make sure everything is okay.  Dad smiled and thanked him again, the police officer said goodnight and left.

This just adds a little more to my confusion, why do adults talk in riddles, why don't they ever just say it straight, better still they could just tell me what is going on!!  After the police officer left, Dad then turns his attention straight back to me.

"You've been drinking?!  On your medications - what have I told you!!  Are you ever going to listen Tapestry?!"  now he is looking pretty mad again  "  So while we have been worrying ourselves sick over your whereabouts all afternoon and night, you've been sitting in that bar getting hammered!!!!"   he points in the direction of the house quite angrily "Just get to your room ....."

"Not until you tell me what is going on!!!"

"NOW TAPESTRY!!"

"NO!!!!"  I yelled in his face, demanding to know what they had just been arguing about and why he had phoned the police on us.   What had we done so wrong for him to have me and Fern dragged out of the dive bar like a pair of criminals?  I'm confused, angry and I'm not getting any answers, he is just treating me like an idiot again, like a naughty child sending me off to my room and I'm sick of it!!!

Suddenly my Mother appeared from nowhere, I've never seen her so angry before and I can see she has been crying because she has mascara runs all down her face, and her eyes are all smudged with the stuff, even though she is not crying right now, I can tell that is some serious crying that she has been doing.

I watched her explode in front of me.  She says she's sick of all my back chatting, why can't I just do as I'm told for once in my life.  I'm not sure if she's talking about me sneaking out earlier or me refusing to go to my room, probably both by the way she is carrying on.   I am listening to her, and I'm starting to get confused again, she's ranting on but not all of it applies, I don't think, to me.   She's sick of me not listening and putting them through so much worry all the time, going off and doing as I please without caring how it's affecting everyone else ........ yes that's me ........ but then her ranting changes to something I totally don't understand.

The secrets .... the lies .... the cover up .... Why has it taken this long for it all to come out?  Why is she only just finding out about all these things now?  She thinks everyone has been laughing at her the whole time!?  Why can she still not remember any of this?!  Suddenly I am no better than Prelude??!!  What is this crazy shit??!!!  What is my Mom going on about??  I can see the tears streaming down her face again.  I know I struggle to keep up with most conversations, but this is something else, and it's way over my head.

She's turned away from me now, but only because Dad is trying to calm her down because she is pregnant and she shouldn't be getting herself so stressed out.  Prelude tells her she's shouting at the wrong person shouting at me then says "All of the kids ... they don't know anything ... not even mine!!"   Mom went straight for him, telling him he should leave, she's not sure she can even look at him right now.

She's totally lost the plot hurling a load of insults at Prelude that are making my toes curl, I've never heard my Mother swearing before, she managed to hold her tongue when she was just shouting at me, but she is really letting it fly at Prelude.

Dad tries to calm her down again, he's worried over her getting herself so upset, but that just makes her start on him again for keeping secrets.  What the fudge is all this?!  What don't us kids not know?!  What has Prelude done?  What secrets has Dad been keeping?  Why is my Mom so angry and upset?!  I've never even seen my parents exchange a bad look or cross word with each other before.  I'm sent into a state of shock watching them now yelling and tearing strips off each other.

Everything happened so quickly.  Suddenly she cry's out as I watch her double over holding her stomach like she's in pain.  Dad and Prelude rush towards her  "Mango ...... it hurts!!"  I watch a little dazed as she virtually collapses into his arms moaning and holding her stomach, as she starts to panic.  Dad is holding her trying to calm her down, reassuring her everything is going to be okay, he's got his hand on her stomach and he's pulling worried faces at Prelude that my Mom can't see.  I think I know already what is wrong with her - but isn't it too early?!

"Prelude can you grab my car keys off the hall table .... its the baby, I need to get her to the hospital"  my Dad shouts at him.  I watch Mom double up again as Prelude shot into the house returning seconds later and handed Dad his keys.  He swung Mom up into his arms and starts carrying her up the steps, telling Prelude not to let me out of his sight for a second until he gets back.  I am just standing there in a daze. 

I can't help but keep thinking that the baby is coming too early.  I'm the way I am because I was early and too small.  Is the new baby going to be like me?  And if she is, is it going to be my fault?   I can feel myself going, I've already got too many things swimming around in my head with the alcohol, without this.

I still don't know why I was pulled out of the dive bar by the police and I haven't a clue what Prelude and Dads, or my parents argument had been about, I'm not even sure if any of it is even connected.  I really can't cope with what is going on in my head everything is just a jumbled mess that I really can't make any sense of, and it's starting to annoy me.

"Tapestry come on inside, It's getting cold!!"  Prelude puts his hand on my shoulder but I ignore him still standing there staring up the garden steps even though my parents are now out of sight.  I am panicking inside, lost in thought, on the verge of running like I do sometimes when I can't cope and I feel like my head is about to explode.

Just as I start to bolt, Prelude grabs me by my arms, and holds onto me stopping me from legging it. He must have sensed it might be coming, he's seen me do it plenty of times before.  "Oh No you don't Tap!!  You know I'll catch you, you haven't out run me yet!!!"  He pulls me towards him "Come on, don't worry, she's going to be fine and so will the baby!!"  he didn't even raise his voice to me, how can he be so calm after everything that has just been happening??

"The baby ... It's too early!!"  I said looking at him  "Is all this my fault?"

"No it's not your fault .......... you'll probably find it's mostly mine!!"

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