The Brothers Luxtenebris

Part 2: The Luxtenebris Twins

Fabian Gabriel Luxtenebris was born on October 30th, at 11:56 p.m.

Gideon Archimedes Luxtenebris was born October 31st, at 12:02 a.m, six minutes after his twin brother.

They were not born in their small three room home, but in the back room of a furniture store belonging to a good friend of their mother. Atticus kept Jamison (who was 6 at this time) in the front of the store as the store owner helped deliver the two boys.

They were born at the store, and not in their home due to being born early. It had been quite an experience: Gwen and Atticus had dragged Jamison with them to find a crib for the new member of the family, as Jamison's old one was severely damaged, and would've been hazardous to a newborn.

Just as they had picked a suitable crib, the twins decided they had had enough of the womb, and wanted to explore the outside world at this exact moment, and not one moment later. Gwen yelled loudly when they made the such decision, and she decided not to try and make the trek home.

However, the twins being born 1 month early was not the biggest shock of the day. The real shock was that there was two of them.

After several hours, the Luxtenebris Twins were finally born. By this time, Jamison had lost interest in staying awake, and was asleep in his father's arms. He was seriously disgruntled when the shop owner exited the back room, and woke him up to see his brothers.

"Come with me! They're so precious, you will be very proud of your little miracles!" the shop owner cooed.

"They're? Miracles as in plural?" said Atticus softly.

The back room had a large bed where Gwen was lying down, the two little boys in her arms. She looked very, very tired (which was expected) and also quite proud.

"There's two of them?" Atticus gasped.

Jamison instantly ran over to his mother's bediside, eager to get a closer look at his new siblings.

"Yes, dear. Two boys." Gwen said in response to Atticus. She laughed as her oldest stared so intently at her youngest.

"What are their names?" Jamison asked, never taking his eyes off of them

"Fabian Gabriel Luxtenebris, and Gideon Archimedes Luxtenebris." She said, gesturing to each one respectively.

Jamison climbed onto the bed (with the help of his father) and sat in front of his mother. Atticus sat on the edge of the bed, next to his wife. She handed the twins to Atticus

"Which is which?" he asked.

Gwen pointed each out, and named a few qualities about each one to help tell them apart.

"Aren't they beautiful?" she sighed.

He agreed, but didnt actually feel the same.

Atticus looked at the newborns. One of them (he didn't really know which one it was) was a very healthy looking baby, which he was happy about. The other, however, looked sickly, maybe not long for this world. He wondered, perhaps, in a few weeks' time he'd have only two children.

He pushed the thought aside and handed them back to Gwen. Jamison was still intensely focused on them. He reached out and touched each of them on the head gently.

"Their hair looks like mine!" He said, astounded.

"Yes, you all have my red hair." Gwen said, amused at her son's astonishment.

After a few minutes more of staring at his brothers, Jamison's eyelids began to droop. He crawled over to his father and resumed the sleeping position he had been in earlier, and fell asleep in seconds.

Gwen looked down at her three sleeping children, and sighed. The three person family was wonderful while it lasted, but something had been missing. She gazed upon her tiny, new sons, and felt complete.

**********************

"Come on, guys! Say "Jamison"!" The oldest brother urged his siblings.

They had both said their first words, and knew a few others, but still mostly spoke baby gibberish. Fabian's first word was "Tree." It was really out of the blue when he said it- they had been on a family walk, and strolled along a path that was lined with trees, and had a leafy canopy over it.

Jamison had directed Fabian's attention to a particularly large one (Gideon was fast asleep, and was obviously unaware to his surroundings), and simply said "Tree." To his surprise, Fabian repeated the word with a giggle "Twee!"

Gideon's first word was "No." He said it a lot once he started talking, so the exact story behind was lost to his parents. According to Jamison, he had said it when Fabian tried to pluck a grape out of his hand, and it was Gideon's response.

For the past week or so, Jamison had been desperately trying to get them to say his name. Fabian had come close (or, unlike Gideon, had at least made an effort) but got stuck after the first syllable, calling him "Ja" or "Jam".

After about half an hour with no success from Fabian (Gideon had only said his favorite word: no), Jamison lost hope for today, and got up to walk away.

"Jam...ie."

He spun around

Fabian was sitting with a grin on his face.

"Jamie!" he repeated

He ran over and crouched back down to his brother's level. Even at almost 7 years old, he was growing rapidly and was almost the size of the average 12 year old.

"Fabian, you've done it!" he exclaimed. It wasnt all three syllables, but he was happy with it.

"Jamie..." Fabian said, pointing to him, then to his twin "Gidon" (he hadn't quite gotten down the 'e' sound yet) "Mom...Dad!" he said, pointing to each family member.

"Yes! Wonderful, Fabian!" Jamison exclaimed.

"Fabin!" he giggled, and pointed to himself.

**********

Fabian, Gideon, and Jamie (he preferred this to his full name) were as close as three brothers could be. Jamie's spider, after a few months, became loved by the twins. They didnt touch or pet it as much as Jamie did, but they did play with it.

They spent each day playing with each other, mostly outside with many plants around. It was amazing fun, and they loved every second of it.

They loved it, that is, until the plants started to die.