“Of course you can,” Lewis said as it poked Snowball awake. “You heard the girl. You know what you have to do.”

Snowball yawned and chirped at Lewis, then at Blanc and Camille. He waited patiently for the letter to be packaged and rolled, and saluted as he took flight and bolted out the window.

—


Janus was sitting in class, contemplating what it would be like to see Michelle naked. After the disaster that was with that fae girl (oddly, he never learned her name…maybe his first mistake…), he had taken to slowing down his dating game. Surprisingly, Michelle wasn’t completely furious that he had ditched her for a crazy girl…which might be a red flag, but hey, Janus liked the color red.

Whack.

He blinked as there was a chirp to his left. All he saw was a flurry of puffy feathers, and noticed a note in his lap. “Was that Snowball?” he whispered to himself. Why did Snowball show up and throw a letter in his face?

“Mr. Terrowin,” the teacher said, snapping a ruler against his deck. “Care to explain?”

Janus realized the whole class was staring at him. “Uh…well, it seems a messenger bird arrived with a letter for me.”

“And that letter says?”

Janus puffed out his face. The teacher was going to be an asshole about it. “Okay then…” He stood up and opened the letter. The moment he saw the red pastel, he knew. The boy cleared his throat.

“Dear JanJan,

I’m very, very mad you moved all the way to Iria. And I’m very, very angry you haven’t written home daily. VERY ANGRY.

Love,
Camille”

He looked up from the note as the teacher stared in disbelief at him. “And who is Camille? That can’t be the actual note…”

Janus flashed the pastel scribbles to the class and the teacher, “My little sister. She’s a treat.”

One of the other students pointed, “It’s just red scribbles. There’s no way that’s what she wrote.”

“Oh no, that’s exactly what she wrote. I know my sister, and I know her intent on using red pastels…”

To Whom It May Concern

Camille was downright tired of it. She was tired of everyone. She dragged herself out of her bed with Philip, the red dragon plushie. She had a sleep cap on her head with her nightgown. She opened the door to utter chaos.

The Terrowin children were in the middle of a tussle as they all struggled to wake up and get around for the day. “EVERYONE BE QUIET,” Camille yelled which startled Simone and Lewis who were getting everyone ready. “OUT OF MY WAY,” she kicked everyone out of line for the bathroom. Took her time in there before coming out and making her way downstairs.

“Is she alright?” Simone whispered up at Lewis.

“I’m not… sure,” Lewis squinted his eyes.

“Silva!” Camille yelled as she totted her way into the kitchen. “I need my pastels and paper.”

She went and hid while the family ate. Simone was worried. “DO NOT DISTURB,” Camille yelled as Simone tried to open the door.

“Okay… but don’t let your food get cold okay?” Simone said cautiously as she closed the door. “Something is wrong Lew…” She informed her husband.

“FAMILY MEETING,” Camille came into the dining room where everyone stopped what they were doing. She got up on a chair that she dragged out into the middle of the entryway the best she could. She showed her letter with angry red scribbles. “I have a complaint. Please read.”

“Can you translate your complaint?”

“FINE,” Camille turned it around and cleared her throat like Simone.

“TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN,

I, CAMILLE ELOISE TERROWIN, BRING THIS COMPLAINT TO LEWIS AND SIMONE TERROWIN. THIS COMPLAINT IS AGAINST ALL TERROWINS IN THE HOUSEHOLD. IT IS A CRIME AND THERE SHOULD BE PUNISHMENT. I, CAMILLE ELOISE TERROWIN, DEMAND THAT A BABY BE BROUGHT INTO THIS HOUSE–”

Simone put her hand up.

“I’m not done!” Camille said to her mother who put her hand down.

“INTO THIS HOUSE. I AM TIRED OF CONSTANTLY BEING THE BABY. I AM TIRED OF BEING THE YOUNGEST AND IT IS TIME THERE IS A NEW BABY.

SIGNED,
CAMILLE”

She held her letter to her and looked up at her parents for answers. “How do you plead?”

Was this all? Lewis smirked. They were worried over nothing. He sighed and shook his head, “Babies don’t work like that, Camille. But we can make some arrangements. You don’t have to be the baby anymore. You want to be a big girl, all grown up?”

Camille huffed and nodded, “Yeah.”

Simone walked over and ruffled her hair. “Well, then you are no longer the baby.” She turned to her boys, Remy and Damond, and walked over to them. Without warning, she picked up Remy and cradled him. “You want to be my baby boy again? And get all the cuddles meant for the baby?”

Remy got a big smile, “More cuddle time with Momma? Yeah!” He seemed rather excited over the prospect.

Lewis shrugged, “Then there we go. Congratulations, Camille. You’re no longer the baby.” He gave her a genuine smile. “Now be a good big girl and eat your food. Responsible big girls don’t let it go cold.”

Camille nodded and moved to the table to eat her food. She even got to try and cut her own food up for once. Simone had the idea that maybe she just wanted to be more responsible for herself. But something else was up too she just couldn’t put her finger on it as she babied Remy some more.

The morning went fine but as the day continued Camille came to get help with things. “Okay, but this is the last time… Big girls don’t need help with that.” Simone tied her shoes for her. “So you have to remember how I did it alright?” Simone showed her how to tie her own shoes and Camille seemed pleased with this.

She hurt herself and she immediately went to Lewis crying. Lewis popped her up on a stool so he could patch her up. “You’ll be okay Camille. Just a little ointment and it will be fine.”

Camille held her arms up at him and sniffled some.

“Okay but… You are going to be my baby then,” Lewis looked at her. Camille was sniffling and nodded as she got picked up and babied by Lewis.

“I’ll be the baby then,” she was still in the middle of crying. Lewis cuddled her and brought her around with him so she didn’t have to walk.

At dinner she got back up on her stool with her little bandaged knee, “I’m the baby.”

Simone let out a little aww from her lips as she got up and picked Camille up. “Now… Camille, what’s wrong?” She held her close as Simone sat back down by Lewis.

“Well…” Camille looked between her father and mother. “My legs are really achy.”

Throughout the day, Lewis and Simone kept a watchful eye on Camille. She finally broke when it came to falling and hurting herself, and in the end she relented. Lewis had little issue picking her up and babying her. He coddled her until she stopped crying, and when she finally admitted she was the baby, the real issues finally revealed themselves.

“Your having growing pains,” Lewis said as he swooped her up into his arms. “It’s just a part of growing. We can have Uncle Xeik give you some medicine that will help with the pain.” He nuzzled her nose with his, and smiled. “And you want to know a secret, Camille?”

“Hmm?” She looked at him.

“You will always be our baby. All of your brothers and sisters are too. It doesn’t matter how old you get,” he said.

Remy was in the background huffing, staring at Camille. “Darn it…not even a full day of extra cuddles…”

Pastel Therapy

It had been a hard moment for Simone. “And you’ll be a good girl for the teacher?” She asked as Lewis put Camille down in the classroom and kissed her forehead. It never got any easier as Simone was tearing up.

“Yeah, I’ll be good. I’m always good.” Compared to the twins she wasn’t lying. Camille had a very good record for not being a troublemaker. She had her moments but Camille was sweet and lovable. She loved snuggles with her mommy and daddy. She loved all of the attention she got.

Simone handed Camille her little school bag. Camille rummaged into the bag. “What are you looking for?”

“My pastels,” Camille seemed satisfied when she found it.

“Okay, and just remember Mommy and Daddy will be in town.” It was going to be a short first day to get the children used to each other. “Remy and Damond will look out for you while you are here.” As well as the other children would as well. Especially Teagan who seemed to be the most responsible out of their ten year olds.

Right on time Lewis and Simone showed back up to the schoolhouse to get Camille. The teacher was there waiting for them. “A moment of your time please,” the teacher spoke to them calmly.

Oh no… Remy or Damond?

They sat down in the office and the teacher sighed. Her name was Mrs. Thatcher. The replacement for the one that Janus and Lila had driven off. “I’m afraid this is about Camille.”

“Camille?!” Simone sat up straight and looked at her. “She was only here for a few hours… What could she have done?” Her baby girl wasn’t normally one to act out in public.

“Well… One of the children took the toy she was playing with away from her. We’ve dealt with that issue but Camille drew this,” the teacher slid over a picture of the child on fire. “Has she ever done something like this before?”

“Well… No. Normally, she tries to write angry letters. This is the first time she’s done this,” Simone looked at it with concern. “We’ll talk to her.” She handed the picture to Lewis to look at.

Lewis took the picture, and nodded. “I can handle this for now.”

–

Lewis was there when Camille ran up to him, jumping into his arms.

“Daddy!” she yelled happily, giggling as he swung her around. “I can’t wait to tell you about my day.” She was suddenly super serious. “It was awful Daddy.” She was pouting now.

“Oh?” Lewis asked as he walked over to pick up her pack. One of the other girls was giving Lila the stink eye. Daddy could tell there was some serious drama brewing in the background.

“Mhmm,” Camille said as she nodded. “First, it was sooo boring. The teacher just kept going on and ooonnnn,” she said, flopping to the side dramatically. “And then, when it came to snack time, they only had gross-berry juice.” She made an icky face, and stuck out her tongue. “Blegh. And finally, the the worst thing ever happened!”

“Oh? What happened?” Lewis asked, secretly enjoying the embellished ‘worst day ever.’

“This girl, Ruby, she stole my toy! I was having so much fun with it, and she just snatched it away,” she said, huffing. “It wasn’t okay. So…I wanted to write her a letter. So I got my pastels, and I scribbled and wrote a note. But the teacher stole it before I could send it.” At this point, Lewis was close to the ferry, and decided to wait for Simone to catch up.

“So..you weren’t happy that this…Ruby, stole your toy during playtime?” Lewis asked. “Is this the letter?” he asked, reaching into his coat pocket to produce the picture of ‘Ruby’ on fire.

“That’s it Daddy! Did you steal my letter back for me?” she asked, bouncing in his arms. “I can finish it and send it!”

“Camille…” Simone frowned a bit as she put her hand through the girl’s white hair and finally settled on cupping her face.

“Mommy?” Camille was confused as she looked at Simone’s sad face. “Did someone make you sad?”

A sigh left Simone’s lips as she took a look at Lewis. Settling back on Camille’s confused face she sighed a bit more, “Camille… Baby you can’t draw things like this at school.”

“But why not?”

“Because…” Simone was struggling to answer because she understood why Camille did it. Camille got her feelings out through her drawings and always had. “Other people don’t understand. They thought you were going to hurt Ruby.”

“Well… Can I?” Camille puffed up her cheeks at her mother.

“No, you can’t. You have to be bigger than she is,” Simone said with a smile and ruffled Camille’s hair.

“But I’m not bigger than she is… I’m smaller than she is. Which makes this a worse crime than I thought!” Camille came to the wrong conclusion.

Simone did another deep inhale and sharp exhale. Lewis had his hand to his head despite the same inhale and sharp exhale. Lewis was trying hard not to laugh which was also the current state Simone was in. “Camille, it’s a metaphor," Lewis chimed in finally.

“But what’s a metaphor?”

“It’s a figure of speech sweetheart,” Simone said with another hair ruffle. “You need to be more grown-up than she is even if she is being a brat.”

“But why? I’m five. I don’t have to be an adult yet. Remember I gave up my big girl privileges.” The small child spoke up to her parents.

Simone was holding in her laughter and for a moment she couldn’t think of what to say to their five-year-old.

Lewis let out a deep exhale, trying his best not to laugh at the whole situation. This is your fault, you know. She gets it from you, he mentioned through the resonance. Time to tackle this head on.

“Camille, do you see that man over there?” he asked, pointing. The man was Pearl’s father, a rather despicable man who was easily bought. “That man isn’t a good person. We all know it. Daddy could easily make him disappear, but I won’t. Do you know why?”

“Why?” Camille asked.

“Because sometimes the easiest answer isn’t always the best path to take,” he said. “What do you think Ruby’s reaction will be to this letter?”

Camille scrunched her face for a moment, “I want her to go cry in a corner and leave me alone!”

Lewis tried his hardest to suppress a smirk. “That won’t happen, though. Not with this. All it’s going to do is get you in trouble, and Ruby is going to be able to use this to antagonize you further.”

“What does antagonize mean?” Camille asked.

Lewis paused, “It means she’ll keep being mean to you. Even more so,” he replied. “I have a sinking feeling she’s not going to be easy to deal with, so it’s best not to make it worse. You can always come home and write and draw to your heart’s content, but doing it in school might make it harder.”

“Can I just not go to school?” Camille asked. “It seems like a lot of work and super annoying.”

Simone was trying her best not to laugh. You might be right… She does get this from me. Simone could always win her arguments… Apparently, Camille didn’t fall far from the apple tree.

“Camille…” Simone took a breath. “Do you want to be like Janus?”

“YES,” Camille held onto Lewis more as she kicked her legs. “I do! I really want to be like big brother!”

“Then you need to go to school,” Simone spoke up with the best answer she had. “It might be hard and not everyone will like you but… You can learn to deal with it on your own at home… but you can’t draw pictures like this or hurt other people. We’ve worked hard to make sure you can go to school and live a peaceful life. So please try to understand that you have to go,” Simone ruffled his hair.

Camille puffed up her face, “I’m going to ask Grandpa Roma if I can quit school. He can teach me.”

Simone sighed a bit, “Don’t put that on your grandpa… Please. It will be hard at first but you’ll learn how to deal with it.”

“Boring,” Camille answered. “But fine. But I don’t like it but I will tolerate it. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be nice to Ruby and share my toys.”

“You don’t need to share your toys with her Camille… They are your toys.” My goodness… She is going to be one hell of a teenager. Simone wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Daddy… What do you do when someone does something you don’t like?”