Act I “Peace and happiness awaits you.”
Chapter V
Lilly, Rey and their imposed parents, August and April spent the next several weeks growing as a family. However, this doesn’t go by very smoothly. August and April were still trying to adjust in their new roles as parents and it seemed like the elements of their romantic lifestyle may had been slowly slipping away. Lilly and Rey accepted their roles as August and April’s children. This goes especially for Lilly, who was seems too eager to accept a life with August and April in Serenity, despite the life waiting for her back at Autumn Elementary and her true home. Rey had a hard time adjusting to life as August and April’s son, despite having nothing good going for him back home.
Lilly was enjoying herself too much in Serenity, seeming to forget where she really belongs. She played in the grasses of Leisure Fields. She tried often to get Rey to play with her, but he was preoccupied with the burned books he snatched from the abandoned cottage at Happy Springs. “Rey come outside,” she would say, in he would respond, “Go one. I have no time to frolic, like a fool.” He spent several hours at a time in the bedroom, alone with these books, trying to gather as much information as he can from the burned pages, for what that was worth. Despite his dislike for the place, Rey couldn’t help but wonder more about Serenity and felt he could learn from the books. Rey wrote notes in his own notebook, so he can record what he can from the burned books, but not enough to be substantial information. He continued to decipher as much of the black pages as possible, almost fervently, paying attention to nothing else.
On a positive note, with Rey focused on the books, he didn’t spend a lot of time causing mischief. August and April noticed Rey’s apparent inactivity, but they were not aware that he was in possession of the books from the ruins. The talked to him regarding his introverted behavior one evening, during suppertime.
Rey addressed their inquisitions with “I have been studying more about this place and all. I’ve been baffled ever since Lilly and I got here.”
“Well, maybe we can help you,” August suggested. “There are also some education programs that air on TV. What would you like to know?”
“Well, I don’t really don’t watch TV, and I’d rather stick to the books, if that is alright with you.”
“Oh,” April said. “Well, if you have any questions, we’re here.”
Rey had no more statements for the eager parents. He simply ate his food and returned to the bedroom to read, until bedtime. Rey knew well enough to hide the burned books during bedtime, when April came to tuck him and Lilly in. Neither April nor August seemed to be diligent enough to check on Rey during the day, either, not from the lack of caring for him, but from an excess of trust.
August finally decided to host a baseball game at the City Park of Tranquility Town. August and Rey teamed up against April and Lilly. With only two members for each team, the game went as well as you might have expected. The game was slow and uneventful and each team had gained their fair share of points with each inning. The family started over when other kids at the Park asked if they could play. With more members in each team, the second game proved to be more competitive, with August and April serving as coaches and referees.
The game was looking good, but one incident pretty much ruined the game for everybody. August’s team was losing and Rey was starting to suspect a bias towards April’s team, by both August and April for Lilly. Of course, Rey was clearly being petty and jealous, and it effected how he perceived situations in the game. April’s team was up to bat, with Rey at the pitcher’s mound. Rey pitched aggressively, usually throwing fast balls. Lilly lets a few balls fly past her, knowing she needs patients to focus enough to hit one of Rey’s balls. She strikes out a couple of times, but finally manages to hit a home run. This did not go well with Rey, who lost his temper and claimed that August and April gave Lilly a handicap, who was on her way through all of the bases. By the time Lilly made it bat to home base, Rey approached her and began to berate her. Lilly understandably did not take this well.
“That shouldn’t count,” Rey shouted. “You were given a handicap! I had you with two strikes!”
“Come on, Rey,” Lilly responded. “I clearly hit the ball.”
“Yeah, just barely. You should have missed!”
“But I didn’t. I clearly hit the ball…You know, because it was a home run? Don’t be a sore loser, Rey.”
“Sore loser” stung Rey like a wasp sting in the face. He knocked Lilly’s cap off of her head by its bill, with Lilly looking into his angry eyes as he did it. Lilly was at this point was triggered and shoved Rey back by his chest. Rey tripped after two steps back and tumbled into the dirt. Rey jumped back to his feet and launched himself towards Lilly and tackled her to the ground.
The other children in the game were quickly estranged by Lilly and Rey, because neither of these children have ever experienced being in a fight before (Of course, neither has Lilly). Lilly and Rey were at each other, trading punches and slaps and tossing and grinding each other against the dirt. Not surprisingly, this was where the game ended. August and April were embarrassed that the fight had broken out. They interfered with Lilly and Rey’s fight, grabbing them both by the arm, and left the Park for home. When the family gets home, August and April sit Lilly and Rey down on the living room couch for a lecture.
“Rey, can you tell me why you had to instigate a fight with your sister,” August asked.
“Like you don’t know,” Rey shouted. “You gave Lilly a handicap during the game!”
“Oh and how is a home run from a handicap, huh,” Lilly asked Rey in a similar, angry tone.
“Quiet, Lilly. Listen, Rey, I don’t know how they play baseball from where you are from but in Serenity, we play by the rules. She clearly hit the ball and you were showing a blatant lack of sportsmanship.”
“Don’t talk to me about sportsmanship! She shouldn’t have hit my last pitch! I had her!”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses, Reynard! I am disappointed with the both of you!”
“Why me,” Lilly asks, with an awe of contempt.
“Because you let the fight happen, Lilly.”
“He started the fight!”
“I know! If you didn’t push him, the fight wouldn’t have escalated.”
“I can’t believe that you are actually putting blame on me for this!”
“No other child in Serenity would have EVER did what you two did at the Park, today. Did you two even realize how the other children were looking at you?! They looked at you like you, as if you were savages.”
“I think all the kids around here are a bunch of pansies,” Rey remarked.
“Look….Rey. Lilly. You two did something very wrong, today. I can’t just have you making a scene, here.”
“Wait,” April added. “What are you going to do with them?”
“They misbehaved, April…I am going to have to ground them.”
“Can’t you just let it go?”
“No. I can’t. We could have been seen, today. We can’t keep having them misbehave. Lilly, you are grounded from outdoor play, for a week.”
“Aw, come on,” Lilly remarked.
“Just deal with it, Lilly. Rey, you are grounded from your books for three weeks.”
“Wait, hold on. You gave her a week!”
“Yes, but she didn’t cause the fight at the Park, did she?”
“You can’t do this to me! That’s hardly fair!”
“I can and I will! I mean…This is Serenity, for crying out loud! We are supposed to be a family!”
Rey abruptly stood from the couch. “Do you actually call this a family?” Rey storms into the children’s bedroom and slams the door.
The latest statement cut April deeply. She had begun to nod her head with her shoulders, before sinking her head to hide the tears pouring out of her eyes. August responded with an “oh, honey” and an outreached hand, before April walked past him and into the master bedroom. August stood in place briefly, before going into the bedroom after April, finding her sitting on the side of the bed, with her hands buried in her face. August kneeled down in front of her. April lifts her head from her hands and looks into August’s eyes.
“Tell me that this will work,” April said.
“Oh, honey,” August replied, taking April’s hands with his. “Of course, we ca-“
“Don’t lie to me, August.”
“…I don’t…know what else to say to you.”
“I just don’t want you to lie to me.”
“We just have to keep trying, April. We have to persevere…For the children’s sake.” August releases April’s hands and proceeds to embrace her with a hug.
“Yes…Right. For the kids.”
After that shaky afternoon, the days began to go by stale for Lilly, Rey, August and April. August and April focused more and more on their parental responsibilities. Since she was grounded from playing outside, Lilly decided to help April around the house, for which April was reasonably grateful. Rey continued to read the burned books from the ruins, despite being grounded from reading, only this time he would read at night, when everyone else was sleeping.
One day, August, Lilly and Rey were sitting in the living room, watching “The Adventures of Mingle”, while April was making supper. August was paying attention to the show, despite being somewhat bored of it. Rey wasn’t shy about showing his disinterest in the show. Lilly had her eyes peeled to the show, watching Mingle and his squad help the Lumberjack, collect wood and plant saplings. Despite his disinterest in the show, the setting had Rey thinking, and so he couldn’t help but become curious about the forest.
“Can I ask you a question,” Rey asked August.
“Oh, yeah,” August said. “What do you want to know?”
“What can you tell me about the wildlife here? I mean, I know seen some of the animals around here, like the dogs and cats in Town…but there is something different about them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, they don’t move in the same way from where Lilly and I are from. They seem to be built like other animals, but they seem stiff and their coats seem to be too pristine for wild animals. They move…shifty. You know, how a lizard would move. And their eyes. I had once found a squirrels foraging by a tree in the Fields. They stopped…just stood still in place…and stared at me, not moving an inch. Then they went back to foraging. Why would they do that?”
“Well, I…I suppose it just because of their nature. You know how animals are when they are frightened. The squirrels were watching you to see what you will do. Just call it a quirk.”
“A quirk…Right….What about the animals there.” Rey pointed at the television. “I have not seen one animal, ever since those boy scouts arrived in the Woods.”
“That is because the animals in Jolly Woods are shy and tend to stay hidden.”
“Hmm. I would like to go there. Just once. To see the animals.”
“Well, Rey, that may not be a good idea. The Jolly Woods are off limits.”
“Off limits. Why?”
“The Ballerina Queen doesn’t want the wildlife in the forest to be disturbed.”
“But aren’t the animals of Serenity supposed to be…I don’t know. Friendly? Why would they be afraid of people?”
“I don’t know Rey. The forest creatures have been disturbed lately and the Queen is just trying to keep them safe.”
“Right…That’s too bad. I would have liked to go there.”
April calls everyone into the kitchen for supper. Having had put brownies in the oven, prior to spending time in the living room. When she arrived in the kitchen with August and Rey, she found that April had already taken the brownies out of the oven, which was served to everyone with their meals of steak and beans. After the supper, everyone took their individual showers and went to bed. Of course, Rey never really went to bed, but it was this night that he had something else in mind.
Suspecting Lilly to be asleep in her own bed, Rey rose quietly in his own bed. Rey observing Lilly well enough to determine that she is asleep. He proceeds to sneak towards the window and open it, before climbing through it. Rey closed the window before marching off into the cold night, towards Tranquility Town. The moon shone, almost seemingly with a stoic grin, atop the dark “seas” that make up half of its geography. The stars shone, like fireflies or Christmas lights, and each with their own color, but lacking the personality of the light blue moon.492Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMwPPJebY0j
