On the night of Seppen's birthday, Harry dragged me to his room. "This is repulsive," I commented, staring at his mess. I had always known that Harry was lazy, but the sight of dirty laundry dumped on the floor, month old food, and—was that a fly?—brown newspaper made me want to vomit.
His room was fairly unchanged from Uncle Buzz's time in it. That was most likely because they had the same tastes. The pinups were in pristine condition, and I wouldn't have been terribly surprised if Harry polished the framed photos of scantly clad girls.
"So, my fraternal twin, why have you called me into your lair?"
"Well, my esteemed womb-sister, I have been occupying my time most obsessively at the chemistry table," Harry said.
"Yes, I have wondered about that."
"See, I found this note that Uncle Buzz had written. It was a formula for... well, I know you won't laugh at me, but promise?"
"Why would I laugh at you?"
"We'll see. Anyhow, it was a formula to make a potion that would turn one's... imaginary friend real."
"Imaginary friend?" I asked, surprised. It seemed unlikely that such a thing was possible. The potion, that is, not the imaginary friend.
"We got these dolls when we were younger, Yuki, and I talk to mine," Harry explained nervously. He opened the door to his room and called, "Dopey!" He then shut the door. A few moments later, the door opened, seemingly on its own. "Yuki... meet Dopey."
"Well, in that case," I responded, navigating around where I believed Dopey to be and reopening the door, "Doc!"
"You've got your own imaginary friend?"
I nodded. We waited patiently for a few moments. Doc entered. I could see him, as usual, but Harry's eyes were looking at the space to the right of his head. I wondered whether Doc could see Dopey. If he could, I wondered if they talked. It seemed quite likely, as they would have no one else to occupy their time.
"Then, it's as I thought," Harry concluded. He opened his dresser door and handed me a stoppered flask, identical to the one he was already holding.
They were filled with a cloudy, orange liquid. "So, what exactly do you mean by 'real'?" I asked.
"This will turn Doc and Dopey human," he replied, clenching his flask tightly.
"What if something goes wrong?"
"Nothing will go wrong. I've tested and tested this. Trust me. If anything is wrong with these potions, then I would have known—every failed attempt I've had has blown up in my face. Literally."
"How could it turn them real?"
"I don't know, exactly. I was just following Uncle Buzz's recipe. I think he's a lot smarter than he lets on."
"Ready, then?" I asked nervously. Harry nodded, and we handed our potions over. Doc seemed hesitant (he was always cautious), but Dopey downed his right away. I still couldn't see him, but bright purple light started shooting out of him. It seemed to be a good sign, as Harry sighed in relief.
Doc followed suite.
Within ten minutes, their transformation was complete. Dopey had dark skin and hair and was pretty well muscled. He had a very 'Californian surfer' way of speaking, while Doc was nearly the opposite. Doc had pale skin, blue and black hair and freckles sprinkled all over his skin. He had on glasses and a posh uniform. He was also a bit heavy. He was exactly as I had always imagined him. Perhaps Dopey was exactly as Harry had imagined him, and that was why they had transformed in such ways.
Harry and Dopey immediately threw signs of friendship and bromance at each other, while Doc politely introduced himself to me. "I already know who you are, silly," I squealed, and gave him a bear hug. He hugged me back. It was something that we had done many times before while he was in doll form, but he was even squishier in human form.
We hurried downstairs for Seppen's party. Her initial surprise at seeing two random boys didn't last long, as she was more concentrated on continuing with the festivities.
She made her wish and blew out the candles.
Doc seemed to take an inexplicable liking to Seppen and immediately started flirting with her. She was just confused. Doc had never mentioned this before—surely he must have seen Seppen? Yes, he must have, as he had told me that he could see everyone in my family. I wondered if he had ever watched Seppen bathe. I shuddered at the thought. He was a gentleman, and I was rather doubtful that he was interested in human anatomy.
Dopey also seemed to like my sister, and went to talk to her after Doc. Again, she seemed pleased, but confused. She didn't know that these boys knew her very well. After all, they had lived with her since we were little kids. I reminded myself of this fact around Dopey, who had also grown up with me, though I hadn't been aware of his existence until some hours ago.
Seeing how everyone was distracted, I snuck back upstairs. My instinct to clean was way too strong, and I walked into Harry's room armed with garbage bags, Windex, and gloves. I started off by scooping up trash into the garbage bags, then by piling his laundry into a laundry bag. I was glad for my gloves when my fingers touched a pair of jeans that were stiff at the crotch. Despite the gloves, though, my instinct to vomit was so strong that I dry retched, glad that I hadn't had any birthday cake.
I returned a little while later with a vacuum cleaner in order to get rid of the tons of flies swarming around his room and to vacuum up the food crumbs and dirt in his room. How could he live like that? I was almost disgusted that I had shared the same living space as him for nearly nine months. Poor foetus Yuki.
Even though I had cleaned his room, Harry was still a teenager. He told me all about his dates with his girl, even though I never wanted to hear them. He had left the house wearing the most ridiculous get-up; a tropical shirt that one would ordinarily only find on tourists with his hair blow dried to the side. It had worked like a charm, apparently, as the moment that she had seen him, Shauni Stevenson (as she was apparently called) latched her lips onto his.
They were making out behind the park's outdoor bathrooms, too. Really classy. An unimpressed adult had eventually kicked them out, but not before Harry had, and I quote, 'copped a feel.'
They had proceed to go see a movie called "I'm Dying, Let's Dance", which was a chick flick chosen by Shauni. At the end of the movie, Harry had presented her with a bouquet of red flowers, which she was apparently quite pleased to have received. He had been trying to work up the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend, but hadn't quite gotten to that point.
On a happy note, something wonderful happened on Seppen's graduation day.
She had been feeling disheartened, lately (understandably) and was anxious to move out after graduating. As a present to me, and a way of saying goodbye, she was painting a picture. I felt bad for her. She had never been close to Harry, Bert or I. She was closest to me because we had shared the same room, but we had never shared a connection. I confided in Harry a lot more than I did in her. Harry and Seppen, though looking almost exactly like each other, were virtually strangers, and she had never had many friends in school.
Despite their disagreements, Sep had always respected daddy and had been friends with him. It helped that they both had a kind heart and a great sense of humour. I had always been jealous of Sep and daddy laughing together at television shows when I never understood the joke.
Anyway, as I was saying, the morning of her commencement ceremony, daddy approached her at her easel. He was nearly in tears and had a hard time choking out his words, so Seppen had to calm him down.
"I'm sorry," he managed to say before tears flooded his face. "I'm so very proud of you, and now that you're a grown woman... it's hard to see my baby grown up, and I guess I just wanted to shelter you forever."
"Dad, I'm not Yuki," she had said (which was rude, but never mind), "I'm aware of what's going on around me in life and I want to be part of it."
"I know that, and I'm sorry that I tried to deny you that. I'm sorry about all the horrible things I said. I'm very proud of you, Seppen, and I want you to know that. And your mother—" he couldn't finish his sentence.
"I understand, dad," Seppen said, trying to hold back tears herself.
"Here," daddy said, his voice breaking, and handed her a gift.
"It's the hair tie that Jessie always wore," daddy said, smiling. "I know that it doesn't seem like much—"
"It's perfect, dad," Seppen responded, pulling it out. She slipped it on her wrist and her smile wobbled. The elastic was stretched loose from wear.
"I love you, honey," daddy said, pulling her into a hug.
"I love you too, dad," she responded.
"Now, no more crying," daddy scolded, wiping tears out of Seppen's eyes and his own. "You've got a graduation to attend!"
Seppen hadn't asked Harry or I to go, as most of the ceremony involved her peers and would be boring to us. Daddy went to support her. He even let her drive there in his expensive car. He didn't approve of the cap she was wearing, but he decided not to mention it. He had learnt from his sister that sometimes, it was best to let women be.
Seppen graduated with honours, which made her pretty happy. She was so happy about the situation with daddy and at her graduation that she allowed daddy to take a photo of her. Of course, she had to act the part of the diva and hammed up as much of the photo as possible. Daddy was very proud of her, though, and eagerly showed Harry and I the photo.
Daddy had finally given me the new riding clothes that he had promised, and they weren't too shabby. I looked cute while being comfortable; although nothing could save my rear end from the soreness it felt after a particularly long riding session.
I had discovered that Flame loved eating apples. After I let him out of his pen to drink and stretch his legs out a bit, I would tend to the garden that gramma had started. I would gather apples and keep them on hand, giving them to him whenever he did something good. I also enjoyed them, and would crunch on my own apple while he ate.
Now that Harry was spending more time with Shauni and Seppen was devoting all of her time into job applications and finding a home, I in turn concentrated my efforts towards Flame. The girls at school... they were making my life difficult, to say the least. I was never sure of what I had done to them, but they were out to get me. Not all of the girls at my school, obviously, but one group of girls despised me. I was never sure, but I always thought that they were jealous of me because I was dating Stefan. Because of this, I tended to avoid Stefan. I hadn't responded to his texts or phone calls in over a week, and had ducked into the girl's bathroom every time I saw him at school. Perhaps I was hoping that everything would return to normal, when we were just friends.
"But no one's jealous of me loving you, are they, Flame?" I whispered into his mane, leaning forward on my saddle. He tilted his head back at me.
Once I was good enough, I entered in the local racing competition. I was extremely nervous, but it helped that I had Flame right under me. He was the one doing the hard work, in any case. At first, I thought that everyone would be fairly advanced, even though I had entered in the beginner's competition. I was pleased to see people who looked just as nervous as me, and spoke to a girl next to me.
"Is this your first time racing?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Second," she corrected, "but I'm just as nervous as the first time."
It was a simple exchange, but enough to give me confidence. We wished each other good luck and went to our starting posts. With my coaxing and careful monitoring of Flame's progress, we managed to finish third! I was ecstatic, especially because we won a small amount of prize money.
Seppen told me that she had gotten a job interview at the local business centre. She had tried to appear calm and professional, but I could sense her excitement anyway. I told her to tell me all about it. That night, she did just that.
"Yuki!" she squealed, bursting into our room at three a.m.
"Wh-what?" I mumbled, blinking at the sudden light.
"I got the job!" she yelled, causing me to shrink below my covers.
A few minutes later, I had properly woken up and was sitting on Seppen's bed beside her. Her breath smelt of alcohol and she was acting a lot sillier than usual.
"So, the interview went well?"I whispered cautiously.
"Yes, and the interviewer told me to meet my boss. He said that his boss had the final word. So I went over to the bar—"
"The bar?"
"Yeah, it's where he liked to work. Anyway, as soon as I shook his hand I felt weak at the knees. He's gorgeous, Yuki Blanche, gorgeous. Blonde, tall, strong, and handsome."
I tried not to roll my eyes, but Seppen was too drunk to notice, anyhow.
"He bought me a beer and we chatted for a while. He was really impressed with me and thought that I would be a great addition to his team. He liked my attitude and my confidence," Seppen said, preening. "We chatted for a while and I discovered that we share a lot of the same interests."
"What was his name?" I interrupted.
"Degan Rhodes."
I filed the name away for the future.
"I guess I was a little drunk, because Isortofkissedhimeventhoughehasagirlfriend," Seppen blubbered.
"What did you just say? He has a girlfriend?"
Seppen whimpered. "Her name's Sadie."
"And you kissed him?"
"Well, she's not really his girlfriend, they just have a thing. It's kinda like you and—um, it's like Harry and Shauni," Seppen stuttered, avoiding my gaze. I narrowed my eyes at her. Was she going to mention Stefan and I? It was a sore topic, and one she knew better than to bring up.
"So what did he do?"
"He kissed me back," she said, and smiled shyly. I was happy for her, but it wasn't like she was special to Degan, necessarily, just a girl he found attractive. She seemed to sense the doubt on my face. "I'm not in love with him," she chided, "but he is fun to be around."
"Have you got a picture?" I asked, curious.
Seppen pulled out her phone. "Got one right here." She showed me the picture. It was a selfie of the two of them smiling. They looked cute together, I had to admit.
"I'll be moving out soon," Seppen said, more seriously. "I'm going to finish my gift to you first, but after that, I'll be gone." Seppen looked sad and pulled my head to her chest, wrapping me in a tight embrace. "You're the best little sister I could have asked for," she said.
I smiled. "And you're my favourite big sis'."
"Hey! No fair, loser!" she laughed, pushing me off her bed. I giggled and scrambled into my own bed. "Night, Yuki."
"Night, Sep."
Harry was also keeping me updated on his dates. He still hadn't asked Shauni to be his girlfriend, but Harry had eaten dinner with her and her parents before attending a movie. He had gotten all dressed up in a suit, which impressed her parents. "They were nice," he said, but he mostly told me about how pretty Shauni looked.
A week later, I had the surprise of my life when I walked into daddy's room to see Doc and Dopey. I was about to question their presence when Dopey held a finger to his lips, giggling. "Yuki, look!" he snickered, pointing at Doc. Doc was making the most ridiculous expressions in a fashion entirely unlike his own. I was concerned, especially because Doc was nothing if not regal. Dopey pointed at the black and white swirly device behind them, and it clicked.
Doc was hypnotized.
"Can you even do that?" I asked, amused.
Dopey shrugged, then made Doc act like a chicken. "Does it matter? When he wakes up, he won't remember any of this."
"But it seems like a violation," I tutted. I wouldn't like it if someone did that to me.
"No, because he volunteered to look at the hypnosis wheel. He claimed that it was impossible to hypnotize him. We had made a deal. If I managed to hypnotize him, then I was allowed to do whatever I wanted," Dopey said, then asked Doc to stand on one leg.
"Take pity on him, then!"
"Fine," Dopey sighed, "But one last thing." He tapped his cheek with a finger, raising his eyebrows at Doc. "A kiss."
"Dopey!" I cried. That was really crossing boundaries.
"What? He would never do it consciously. Besides, it's only the cheek," Dopey defended himself.
"Still..."
"Yuki, you can give me a kiss, if you'd prefer. I'd pay a million of Doc's kisses for one of yours."
I blushed. Dopey was like that. He fell in love with everyone. He told me that he had loved Harry since they were kids. He loved Seppen. He loved me. He loved Shauni. He loved Doc. Once, he even said that he thought daddy was hot, but I made him swear to never bring it up again.
Doc leant forward and gave Dopey a big kiss on the cheek. I had to smile—it was pretty cute.
"Okay, I promise to wake him up now," Dopey said, grinning ear-to-ear. I simply laughed and exited the room.
In preparation for my inevitable (yet eventual) independence, I revisited my childhood baking memories. It all came fairly easily, and I managed to get the batter all sorted out for my waffles, but I nearly cried when I saw that they were all burnt. I left the burnt waffles on my kitchen table and ate cereal instead.
"You know," Harry said from his seat next to me, "waffles aren't supposed to go in the oven."
I ignored him. It would have been too embarrassing to acknowledge him. I had definitely read somewhere that it was possible to cook waffles without a waffle iron, but I didn't exactly have ironclad proof to back me up.
Seppen called me upstairs a few days later, telling me that she had a surprise. "I'm finished the painting!" she announced.
"Oh my! It's lovely!" I said. I felt honoured to have been given such a gift, but sad, as I knew that it would mean Seppen would leave.
"A little something for you to hang in our room. You can think of me when you see it, right?"
"I wish you had painted yourself, though," I sighed.
Seppen chuckled. "If I had the same looks as you then I would have."
I only smiled. I hugged her and we brought the painting downstairs.
"And one more thing, Yuki," Seppen said as we walked downstairs. She had her bags in hand, ready to move out. "Doc and Dopey talked to me. They wanted to know if they could come live with me. I said as long as you and Harry were okay with it, I was."
I smirked. While Doc hadn't yet confessed his love of Seppen to me, I knew that his feelings towards her equaled Dopey's. Once they grew up a little and turned of age, I hadn't a doubt that they would stop at nothing to try and marry Seppen. "I'm fine with it. They talked to me about it already," I lied. I didn't often lie, but I knew that this one would reassure her.
She smiled and pulled me into an embrace. "I'll call you as soon as I get there. I'll tell you everything. And you have to promise to tell me everything, you hear?"
I hugged her back. "Of course, Sep. Now, hurry up, Doc and Dopey are already in the taxi."
Seppen ran back inside to say goodbye to daddy and Harry. I fastened my riding helmet and let Flame out. It was time for our daily training session. My three family members waved to me from the back of the taxi as it drove away.
Even a mere week after Seppen's departure left the house in silence. Daddy was at work all the time and Harry spent every waking (and sleeping) moment with his girl. I went on long rides with Flame, so more often than not, our house was pitch black and empty.
I was beginning to avoid every human in my life. Daddy always looked full of sadness and tiredness, while Harry simply dragged on and on about Shauni...
"So while I was buying food for us, I saw her talking to a cop," Harry told me one night as I was attempting to do my homework. "Turns out that she had gratified the guy's house a few nights back and had gotten caught. He made her clean it off."
"Then why was he talking to her again?" I asked, turning to the answer page of my textbook.
"I had initially thought that she had done something else, but he just wanted to make sure that she was staying out of trouble," Harry continued.
"Riveting."
"But Yuki, wait!"
"What is it?"
"I finally built up my nerve to ask her to be my girlfriend."
"Really?"
"Yes. We were finished our meal and we had taken photos in the photo-booth. She was acting extra romantic and resting her head on my shoulder and holding my hand as we walked around. I turned to her and asked her how she felt about me."
"That's an awkward way to go about it..."
"Well, I never said I was perfect. She said that she really liked me and she wants to make a go of something. I said that I really cared for her. Then I just shot it out there. I said, 'Shauni, I want to be your boyfriend.' And she said, 'As long as I can be your girlfriend.'"
"Aww," I cooed. It sounded cheesy, but I couldn't help but smile at my brother's happiness.
"To celebrate, we went skating for a while. Roller skating," Harry continued, mimicking the motions. "We held hands since every time we tried letting go, we would fall," Harry laughed.
"That sounds symbolic."
"What, that we'll fail without each other? Not exactly the healthiest relationship."
"I dunno, I was just trying to sound phil-lo-si-phi-cal."
"Phi-li-saw-phi-cal," Harry corrected, "Philosophical."
"Whatever!"
"We fell while holding hands, so your theory doesn't really work, anyway," he shrugged.
I refrained from saying "Doomed to fail."
"It was fine, though. We started laughing once we both realized that we were okay."
I sighed and checked my watch. Shoot. "Well, Harry, I'd love to stay and chat, but not only have you prevented me from doing my math homework, I'm also late for a race that Flame and I are competing in!"
"Aw, don't be like that, Yuki, if I knew..."
"No hard feelings, it's just that I've really got to go. Goodbye, uterus-brother."
"Au revoir, womb-sister."
That night, I was in game-mode. I made sure that Flame and I were both focused. "I've got everything hedged on you, Flame," I whispered into his ear. It twitched, but he remained perfectly still otherwise. We were going into another beginner's race, and this time, I planned to take home first prize.
"Slow is okay," I muttered to myself as we took a sixth place start. I was very familiar with signs of tiredness from Flame, as well as when he felt he could speed up. I knew him better than my own boyfriend. "Now!" I shouted, squeezing my legs. He lowered his head and increased his speed notably, bypassing four opponents. We were at a solid second place, but I wasn't sure we could beat the one ahead of us. There was one lap left. I let Flame relent slightly, allowing another opponent to pass us.
In the final stretch, I let Flame know that it was all or nothing. And that's when it happened. When Flame and I connected in one, our breathing matching each others and our heart beating in time. Flame burst forward with amazing speed, giving us a clean first place finish.
The announcer went crazy, congratulating 'the newbie' and her first place finish. I took the trophy with pride. It had a little horse on it. "That's you," I breathed to Flame. He nibbled on his reigns.
The trophy was a thing of beauty. I wanted to show it off to my friends and parade around the school proudly with it in one arm. A trophy.
