Chapter 6 - part 3 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

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Standing in the meadow with the rest of the boys and at the moment all eyes are on me because I really don't like the plan that they have come up with and I am stalling.

Me being her boyfriend I am the ideal one to get her here, we plan to use Fern as the bait to lure all the other Freeze kids out, including Forrest.  The police haven't found Forrest yet to arrest him - he has gone into hiding - we are hoping that us holding Fern hostage will flush him out and get him here, but I doubt he would be that stupid!!  Carmine and Mosaic are seriously after Forests blood and they are scaring me!!

Fern's phone is ringing and she doesn't answer it.  It just gets cut off.

"You know this isn't going to work!!"  I looked at the other boys  "She just cut off the call"

"Try again Tap - we NEED to get her out first to lure the others out, or how else are we going to do it??!!"  Mosaic is egging me on.  In a way I hope she doesn't answer her phone to keep her out of this, but I call her number again anyway, I don't really have a choice with four sets of eyes staring at me.

Her phone starts ringing and I stand listening, after only two rings, my heart skips a beat as there is a click as she answers her phone.

"Sorry  Tap - my brother was in the room, I'm really sorry about Storm - are you okay??!!"  she whispers down the phone.

"No!!  Fern can you get out?  I really need to see you!!"  I tried to sound upset.  Inside I'm shaking because I really don't like the idea of using Fern, I'm helping to lure her out into the middle of the trouble when I don't want to, but I have to keep remembering I need to stick with my brother, he is determined to do this with or without me.   The sensible thing would be to try and talk them out of this revenge attack but deep down I too need to see something done for what they have done to Storm - Forrest has to pay for what he's done.  Storm wouldn't have just sat back and done nothing if it had been one of us - he would be here and doing this, so I feel I have to - for him.    

"Meet me in the meadow, Please Fern I need you!!"  She falls for it and says she'll sneak out and be here as soon as she can.  I snapped my phone shut looking at the boys

"Happy now?! She's on her way."

Now all we can do is wait.

The other boys went and hid away out of sight while I sit out in the open where she can see me, strategically placed as we have planned it.  This gave me time to think - I have to make sure they don't hurt Fern, she really doesn't deserve what they think she has coming to her - just because she is a Freeze it doesn't make her bad, unlike the rest of her family she doesn't care about colour or mixed berries, she hasn't bullied anyone, she hasn't been mean to anyone - her only crime is her name and her family.   It didn't take long for her to appear.

I stand up when I see her coming and watch her walking towards me, my stomach flips, I really don't like the thought of what is coming.  Without saying a word she puts her arms around me and starts to kiss me.  Great!!  This is all I need, I nearly pushed her away but have second thoughts.   If I stop her from kissing me she might get suspicious and it is I suppose a pretty good way to keep her distracted, it helps me to do what I have to do while I am waiting for the other boys to pounce.

As she is kissing me I already know, this isn't going to be as hard for me as I thought, instantly it has helped me clear up any confusion that I might have over breaking up with Fern for Honey.  I know I fell for her pretty face and the fact that she was the first girl that showed any interest in me, a boy who thought he would never get himself a girlfriend, because I struggle to even make and keep friends.  She is kissing me and I don't feel a thing, there are no sparks, there is no chemistry, I'm just going through the motions of kissing her and all I can think about is Honey.

Suddenly she is wrenched away from me  "Nice move Tap - the kissing was genius!!"  Mosaic is laughing, while he has a hold of Ferns one arm and Maize has a hold of the other.

"Hey what's going on??"  she starts yelling and tries to wriggle out of Mosaic and Maize's grip, but it's useless they are too strong for her and have her pinned up against the rock.  "Tap??!!"  she is looking at me a little distressed

"I'm sorry Fern!!"  I pass her phone to Carmine, as I watch her eyes widen as she must realize that I had picked her pocket while my hands were wandering when she was kissing me.  She must have thought I was touching her up but I wasn't I was searching for her phone.  Carmine is already in her phone and calling the number we had decided on.

"No it's not Fern!!"  he laughs into the phone, obviously Pine has answered his phone  "We have your sister and if you don't want us to hurt her, you'll come to the meadow."  he stands listening pulling the phone away from his ear and starts laughing.  Even I can hear Pine shouting because it is so loud.  Fern starts screaming for help, which no doubt her brother can hear. Cinnamon quickly moved to cover her mouth to quieten her, as he looks around nervously hoping no passers by have heard her screaming.   

"I'm not joking Pine, I've got a knife, you've got 5 minutes before she starts losing things, starting with her pretty face!!"  Carmine says to Pine then he snaps the phone shut a big grin on his face.  He sees me scowling at him  "Don't worry Tap, I don't have a knife, but Pine isn't to know that is he!!  Your girlfriends face is safe ..... for now."  he starts laughing again, I felt like punching him!!

"You bitch!!"  Cinnamon shouts and starts hopping around shaking his hand  "You should have warned us Tap that the bitch bites."  They all started laughing but I'm not really finding this very funny, especially where Fern is concerned.

I heard a twig snap loudly behind me and I turn to look, surprised to see Strawberry making her way towards our little gathering, I'm not happy that she's here, we managed to stop Coral and Juniper coming, she even helped us talk them out of it, so why is she here now?!   

"Strawberry what are you playing at - you need to leave - you know it's not safe!!!"  I say to her telling her she needs to go again, but she just stands there with her arms crossed saying she is going nowhere.

"I'm here for my sister, I don't trust you Tapestry!!"  she snaps at me  "Tap have you told her yet she's so dumped??!!"  I swear this girl is mad!!  Pine and Jade and possibly Forrest are due here any minute and she's come here just to make sure I've dumped Fern!!

"This really isn't the time Strawberry!! the others will be here any minute, you need to leave!!"  I'm scared that if she is here when Jade arrives being the only girl Strawberry will be her first target and I doubt she will stand a chance.  Strawberry being Parsleys girlfriend makes me extra nervous, he has been through enough today without his girlfriend getting hurt on top.

Strawberry walked up to Fern and slapped her face pretty hard,  "That is for Storm!!"  she says to her which I thought was pretty harsh as it wasn't Fern who stuck the knife in, it was Forrest, and I think we are all forgetting that Storm was her half brother too.  "And while I'm here just so you know - your boyfriend here has been getting naked and horizontal with my sister."  Oh boy!!!  I can hear Mosaic and Cinnamon sniggering quite loudly  "So you are dumped, its over - from now on you keep away from Tapestry or me and my brothers will be coming after you!!"  I wanted a hole to open up in the ground and swallow me whole.  I glance over at Maize and Carmine who are just glaring at me, both Honey's brothers I guess they don't find it as amusing as my brother and Cinnamon do.

Fern is also glaring at me.  "Tap, tell me she's lying"

"I'm sorry Fern she's not, we have to break up because I'm with Honey now."  She is silent for a moment then a hale of swear words start to fly at me as Fern starts kicking and screaming, trying to wriggle out of Mosaic and Maize's grip again.

Strawberry's disruption has made us take our eye off the ball, for a while I think we almost forgot the whole purpose of us being here, now too busy watching Fern kicking off and waiting for her to calm down, we don't see what is coming behind us - the remaining three Freeze kids. I feel something hard hit my back, a rock falls to the ground by my feet with a thud.

"You know Orchid we really need to stop meeting like this."  I can hear Forrest behind me and I know he is talking to me.  I spin round and am faced with Forrest, Jade and Pine.  I am very surprised that Forrest has appeared, I didn't think he would actually be stupid enough to come out of hiding, I only expected Pine and Jade to turn up.

"Let my sister go now!!!"  Forrest is snarling at us

"Not till you get what's coming to you berryhole!!!"  Carmine shouts at him, he really is up for a fight.  "You are going to pay for what you have done to Storm!!"

Forrest started laughing  "That was his own stupid fault for trying to be clever!!!  If you play you have to be prepared to lose!!"  he steps towards me and stops laughing  "Shame I didn't know he was my brother at the time, he had balls trying to protect you, I could have used him, he would have made a nice addition to our team!!"

"Berry Hole!!!"  he made me angry, I saw red and I flew at him, but I didn't reach him, Pine and Jade charged forward both pushing me flying backwards and away from Forrest.  I fell backwards onto the grass, as I tried to scramble to my feet all hell broke loose.  I saw Carmine and Maize fly at Forrest and the fighting starts as they both start laying into him.

As I got to my feet Pine steps in front of me.  "You should have listened Orchid!!  You should have kept away from Fern when you were told to!!"  he hisses at me.  "We don't make idol threats!!"

"What the fudge is your problem anyway??"  I snap at him  "This is all about colour - you are pathetic - if you have a problem with colour mixing then you should get the fudge out of our town, you have no rights being here!!!"

"To start with yes, it was only about colour mixing -  but this runs a little deeper than just colour now!!"  he's in my face  "Your three families, yours in particular, are the reason why my Mother is in prison!!"

W.T.F is he on about???!!!  I don't get the chance to ask because he is coming at me, he throws a punch so we start to lay into each other.  We are exchanging punches for a while when Mosaic throws himself at Pine sending him flying away from me, Pines gets up and starts on Mosaic.

I look around quickly, Jade and Strawberry are knocking each other around, I'm surprised to see that Strawberry seems to be holding her own, Pine however is now making mincemeat of Mosaic so I start to go back to help him and have a quick look for Fern but I don't see her.

Then I feel her as she jumps on my back and starts slapping my head.  I quickly throw her off and as she lands on the floor I pin her down.  "Fern you need to get out of here - run now while you have the chance!!"  she just lay there looking up at me wide eyed  "Go Fern please, I'm not going to hurt you but if one of the others get a hold of you they will, please go!!!"  I loosened my grip on her and scramble to my feet pulling her up with me      

"You are a pig Tapestry!!!  she starts to slap me like an hysterical child  "A Cheating PIG!!"  I can tell by the way that she is slapping me, she is not a fighter, she is like Parsley, she is not like her other brothers and sister.  If any of the others get a hold of her I doubt she could even fight back  - I'm doing the right thing getting her to leave before she gets hurt.

I had to grab her by the arms and shake her to stop her from being hysterical  "Fern this isn't the time, you need to run NOW!!"

"This isn't over Tapestry!!!  We WILL be talking about this!!"  she said as I pushed her away from me telling her again to go, after hesitating for a moment she started to run, she looked back at me before she disappeared out of sight running out of the meadow.

I turned my attention back to Pine and Mosaic, Pine is now sat over Mosaic and he is laughing.  As I get close to them my heart nearly stops, I can feel all the colour drain away from my face as I can't take my eyes off a knife handle that is sticking out of Mosaics shoulder surrounded by a growing circle of blood.  Fudge!!!!  If I had gone to help him when I first went to instead of stopping to help Fern escape I might have been able to have stopped that from happening!!!
Pine has stabbed Mosaic.  Oh Berry!!!  Please don't let my brother fade too!!!!

I need to get Pine off Mosaic, I look around the floor quickly and see a large rock which I pick up and quickly smash Pine in the side of the head as hard as I can, he flies to the side, off and away from Mosaic, as he falls he hits his head on one of the larger rocks slumping onto the grass in a heap, he lies there motionless because he's out cold.

Mosaic is riling in pain, he's looking down at his shoulder and is try to pull out the knife.  "NO DON'T!!"  I shouted at him as I fell to my knees next to him  "Don't pull it out, Dad told me that's what does the damage, it has to stay there."  He's moaning that it hurts and I don't know what to do for him, in a panic I took out my phone and pressed the "D" in my list of numbers, I have no choice but to phone Dad for help.   

Suddenly Mosaic shouts he is looking up and starts pointing  "Tap Behind you."  he warns me. I pass him my phone quickly hoping he will finish making the call to Dad.

I spin around just in time to see Jade coming at me, Strawberry is lying on the ground moaning, as I stand up to face Jade she stops right in front of me, leaning in menacingly our faces are inches apart.  "You keep away from my sister, breath the same air as her again and I will hunt you down until you are lying next to Storm!!"

Then without any warning she hit me with a full force punch in the stomach.  Man that hurt!!!  Trying to ignore the pain I threw myself at her and the punches start flying - she can fight for a girl - Storm wasn't wrong about that.

I can't believe that I'm rolling around on the meadow floor with a girl fighting, but she's not just any girl so I don't feel so bad for fighting with her - she's a Freeze, Ferns twin sister and anyway she is  beating the crap out of me!!!!

Suddenly I hear someone yelling her name  "JADE!!!  Get off him NOW!!"  the man yelled  "What did I tell you lot ....... we are in enough trouble!!!"  he sounds really angry.  I look up quickly and see a man I've never seen before, I also see Fern stood not too far away from him.  Why is she back?

"Dad they had Fern hostage, what were we supposed to do, just leave her??!!"  Forrest sniped at the man from somewhere behind me.

"FORREST ...... Are you TRYING to get yourself caught??!!"   The man, who I now know is there Father, is yelling at his son.

I scramble to my feet thinking its over, but Jade has other thoughts, she doesn't seem to care that her Dad is there, while he is busy arguing with Forrest, she starts on me again, we start exchanging punches and our fighting continues.

Suddenly it stops, I hear a load of shouting as I'm knocked to the floor, my arms are being roughly pulled behind me and I feel the cold metal of the handcuffs as they are clamped on my wrists, I don't try to fight it I just let it happen - I know it's over.  The police are here.

I lie on the ground and look in Mosaic's direction, I see my Dad and Mulberry on their knees leaning over him.  I should have known that Dad would bring the police with him!!!  I am roughly pulled up to my feet, that's when I get to look around properly.

Prelude angrily makes his way over to Mr Freeze and they instantly start yelling at each other.

The argument gets very heated, Prelude seems to be the angrier one of the two and I am not surprised when Prelude goes for him and they start swinging punches at each other.  They are quickly separated by police officers and warned to stay apart or they will be arrested along with us kids.

Mr Freeze moves straight away going over to put his arm around Fern, who I can see is crying, while Prelude reluctantly moves away, after a little hesitation he goes over to check on Strawberry, I'm surprised to see Prelude walk away so easily it is unlike him, once he blows there is usually no stopping him.  I keep watching them as they both keep occasionally exchanging angry looks with each other.

Dad distracts me when he leaves Mosaic with Mulberry to come over and check me,  he looks at me crossly but doesn't say anything other than to ask if I'm hurt anywhere. when I tell him no and he sees I have no serious injuries he goes over to check on Strawberry then Pine.

Strawberry, Pine and Mosaic are still lay where they fell, the rest of us are in handcuffs and being pushed into two groups, Jade and Forrest are kept a distance away from the rest of us.  At least one good thing is going to come out of this, they have Forrest now, they will lock him up and throw away the key, he is going to spend the rest of his life in prison just like his Mother. 

Strawberry is carried away by a paramedic, Pine, who is still out cold, is placed on a stretcher like Mosaic who Dad is fussing over.  As they walk past us one of the police officers calls my Dad, I laugh to myself as I look towards the voice and I'm looking at one of the police officers who dragged me and Fern out of the dive bar.  "What about this one?"  he says pointing at me.  "Do you want me to let him loose?"

"NO!!!  Take him away with the others."  Dad says as he glances at me  "Do whatever you have to with him!!"

"DAD!!" I shouted pretty shocked.  For once I wanted him to make his excuses for me and get me out of trouble, I wanted him to be his usual over protective suffocating self ......... and for the first time ever ......... he isn't going to!!

"I'm sorry Son ...."  he seemed to hesitate for a moment  "..... It's the only way you are ever going to learn!!!"  he says as he walks off with Mosaic towards the ambulance without looking back.


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Chapter 6 - part 2 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

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I start to drift out of a peaceful sleep, at first as I am slowly waking up I can smell a familiar perfume that I recognize, but I am a little confused, not knowing or remembering where I am.  As soon as I open my eyes the first thing I see is Honey sleeping next to me, and I realise we are in her room, so I just lie there for a moment watching her sleeping while my mind falls into place.

Oh Berry!!!

Then it all starts coming back to me.

I sit up quickly, the shock setting in as my mind starts replaying the sexual adventure we had together before we both fell asleep.  Oh Berry!!!  What have I done!!  I am not even sure I know how I feel about this, I've never even imagined kissing my best friend before, let alone going all the way with her ..... fudge!! ...... we have crossed over to the other side and it's not like we can take it back and pretend it never happened!!

What worries me is that this is definitely going to change everything between us, I just hope I am not going to lose my best friend because of this.  For all I know she might wake up and hate what we've done ..... no .... she told me she loves me .... somehow I don't think she will ..... it's going to be me who spoils everything.  After losing Storm I'm not sure I can cope with losing her too.

I lie there watching her sleeping soundly while I'm trying to work out how I feel.  I am taking in every inch of her face like I've never seen it before, how have I never noticed just how beautiful she is?!  I'm playing with her hair and I run my finger down her face but it doesn't wake her up.  Still replaying things in my mind I'm a little freaked out by the way she had made me feel.  How can one kiss change everything?!  I think I know already that my feelings for her have completely changed.  She was right under my nose all this time and I didn't even know it!!!  I gently brush the hair away that is covering her eyes and kiss her face a few times. 

Fudge!!  I quickly look around the room a little panicked, I wander how long we have been asleep? How has nobody walked in and found us like this, this house is usually pretty manic with six teenagers living in it.  We could have gotten ourselves into serious trouble, especially with Honey's Dad, Sunny would go ballistic at us if he saw us like this!!

I gently shook her and kissed her face in an attempt to wake her, she starts to stir straight away.  "Honey you need to wake up!!"  I watch her lips curl up into a smile.  Slowly she opens her eyes and just stares up at me for a moment before her smile widens and she says quite cheerfully   "Hiya"  which really makes me laugh, I don't know what I expected her to say when she opened her eyes, but 'Hiya' wasn't it.

"We need to get dressed before someone catches us!!"  I say to her as I try to move off the bed.

"Not so fast!!"  she says as she quickly jumps on top of me pinning me down.  "I need to ask you something .......... Fern?!"  She is hovering above me watching the expression on my face.  Fern, I had not even given her a thought, heck!!  "You are going to dump her ... right?!"

"Yes ..... if that's what you want."  she sat up straight, she is now sitting on my legs and she pulls a face and crosses her arms, I've gone and said the wrong thing I can tell by the expression on her face.

"If I want!!  Does that mean you don't want?!"  she looks upset

"Yes I want to .. I'll dump her the first chance I get ...... I just wasn't sure what you wanted ........ you know you might have changed your mind about me after ......."

"Don't be silly!!"  she says, the smile is back on her face again  "So I'm your girlfriend now then?!"

"Yes if you are mad enough to want to be!!"  I hardly managed to get the words out of my mouth before she is kissing me.

"Do you know I have been waiting since I was six years old to be your girlfriend!!"  she says smiling at me when she stops kissing me and comes up for air.  I start laughing thinking she is joking.

She slapped my arm  "It's not funny Tapestry!!  I am being serious!!!"

I suddenly got a picture in my head of the little girl I used to dance with and who used to keep hugging me all the time.

This made me start laughing even more.

"Well you might have told me, even a little hint would have been nice!!"  I say to her as I move her to one side so that I can get up off the bed, this time she doesn't stop me.

"So if I had told you at anytime you would have asked me out?"  she asks me sounding a little surprised.

"No ...... I wouldn't have spent all those miserable years from the age of six worrying that I'd never ever get a girlfriend!!"

"You Git!!!"  she says as she starts whacking me again, I grab hold of her and pull her towards me and start kissing her.  I love the way kissing her makes me feel, why the hell didn't we do this years ago?  Think of all the time we have wasted.

"Well you two are .... UNBELIEVABLE!!!"

"TOTALLY  U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E"

I literally dropped Honey with the shock of hearing Strawberry speaking.  I hadn't heard her enter the room and I don't think Honey had either.  I glanced over at the bedroom door and it is closed, I don't know how she has come in without either of us hearing her, I wander for a moment if she didn't come in while we were sleeping .... no we would have noticed her sat there.

"While it's nice to see you two FINALLY get your act together....... your timing FUDGING STINKS!!!"   Strawberry is almost shouting at us  "Tapestry you are a TOTAL CRETIN!!!"

I whispered quietly to Honey  "I don't think your sister is very happy with me!!"  to which Honey starts giggling.

Strawberry dives off the desk from where she had been sitting, she looks far from amused at Honey giggling her head off.  "Honey this is not even funny - how could you?? - you are disgusting!!"

"Like I've never caught you and Parsley doing things you shouldn't - Straw I've lost count of the times I've walked in on you two so what is your problem??!!"  Honey snaps at her sister the smile has now gone off her face too.

"You are unreal!!!"  she snaps  "Storm is hardly cold and you too are ..... Huh!! ..... you are disgusting!!"

Strawberry starts to go ballistic at the pair of us.

I try to shut her yelling out of my head, I can understand why she is angry, our timing really does stink I know, today of all days so soon after Storm ...... she doesn't have to shout at us or even say anything to make me feel bad.  She carries on yelling and she seems to have it in for me in particular, I think she can see I'm not listening and she pushes me to get my attention.

"Tapestry why do you always have to be such an ignorant moron!!!!" she snaps at me, any chance she can get to attack me she does, she has never really liked me and the feeling has always been mutual, she and Honey might be twins but they are absolutely nothing alike, Strawberry always riles me up.   "Do you even know the problems that you cause everyone all of the time?!"  she is up in my face now, I can see how angry she is getting  "Do you know what is going on right now because of you .... do you??!!"

"No .....What?"   but I guess she is about to tell me!!

"Everyone has been out looking for you AGAIN - like they don't already have enough to contend with."  She pushes me again  "You are a total jerk - Parsley told me all about your performance at the hospital, then you go and do a runner,  your Dad is running out of excuses that he can make for you - still he's going off his head looking for you - even Prelude ..... for berry's sake ..... is out looking for you - they are scared for your safety and you just don't give a shit about the upset you are causing do you!!??."

"Today should be about Storm, but no, as always it all about you!!!!   You are a total Berry Hole Tapestry and I don't know how you live with yourself!!"

I lost it for a moment, I let my tongue fly lose and I gave her a mouthful of verbal abuse before I start to stomp around the bedroom picking up my clothes I just wanted to get dressed so that I could get out of there.

When people critisis me I always start playing over in my head what they have been saying, which is no different now with what Strawberry has just yelled at me.  I have NO CHOICE but to live with myself - they all forget sometimes - my brain is broken and it doesn't work like everyone else's - I didn't chose to be the way that I am - I don't chose to do the things I do - I can't help it sometimes - I HATE being me - I'll never be normal and do everything perfectly - they don't have a clue how it feels to be me!!

While Strawberry starts ripping shreds out of Honey I quickly start getting dressed but I can't find my hat anywhere which is irritating me, I feel naked without my hat, then I hear what Strawberry is saying to Honey and I am getting very close to losing it completely, she is slagging me off like I am not in the room listening to what she is saying about me.

"Anyway Honey, he already has a girlfriend remember - Fern -  you watch the moron will be off with HER later!!"  she shouts at her sister  "He probably has only just used you for sex, it won't have meant anything to him - he doesn't care about anyone but himself, I seriously don't know what either of you see in him - he's an idiot and a berry hole!!"

Honey walks off in tears and starts getting dressed.

"Wind your neck in bitch!!  I have so not just used her!!!!"  I rared at her  "Yes I do have a girlfriend already, and Honey knows I am going to dump her the first chance I get - so but out and keep your stupid thoughts to yourself!!"

"You just make sure you do dump her, or I'm coming after you!!  Mess Honey about and it won't just be me coming after you!!!"

"Why all the yelling??"   Carmine walks into the bedroom

"Your sister, she's just having a hissy fit!!"  I cut my eyes at Strawberry hoping she is not going to tell him why she is having a hissy fit, if Carmine find's out what me and Honey have been up to while I have a girlfriend, he's likely to deck me, he's likely to think I'm just using Honey like Strawberry does..

"Huh!  Girls - Don't they always .... anyway Tapestry - you're just the man, we need you!!"  he says smiling at me, totally ignoring his sister, I'm glad he isn't interested enough to ask why me and Strawberry are having a falling out. 

"What's up?"

"We guessed you would definitely be up for a rumble, Mosaic, Maize and Cinnamon are downstairs - we are going after the Freeze kids!!"  I am a little surprised to hear him say that after what they have done to Storm.

"Oh No you are not!!"  Strawberry starts to protest, Carmine tells her to shut up and doesn't really give her much of chance to say anything else.

"Tap you haven't heard the half of it - its not just Storm - while Forrest and Pine were busy trying to slash up you and Storm - Jade was busy making mincemeat of Fudge and Mosaic, your brother says she fights like a bloke!!, she's smacked Fudge and Mosaic up quite badly."  I remember Storm saying that Jade was a nasty piece of work and has more balls than her two brother, which is quite a frightening thought after experiencing Forrest first hand.  "and you know they have been continuously bullying all of us for being mixed berries since they arrived in town, its about time they get a dose of their own medicine.!!!" 

"So are you in Tap?  We really could do with your help."

I thought about my brother, he's not a fighter, Mosaic against the Freeze boys - he is going to get hurt!!!  "Okay I'm in."

"Before we go there is one thing we need to sort out  ........... Fern ........."   I heard Strawberry start sniggering, she is really beginning to irritate me again.

"What about her?"

"I'm sorry Tap I know she's your girlfriend, but she is a Freeze and if she is there, I'm sorry she is getting it too!!"  I just stood there staring at him, not sure how I feel about what he is saying.  Fern has never really been a problem, she is different to her brothers and sister, she might be a little wild and rebellious but that's it, she hasn't been bullying anyone, I don't think she actually has a mean bone in her body.  "When we say we are going after the Freeze kids, we mean all four of them!!"

I didn't have time to think properly let alone say anything because Carmine turns to Strawberry and says something that I really don't like.  "Juni and Coral are on their way, you know sis you and Honey could also tag along too."  I can't believe what I am hearing and my blood runs cold!!! 

"OH NO!!!! NO WAY!!!!  The girls are NOT coming!!!"   I can't believe that Carmine would seriously let them either!!

"Tap, we need the girls - I'm not comfortable about hitting girls even if they are the Freeze girls!!!"  Carmine is mad - I really don't think he realizes what he is setting himself up for yet, if he knew he definitely wouldn't want to let his sisters get involved in this.

"I'd rather hit the Freeze girls than let my sister, cousin and Honey get involved in this, Carmine you are off your head, you don't know what they are like, they are likely to have weapons, I am definitely not going to let my sister get involved in this!!"

Getting my own way was pretty easy, I told them if they insisted on taking the girls with us then I'd blow their rumble and then none of us would be going.  Waving my phone at them with my Dads number up on the screen soon had them backing down.  It was just going to be us boys who went after the Freeze's.

I did still make a call to my Dad, but only to put his mind and rest and to stop him from searching for me - I told him that I was at Honeys with Mosaic playing video games with Maize and Carmine and we would be home later.  He wasn't happy with me, he wanted me home straight away, but said it was fine as long as I stuck with Mosaic.

Little does he know that is exactly what I'm doing, sticking with Mosaic and we are just about to set out in search of the Freeze kids.

Honey is starting to get upset "Tapestry I don't want you to go, you might get hurt again!!"

"Don't worry I'll be fine!!!  I have to go, I can't just let Mosaic go there alone, he's determined to go after Pine and Forrest so I have to go with him!!" I kissed her quickly  "You just make sure you keep away and don't let Coral or Juniper follow us either!!"

"Come on Tap - it's time to rumble!!"  Mosaic calls me from the bedroom door  "We are waiting for you, hurry up!!"

"Okay, I'm coming!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 6 - part 1 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

Heaven Sent

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There is total silence, you could almost hear a pin drop.

He just stands there  - we are all eager to hear him say 'Storm is going to be just fine'.  I can see he is hesitating as he is looking around at all of us slowly.  It is probably only a matter of seconds in time but it feels like a lifetime waiting for him to speak.

I think I already know  - the instant I see the expression on his face - I know he is not going to tell us what we want to hear.

He whispers quietly  "I am Sorry .... he's gone!!"

At first, for a split second there is total silence again as Dads words echo around the room, Prelude is the first to react collapsing onto his knees screaming "NOOOOOOO!!!!"

Then everyone else starts reacting as the reality of his words sink in.

"Prelude I'm sorry!!" Dad repeats again quietly

The reality of Storm fading didn't hit me straight away, like it did for everyone else.  I sit watching everyone in the corridor, like I am somehow detached from the situation, all the members of my family around me their hearts breaking, while I sit here and all I can feel is numb.

I sit quietly watching how they are all dealing with their own grief.  Prelude is totally broken on the floor because he has lost his son, both of my parents, who have lost thier nephew, are trying to comfort and calm him down, I can see that they are both crying, Mom more so than Dad.  Affair is wearing a very pained expression and has tears streaking down his face, he is trying to hold onto Parsley who is on the verge of being hysterical, they have both lost their brother.  Mulberry is sat alone and has his head in his hands and even though I can't see his face I know he's crying, because he has lost his nephew, I can tell by the way his body is softly jerking.  My Grandfather who has now come out of theatre is sat down next to me and I watch him take off his glasses to rub his tired eyes, then he too puts his head in his hands, and even he can shed some tears for Storm.

While I still just sit there numbly watching everyone.

I watch my Dad as he glances over at me, then he stands up, leaving Prelude to my Mother,  he is not taking his eyes off me for a second.  He has a very troubled look on his face as he just stands there and watches me sitting here, doing nothing, not reacting to losing my cousin in any way.  I am staring blankly back at him now and I think he already knows as well as I do exactly what is coming.  Me and one of my outbursts.

I lean my head back against the wall behind my chair and close my eyes.

All I can see is Storm's face.

I think I must have switched off,  I had shut down my emotions.  I stayed sitting there with my eyes closed and I shrunk back into my own little inattentive world where nothing can hurt me ..... where nothing matters ..... where nothing is real ..... even though I can hear everyone around me upset and crying, it is not touching me, it can't in this place.

It took me to actually hear someone say it out loud - before it hit me properly.     

"Dad, Mom what's going on?!"  My sisters voice creeps into my safe space  "I just went up to see Mom and they sent me down here .... is it Cotton?"  She didn't have a clue did she - she has no idea about Storm.  That's when I opened my eyes to see Coral standing there with a worried look on her face.

At first nobody spoke, I don't suppose anyone could,  it is Mulberry who eventually gets up and puts his arm around his niece before he says quietly   "No, ....... it's Storm ....... he's faded."

He's faded - Storm has faded - he has gone - forever - it just doesn't make sense to me - this can't be happening - he is too young to fade - his life is over - I am never going to see him again.

I close my eyes and I see his face again.

Suddenly it hit me like a 10 tonne truck smashing into me - I felt the pain, unbearable pain, my chest feels tight and I am struggling to breath.  I can't cope with it, I didn't know how to deal with the pain, I feel my head going, it exploded and everything becomes a painful blur before my mind blacks out.

I came round slowly and all I can see as my blurred vision starts to clear is a room I don't recognize at first, I can hear a tapping noise, a computer keyboard.  I look around and take in my surroundings, I am waking up on the examination couch in my Dads office, wandering what I am doing here.  He is sat at his desk typing away on the computer, he doesn't notice me awake at first, I just lie there watching him, he's crying and I watch him stop occasionally to wipe the tears off his face.  I wander for a second why he is crying ..... then I remember, it all comes flooding back  ..... Storm ..... I hoped that his fading had just been a bad dream, a horrible nightmare that I am just waking up from, but it isn't is it ..... it is all real ..... he has faded ..... he really has gone.

I had lost it, I'd gone into total melt down not knowing how to deal with my emotions.  Maybe if I'd taken my medication I might have handled the grief and the situation a little better, but I hadn't and to the dismay of everyone in the corridor, like they weren't already distressed enough, I start to kick off.  Screaming and shouting, throwing chairs, trying to smash the place up, trying to get through the theatre doors to wake Storm up, I wasn't going to let this happen, I wasn't going to let him fade.  I showed them all of my emotions without restraint and the only way I could be controlled was by being knocked out with sedation.  The last thing I can remember is fighting with Mulberry and Affair as they wrestle me to the ground and hold me down while somebody stabs me with a needle.  At times like this I really hate being me.

I sit myself up rubbing my eyes, my head feels fuzzy and I feel a little sick.  My movement catches Dad's eye and he stops typing and sits there looking at me for only a few seconds before he gets up out of his chair, making a quick attempt to wipe the tears off his face, like he's embarrassed or he  doesn't want me to see that he has been crying.

I can only ever remember seeing my Dad crying once before, the day that my Mother had switched off while she was cooking and set fire to the kitchen.  He had been crying when I woke up in the hospital.  That time he had been crying because of me, this time it is Storm he is crying for.   

"Why?"  I asked  "Why did they let him fade??"

"Son they didn't LET him fade."  he looked a little shocked   "They tried their best to save him, but it was too late, he had already lost far too much blood and the knife had done too much damage to his insides."  He puts his hands on my shoulders, which irritated me, I just know he is going to try and start fussing over me and smothering me again like he always does.  "We need to get you home."

"I don't want to go home!!"  he tried to put his arm around me but I shrugged them off me "Get off me Dad, why do you always have to suffocate me - I am sick of you!!"  he gave me the strangest look, I can tell that I've just hurt his feelings.  I need space and time on my own to think and work out my feelings without him smothering me and going on.  I jump off the couch and quickly start heading towards the door. I plan to put as much distance between me and him as I can.

"Tapestry wait!!"  he shouts after me but I am already out of the door and away, running down the corridor.  I heard him shout after me a few times, but I didn't stop or look back to see if he is following me I ran out of the hospital, into the fresh air.  The sun blinded me for a second which halts me while my sight adjusts, but I didn't want Dad to catch up with me, so I took off again down the road as fast as my legs could carry me.

When I think I am a safe distance away from the hospital I stop to wipe my eyes, I need to catch my breath and wipe away the tears that are blurring my vision.

The tears that have now only just started to flow. 

Now I'm away from my suffocating Father I really didn't know where to go.  My phone rings, the big D flashing up on my screen, I just knew it would be my Dad so I turned my phone off.  Not even thinking or caring that he might be worried on top of what he is already going through, or that I might not be safe out here alone.

There is only one place I wanted to be.

I ran across to the other side of town without stopping and found myself banging down Honey's door.  I need my best friend.  It took ages for someone to come to the door I was beginning to think that maybe there is nobody in the Shine's home.

Finally, her Dad, Sunny opens the door  "Tapestry!"  I can hear the surprise in his voice, I am not sure that he expected to see me today and by the look on his face I think he has already heard the news about Storm.  "She's in her room."  he said without me even having to ask where Honey was.  He smiled at me as I went past him and legged it up the stairs.

I opened her bedroom door and straight away I can see Honey lay on her bed crying.  I stand watching her for a few seconds, I'm not sure she has heard me enter her room.  She shares a room with her twin sister Strawberry and older sister Scarlet, I'm relieved to see that they are not here and Honey is alone.  I wondered for a moment if Strawberry is with Parsley, I should imagine that he needs her right now.

"Honey"  I said quietly and she looked up at me smiling weakly

She sat up trying to wipe the tears off her face as I made my way towards her bed.  She gets up off the bed and throws herself at me.

"Berry I'm glad you are here!!"  she says as she wraps her arms around me

We have been best friends forever, for as long as I can remember, ever since we were really small children.  I knew she would need me right now just as much as I need her.

"I can't believe that Storm has gone!!"

We cling to each other and cry ourselves out.

"What's happened to you?"  she ran her finger gently down my face along side the line of stitches, this catches me a little off guard because she has left my face tingling where her finger has been.   Then she tilts my head back as she has now spotted the line of stitches across my neck.  "Oh Berry!!  Were you there ...... with Storm?"  her eyes widened as she says it and I just nod my head.

"How did you get these cuts?"  All I say to her is 'Forest's knife'.  I'm not even sure she knows who Forrest is but I'm sure she must have been told that it was Forest Freeze and his knife that are responsible for Storm fading.   I see her gasp and her face twists like she's in pain as she threw her arms around me holding me really tight and starts to cry again, harder this time, she is now sobbing.

The sound of her crying sets me off again and we carry on standing there holding each other, all the time her grip on me is getting tighter and tighter. She is holding me so tightly now that she is almost suffocating me, and the sound of her sobbing is cutting through me, I am crying because of Storm, I am really not sure now what she is actually crying for.

Honey suddenly jerked backwards without warning, our faces are now inches apart and she's staring into my eyes  "I love you."

Fudge!!  I'd forgotten all about that!!

I'm frozen there staring back at her, shocked that she has actually said it.  Even though I've already been told how she feels about me, I've never seen any signs of it, now she is telling me herself.  I keep staring back at her not really knowing what to say, how can I hurt her feeling right now and say to her 'Sorry Honey I don't love you' - I can't, she is already hurting enough.

Then she goes and says it again  "Tap, I love you."

I have to say something so I just start stammering  "I ..... err ..... I know"

Without any warning she quickly moves towards me, closing the inches between us, her lips smash down onto mine and she starts kissing me.  My head starts spinning and my stomach start to flip, I'm already an emotional wreck, Honey kissing me just sends me emotionally into another dimension.

I can't stop myself from kissing her back.

I like the way she is kissing me.

Fern popped into my head for a second, but not because I'm feeling guilty for kissing someone else, she is only there just long enough for me to think how differently she kisses me compared to how Honey is kissing me right now.  Then she is gone again - it is Honey who is kissing me so Fern is completely forgotten.

There is an intense passion in Honey's kissing and she is stirring up feelings that I've never experienced before.

The grief and the passion crash together, like a large wave of water smashing onto rocks.  I can't escape them and an explosion of mixed emotions hits me hard, the grief mixed with the passion and my mind blows.  I can feel myself heading towards another emotional melt down and it doesn't take long for it to take over my mind and I totally lose control, but in a different way.

~~~~~~~~~~

Song:  Heaven Sent ~ Hinder

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I know I said no more songs - but - Tapestry's life has been a long time rattling around in my head and gradually expanding on paper.  Some parts of his life for me have always had a song attached to them.  The second part of this chapter is one of those parts - and as there is a song swimming about in my head for it  - I thought I may as well use it.