Peppermint #29 + Pomelo #6
Author: pareidolia
Flavors: Peppermint #29 "confetti" + Pomelo #6 "laughter cannot bring back what anger has driven away"
Rating: G
Note: Latest in the series of tales about the children of Wyndham House, now with a handy-dandy Index.
Summary: Karolyne doesn't stop. She doesn't scream. And she doesn't remember. She's not scared anymore.
Karolyne parked the red Hyundai at the last corner. just a few hundred steps away from the house in her opinion, but it was a few hundred steps too many for Kristopher, who waited for her to start again.
After fifteen minutes of silence, the boy sighed and asked to be let out of the car. Karolyne grimaced when he slammed the door shut, which crumbled even further into a frown when Kristopher didn’t even return her feeble wave.
Karolyne rested her forehead on the steering wheel, biting her lip and trying to talk herself into getting out of the car and following her brother. But she couldn’t. She just couldn’t, because something wasn’t right.
No, her mind supplied, nothing is ever right at this house, and maybe you should go after your brother, drag him back here and cross the turnpike, go over the bridge, drive into the next state- anything to keep him from going inside that house, and seeing those people again--
And anyway Karolyne, the invitation was just for you, wasn’t it?
--
When Kristopher hears the frantic honking, he resists the urge to look back over his shoulder and come running to his sister’s rescue. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and starts whistling a Rammstein song.
It wouldn’t take her long, he thinks, and keeps on walking.
--
Karolyne is crying in the driver’s seat, hitting the car horn continuously, sobbing and calling for her little brother.
“Kris, Kris, come back, Kris, please,”
But Kris just keeps on walking.
Karolyne wants to scream, but she cries instead, and cries, and cries and---
“It’s the last corner.”
She whips her head around to look at the passenger seat, and Kristopher is there, playing with the lock with his fingers and shifting in his seat, as if he could look past the tall grass that surrounded the Wyndham property.
Karolyne’s cheeks are dry. Her grip on the wheel is tighter than it should be-- her knuckles have gone bone white and she has to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming.
“Karol?”
It is indeed the last corner. Karolyne doesn’t stop, she turns the wheel with brittle ease, and they’re driving down the road and Kristopher is leaning forward, trying to see if anyone is waiting for them.
Karolyne doesn’t stop. She doesn’t think, either, because if she thinks about anything other than parking the car at the gate, she’ll probably go insane.
(You can’t have dreams if you’re not sleeping, you can’t have dreams if you’re awake, What you see when you aren’t dreaming are things that can never be fake)
(She’d stopped at the corner, Kris walked out, she cried because the invitation was just for her because Severin sent it She drew on her mirror and it wasn’t lip stick it wasn’t make-up it was blood and she doesn’t know who’s and it was the last corner to the winding place where the wedding would be and She is Very Scared because because because
PAPA LAMBERT AND MAMA MAY BELLE ARE GETTING MARRIED MARRIED MARRIED
THEY’RE DEAD AND SOMEONE’S GETTING MARRIED
she was Severin’s Belle-lyne)
She parks the car at the gate.
They get out, dragging their bags behind them. Kristopher rings the doorbell, shifting on the balls of his feet, and Karolyne rubs her elbows, like she always does when she’s nervous.
She hears the running footsteps, and tries to smile, because if Michel was coming to greet them she didn’t want to scare him away--
“Belle-lyne!”
Karolyne doesn’t scream, but Kristopher does at the sight of Severin wearing a bride’s veil over her burnt, bleached hair, or what was left of it. She closely resembled the Barbie dolls Karolyne used to love as a child, the ones she teethed on.
The smile on her face is as crazed as ever, but her eyes were as dull as marbles. Karolyne notices the limp when she walks over to embrace her.
“Severin...” it might be the first time she’s felt sorry for her sister. Kristopher steps away from them, and Karolyne lets him, shooing him into the house with a small wave of her hand. He nods and runs in, making a beeline for Kandor’s study.
The woman in her arms giggles. Karolyne tries not to react to the sound, but when Severin does it again, she almost gags. She laughs, then, a laugh that shook her frail body, a laugh that did not at all sound genuine. In fact, Severin sounded scared.
“I-I was making confetti, ahahaha, and he gave me the v-veil... Brother’s so so very kind, ahahahahaha,” and she broke off with what sounded like a sob. Karolyne wants to move her, see her face at least, but Severin refuses.
“Severin, what’s--” Severin keeps laughing, only now it sounds like she’s crying too, and Karolyne pulls her closer to her, trying to see if she can pull her inside, at least--
“Laughter cannot bring back what anger has driven away, sister Severin.”
Karolyne looks over Severin, to see Felice coming down the stairs, Michel in tow. He sees her, and smiles an empty smile, just like every smile he gave to anyone who wasn’t Michel.
“Won’t you come inside, Karolyne?” Michel asks, and he’s smiling too, Karolyne sees. It’s the same smile.
Severin looks up, and pulls on Karolyne’s arm, tear tracks on her face and her eyes as pretty as old marbles stained with mud and cracks.
“Come in, Belle-lyne...”
The door closes behind her, and Karolyne does not remember why she had been so scared.
--
Kristopher knows the way like years had not passed. He goes straight, turns left into the kitchen, then out the door and into the hallway. The first door on the right, the one that had no windows.
He reaches out to knock, but the door is opened before he can decide. Kandor blinks owlishly at him for a few moments, and Kristopher remembers that he didn’t have his bandana with him, and he thinks Kandor probably noticed and--
“I’ve missed you.” Kandor states bluntly. He laughs, then, self-consciously, but Kristopher nods and grabs onto the hem of his brother’s shirt, smiling and blushing, muttering sheepishly, “I missed you, too.” Kandor looks surprised for a moment, but then he smiles and places a hand on his brother’s head, ruffling his hair like he used to, and Kristopher’s smile widens with just that.
Everything was going to be fine, after all.