Spark Wizard - A Double Life (Book 1)

Chapter 24 - Meet the Family

A/N I am SO sorry I haven't updated in a while, to any of you who still read my stories. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter :)

Meadow arrived home a few minutes after she left the Travel Lodge. She reached the front door of her house and knocked on the hard wood with her right hand, her left one still throbbing painfully. The bandage around her head was coming loose and her mainframe virus wasn't getting much better. After the eventful day, all the young girl wanted to do was rest. The door opened seconds later and peering through the gap was her older brother, Matthew. "Meadow? What happened to you?" he asked in horror as he took one look at the bandage around her head and hand. He opened the door further and let his sister in. Meadow walked into the living room, her family staring at her in disbelief.

Her father, Marcus, was sitting beside his wife, Maisie, and clutched her hands in reassurance. Her older sister Mabel, her younger sister Michelle and her younger brother Milo sat next to each other on the sofa nearest to the living room window. They all had worried looks on their faces. In silence, Meadow down beside Matthew on the sofa with their parents. She had barely sat down comfortably before her family members broke the silence. Things like,
"Oh, honey. Where were you? We were so worried for you! You normally come home a lot earlier than this." And, "What happened to you?! Why are you wearing bandages? What did you do to yourself?" were blurted out. The questions never seemed to end. She didn't say anything until their was complete quiet.

Then she stood up in front of everyone replied,
"Look, everyone, I'm sorry for coming late and I'm so sorry for worrying you. I understand that you all want an explanation for this, so just hear me out. I'm guessing that the doctors haven't been able to contact you so I'll shorten down the story for you. I was in the Magic Realm with my friends and then we were under attack. I cut my hand on broken glass when I jumped out of a top floor window and I scratched my forehead when I was trying to save a lady from an avalanche of rubble. In the end, my friends and I - along with the other Endils - were able to defeat the other side. That brings us up to now. Mum, Dad, I will accept any punishment you give me. You can ground me, take away my electronics. Take away my pocket money. Anything. But please just forgive me if you can."

She expected her parents to scold her but instead, her mum got up from the sofa and hugged her. Her dad hugged them both and then all her siblings joined in. When they all broke off from the embrace, Meadow asked, "You're not angry with me?"
"Of course not, we can't stop you from doing what you're best at. And that's saving innocent people from danger. We're just glad you're safe." Maisie said, smiling at her daughter.
"I'll book you an appointment at the hospital so we know how long you have to keep your bandages on for. But right now, you have to rest." Marcus told Meadow, being very fatherly.
"But Dad, I'm not tired anymore!" Meadow retorted, trying her best to look energetic.
"Do you want to watch a movie with us instead?" Matthew enquired, dropping in on the conversation.
"Can I, Dad?"
"Oh okay, fine. But keep off your feet and if you get tired, go straight to bed."

With that, Marcus and Maisie left the children and went upstairs. The two older siblings prepared some snacks and drinks for the movie while everyone else sat on the sofas, bundling themselves up with blankets. Matthew and Mabel came back with Salty 'n Sweet popcorn, four glasses of Fanta and one cup of tropical juice. Matthew sat with Milo on the sofa near the back wall; Mabel, Meadow and Michelle sat on the sofa in front of window.
"What genre should we watch?" asked Matthew, "I want to watch an action movie." He scrolled down to the second filter on the TV with the remote until it reached 'Action'.
"No, a fantasy movie." retorted Mabel. He went lower down the list until the selection box was on 'Fantasy'.
"A comedy movie!" Michelle exclaimed. Matthew scrolled up to find 'Comedy'.
"Tell you what, let's let Meadow decide on a genre." Matthew said, handing her the remote.
She held the remote. "Are you sure?" Her brother smiled at nodded. "How about an animation movie?" Meadow clicked on 'Animation'. Her siblings asked her what movie she wanted to watch and without hesitation, she said, "How to Train Your Dragon!"

So for the rest of the evening, Meadow and her siblings watched the movie as she tried to forget what had happened earlier that day. Spending time with her siblings was one of the ways Meadow was able to relax after long days. It's one of the many reasons why she loved them - even though they were sometimes quite annoying. But that's family for you, right? They can be a nuisance every now and then, but they'll always be there for you in times of need. It was Friday night, so Meadow was allowed to stay up later than she would on weekdays. At around 11pm, her younger siblings were already asleep so Meadow, Mabel and Matthew cleared up their popcorn mess and went upstairs to their bedrooms.

Before going to bed, the Spark wanted to text her friends a message. She grabbed her phone from the desk and clicked on the Spark group chat on WhatsApp. Meet me tomorrow at 3pm, Realm time. We have some things to discuss. She clicked the send button, placed her phone back on the desk, closed the curtains and hopped into bed. That night was one of the longest nights of her life. She replayed the battle in her head over and over again, thinking about all those innocent people who she could have saved if she defeated Stinger the first time they encountered each other. After tiring herself out, Meadow managed to finally fall asleep, hoping that her dreams wouldn't keep her up.

Let her sleep for when she wakes up, she will move mountains.

You're future depends on your dreams, so go to sleep.

The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night's sleep.

"I want to sleep until I feel better."

Sleeping is nice. You forget about everything for a little while.

Exhaustion makes wimps out of us all.