picture source:https://pixabay.com/illustrations/steampunk-clock-clockwork-time-1636156/
Though in any other way impossible, Leo and Virgo agreed on something. It sucked when parents fought.
Neither sibling knew when it started, all that they knew was that at some point, Mama had started to fight Papa about bills and his outings and how he did things, and Papa fought Mama about her indecisiveness and yelling and whatnot. Then they began to fight about common things, like who broke what and who snores too loud until they couldn’t agree on anything.
Even now, on this particularly rainy day, Mama and Papa were fighting like birds downstairs about who-knows-what. Both children no longer cared, they just wanted the whole thing to stop.
Leo was trying to sleep, really. Though he knew he should be thinking about the trigonometry test he had tomorrow, he would rather think about his time machine. I can’t believe they turned down my proposal of a time machine just because they said I didn’t have any proof that it exists! I did! Why didn’t they just come to my house and see the darn thing for themselves!? It’s too bulky to bring to the university! Those college professors just need bigger brains, thought Leo. After all, he had such a great machine. A time machine that could really go back in time! Now, it could only go back a few moments. Leo had tested it by eating a sandwich precisely at 12:00 p.m., then going back a few minutes to re-eat that same sandwich. He came out at 11:56 a.m., which was not much of a change, but progress was progress. If the state college would have just allowed him to take his research forward, he might be able to travel way back into the past, like 20 years!
“My cigars aren’t the problem!” Leo’s father yelled.
“Well the bills have to get paid somehow! And you slumping around smoking isn’t going to keep food on the table!”
“Oh please, don’t try to make your family problems my problems!”
“What are you saying!? Huh!?”
“I’m saying that yelling at me and the kids all the day isn't helping much, is it?”
“Don’t try to bring them into this!”
Uh, can’t they stop so I can sleep? Thought Leo. This was awful.
Welp, he wasn’t getting to sleep. Leo got up and walked out of his room and down the hall to his little sister Virgo’s room.
“Virgo. Virgo!” Leo whispered. No answer.
He walked over to her bed. It was wrinkled, but the covers were mainly pulled up. Virgo wasn’t there.
Hmm, maybe she’s in the bathroom or something, thought Leo and as he walked back to his room, he saw a wide black shadow by the stairs.
Leo gasped and jumped. Virgo turned to him, her eyes quite watery. She was curled up into a tiny ball, her knees squeezed tight by her arms.
Leo sighed and sat beside her. They listened to the yelling going on by the stairs.
“This sucks, right?”
Virgo only sniffled.
Leo looked out between the bars of the railing. He could not see his parents, but he knew they were arguing in the living room right below them, the bright ceiling light shining against the fireplace.
Leo and Virgo sat there for a while, until Virgo got up and walked back to her room.
Then, not wanting to be alone, Leo walked back to his room, staring up at the ceiling, wishing this were all just a nightmare.
Leo didn’t know when he fell asleep, just that he opened his eyes the next morning and the sun was gleaming through his closed blinds, turning his whole room yellow. Well, time to tinker with his time machine!
Virgo woke up after a great dream in her opinion. She was about to date the guy of her dreams- well, the video game guy of her dreams. Then she woke up and realized where she was- and went downstairs.
She went to the kitchen only to see her mother staring into the dining room wall, her hands infront of her torso.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re father’s leaving.”
No. Mom did not just say that. Virgo couldn’t process that. Virgo suddenly felt like she hadn’t woken up and was in some dizzy, weird, horrible dream.
“Where’s he going?”
“He said he doesn’t know yet. Only that he has to leave.”
Why was Virgo not crying? She should be crying shouldn’t she? Was something wrong with her?
Virgo needed to sit. She went to the couch, and just sat there, her mind thick and cloudy with thoughts. Just like that, she became one of those children. One of those kids whose parents were divorced, separated, it didn’t matter.
Why wasn’t she crying? She didn’t believe it. Her father was not leaving. It was just too bizarre to actually be happening.
Mom began to talk to Virgo, who was too upset to pay much attention. At some point Mom went upstairs, and Leo came down the stairs, taking in the sight of his younger sister, who seemed to be mentally dead on the couch.
“Virgo? What’s wrong?”
And that’s when Virgo started to cry. Really cry. Not loud, as Virgo always tried to keep her wailing to a minimum to the point where her throat aced, but she cried nonetheless.
Leo went over to his sister. What’s the matter?
“Dad’s leaving. I hate him for it! I feel like this is all a dream. Mom asked me if I wanted to go with him, and I just don’t know! I need my father, but I need my mother too!”
She wailed and wailed and cried into her brother’s stomach. Now Leo was stuck staring off too. He couldn’t let this happen. His parents couldn’t just give up. Not for their sake, not for their childrens’. Leo had an idea, and it involved his parents, the time machine, and his sister.
“Virgo, don’t cry.”
She looked up at him. “Why?”
“Because we’re going back in time to fix their relationship!”
“Is this another one of your crazy ideas?”
“Yes, and you can’t back out of this.”
Accepting her fate, Virgo followed her brother to the time machine, and off the siblings went.
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