Halliwell’s Episology (Year 4):

“Happy Birthday To You! Happy Birthday To You! Happy Birthday To Phoebe, Happy Birthday To You!!” The song was sung with much enthusiasm and delightness. There was my little sister, smiling from one corner to the other, whilst hugging a brand new teddy bear to her chest. It was a gift from Prue and me, something that both of us have been saving for quite some time, chipped in together and had Grams brought us to the shopping mall to get it when she wasn’t around. I remembered that morning when she opened the present, she started yelling, “Its the bear on TV! The bear that I said I want it!” “Do you like it Pheebs?” Prue smiled with a glitter of love in her eyes, and a hint of happiness in her tone. I shared a similar sentiment. “I love it! I love you Prue! And I love you too Piper!!” And she started throwing kisses and hugs all over us! till then, she hadn’t let the soft toy out of her sight.
Much later, when nearly all the 4 years old kids have settled down munching on their slice of cake, Grams and her friends were busying themselves with the serving of food and entertaining the adults, it was left to Prue and I to oversee the smooth running of people our age. Just then, a little girl with freckles came running to us. She tugged at my pants and I looked down to see a pair of big questioning bespectacled eyes staring right back at me. I recognized her immediately, she was Phoebe’s shadow in pre-school. They are going kindergarten together next year. “Hey Zoë, are you still hungry? Do you want me to get something for you?” She shook her head at Prue’s query. “You wish to go to the toilet?” I asked. “No, I don’t wanna go to the toilet.” I smiled at her sweet voice and shy personality. At times I couldn’t quite figure out, how did my sister, a contrary version to Zoë, both managed to stick together since they started school. “Ok then, what did you want from us?” Prue was more interested in the ice cream she was feasting on and she didn’t look up while asking. “You have to help Phoebe.” “Why? Where is she?” I looked breezily around but she wasn’t in my scope. “What happened to Phoebe? Why did she need help?” I got edgy again, especially when Zoë brought up the red alarm word: ‘help’. “Relax Piper. You’re giving this little girl not a chance to answer your questions.” I believed she was more absorbed in ‘catching’ the drips from the melted ice cream with an open mouth than realizing the words that escaped from not her mouth. Zoë simply pulled my hand along. “Come quickly!” “Prue!” “Ok, ok, I’m coming already. Right behind you.” However not willingly, it was our sister’s special day and we really wanted her to be happy, not in trouble.
Following Zoë, she brought us to the backyard where we saw several kids surrounding whom I believed! was my little sister. Quickening my steps, I pulled away the kids blocking my way and saw to my surprise, Phoebe staring fiercely and unblinkingly at a boy, her age and schoolmate. “Pheebs, what’s wrong? Why are you so angry?” I made her faced me and my joy earlier was drowned in her pair of sad angry eyes. Her tears were threatening to fall and yet she was determined not to show her vulnerability in front of so many people. Prue grabbed her arms and pulled the mood-changed sister to her. Who knows when she made that ice cream magically disappeared? “Ok Phoebe, tell me what’s going on? Are you picking a fight now? Today?” I could sense that Prue has taken the usual approach, the ‘questioning you and better answer me’ type. “HE IS A BAD BOY!” “NO! I’M NOT! YOU ARE THE BAD GIRL!” “YOU’RE MEAN!!” My sister shot back. “I’m only saying the real thing! Everyone says that! My dad and mum too!!” My sister was about to hit out at him but Prue secured a tight hold around her. “All right, tell me what really happened here or I’ll tell your mummy you made my sister cry!” Being older was always more advantageous, especially when you’re more than a head taller than those noisy kiddos. “Go ahead! I’m not scare of you!!” I realized I must have been in humiliation shock for a while longer than I thought, cause Prue took over my stand, pushing Phoebe to me. “Hey you pig head! Can’t you be a little nicer to my sisters?!” Most of the time when she had her hands at her hips, she looked intimating, probably not to this boy though, cause he did likewise. “I only said that her birthday wasn’t fun without daddy mummy around and I’m right you know! You don’t have any at all! My mummy said your mummy died a long time ago! And your daddy didn’t want you so he went away! See?! I remember what mummy tells me and she says don’t tell anyone!” And there he was, yapping his big mouth over our family’s tragedy. Before even Prue could think of what to do next, Phoebe had leaped forward at him and punched him right at his face. I screamed at her, Prue pulled a ‘license to kill’ NOT sister away from the crying boy, the rest of the kids started shouting and yelling as if someone started a fire. Soon, the commotion had the adults at the scene, the boy’s mother was clinically very upset to see her son’s face red at one side and she started yelling at Grams for not taking Phoebe into good hands!
The party ended early, the truth was known, the boy’s mother refused to forgive and forget and she had dragged her son home but not before warning my little sister never ever to lay her hands on her angel boy again. Most of the other parents understood, some I don’t even bother to find out. All I was concern along with Prue, was the consequence of her little act. An act to defend our parent’s duty for not being able to be around, an act to show her unhidden love to two people who were meant to be the icon of her life, but did not. That was my first time seeing what my sister was capable of, it definitely wasn’t the last time though. Due to her refusal to apology, Grams had sent her straight to bed with specific instructions to us not to side with her mistake. Prue was angry, at Grams for listening to an outsider and not her own grandchild. She was angry with Phoebe too, for not being the one herself to hit at the boy. I was more worried for my baby sister though, it was her birthday and she was only four, it wasn’t fair for her to go through the pain again, the pain of knowing that a pair of fuzzy face parents weren’t around to celebrate anything with her.
That night however, Grams softened her punishment. She allowed us to bring her something light for dinner, knowing fully well how an empty stomach always keeps her up at night. She was sitting on the floor to the opposite side of the bed, knees drawn with the bear still in her arms. As we sat by her side, she simply stared at the bear in front, either she knew that Prue was mad at her, or she realized that her action was a stupid call but she had to do it, nonetheless. I placed the plate of sandwich on the bed, she literally ignored it. Either she has her own pride, or she wasn’t really that hungry. After all, she had vented everything on that punch. “Grams made this for you, why aren’t you eating it?” I combed her hair with my hand, she loves that special touch. Shaking her head, she looked at Prue. “That boy is real bad.” “I know Pheebs, but you shouldn’t have hit him like that.” “I didn’t want to, he made me do it. I hate him.” She added on sulkingly. “Me too Phoebe, me too. But when things happened like that, you’re supposed to let me do the hitting, not you.” “Prue! How can you say that to her?” Prue grinned at a pair of wide eyes littlest sister. “You really will do that Prue?” “Of course I will. That boy deserved more than just a punch. If I were the one just now, I would have made him took off his pants.” Phoebe chuckled at the oldest words. “But you have to take my place. In fact, I think you saved his life from me Pheebs. He should have thanked you knowing how lucky that he was punched on his face only by you and not me.” “Prue. I don’t think Grams will like it if she heard what you just said.” I can’t believe that the oldest decided to stand on the youngest side, though I knew she wasn’t totally in the wrong. She was only being provoked. “Come on Piper, tell us that you never like that boy and his mother too. It was her fault and she made it looked like Phoebe was the tyrant.” Thinking back, Prue was right about everything. If she hadn’t tell her young son things that should be kept just among the adults, nothing would have happened, considering children at his age were very innocent, and they haven’t the slightest idea how hurting their speech might be at times. “But Phoebe, what you did was really wrong. We should have let Grams handle everything, not to let things run from our hands.” I have to make sure Prue don’t drill the wrong morals in the young one. “I agree with Piper. Pheebs, even though he was not right to say what he said, we should be the good children Grams will be proud of.” Prue pulled her into her arms. “And by doing that, we will be making mummy proud too, won’t we Piper?” “Of course we are.” I got lost in the embrace too. “So you two are not angry with me?” “Are you going to do it again?” She shook her head. “That’s my good sister.” Sometimes, it was easier to tell her stuffs and things, to get it into her head than to do it to Prue herself. I wasn’t faring any better, I could be stubborn at times too. I guessed that virtue lies in the Halliwell family of women witches. Soon, everything that happened was forgotten, Phoebe ate the food happily and we teased her here and there, this and that. Grams came to the room later, she wasn’t angry with Phoebe anymore. She held us together and started telling us things about mum, when she was little. I don’t know what got into her, and although she had said it for the umpteen times, that day was special. Maybe it as Phoebe’s day, maybe it was her way of showing her sympathy to Phoebe’s hurt feelings, or maybe it was a way to show that she was sorry for not listening to her earlier. Amidst that crown of white and gray hair, Grams was our everything. At times when we made her angry, we were be speculating when she would resolved that feeling, when she would hug us and tell us that she loves us next to nothing. Never will I know that during our growing up phases, it would be Phoebe who painted her hair further white!
That night, the three of us slept together. As usual, we had one of our girlie talks. “Pheebs, have you actually put down this bear for a single second?” Prue was playing with its hand. “I did.” “I didn’t know that.” True, I thought she had been carrying it almost everywhere she went. “When I was having my bath Piper, you forgot.” “Right, how can I?” In fact, she was afraid of getting it wet and not wanting to leave it alone, she had me carried it for her while she spent some time washing up. For the next couple of minutes, we simply stared at the dancing shadows cast by the swaying trees outside the window. “Why did mummy have to go?” Neither of us answered. It was something that was long forgotten, or actually still buried in a concealed way. “Why did dad go?” “Pheebs, mummy didn’t want to go! its just that! she loves us a lot and! god wanted her home.” I know it was always hard for Prue to cook up with a good explanation. It wasn’t fair that she has to comfort two sisters so lost at heart, it wasn’t fair that I have to see both my sisters longing for a lost touch, and it certainly wasn’t fair that the littlest one has to only imagine what it was like to be in a mother’s hug. “Phoebe, we all miss mummy, but she has always been around us all the time.” “She is? Where? I can’t see her.” “She’s right here!” I tapped lightly on her chest where her heart lies, and on her head where thoughts spin. “She has always been living inside here, waiting for us to bring her up anytime. Do you ever do that Pheebs?” “Yes I did. I think of mummy all the time, and I love her a lot too. When I forget her face, I look at the picture there.” We followed her direction and saw that she was pointing to a photo frame. In that darkness, we could see nothing but I believed it was one of mum’s. That was how we survived our childhood without a parental guide. Although we were too young to really emphasize on our feelings, we were so young that we took to every word that was said. It was much easier then, cause after a night rest; the young heart woke up with a brand new start, previous issues completely forgotten!
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19 years later! Piper’s jeep screeched to a stop at the college. Both sisters jumped out and hurried to the nurse’s office, as told where they would pick up their youngest sister. Walking into the room, I had to let out a soft cry at seeing her in that! red face state. “Phoebe! Oh god, what happened?” She pulled away as I touched on her bruised face. “Phoebe are you nuts?! You are old enough to pick a fight in school, not to mention this is a tertiary educational property you’re standing on.” Prue was worried, she has been swearing at the person involved when we received a call about our little sister’s free act of wrestling show. But based on her profile as the oldest one, she has to put her disciple side at front first. “Like it was my fault.” She returned an angry look at Prue. “You don’t have to get taunted by whatever that was coming your way. You could have chosen to just walk away.” Prue insisted on her way. Somehow she has forgotten that at times, she could be quite as aggressive as Phoebe herself. “I could if it was someone else!” She was fuming, her eyes told me it wasn’t over as yet. “Ok honey, who was that idiot to step on your shoes?” I have to know and I wanted to know, if that would make her settled down finally. “It was that pig head boy Prue called when I hit him at my birthday party 19 years ago!” Prue shared my look, a state of bewilderment trying to recollect that boy’s look, and also with shock that a nearly two decades issue has to get involved here. “Oh! that boy!” I had barely got a firm picture in my head when my sister rattled off. “Yes! It was him all right! He was the one picking the fight! He was the one coming onto me without a word of greetings!” “What? He jumped on your back?” Prue wasn’t mad at her anymore and I could sense a different feel from her. “No! He tapped me on my shoulder! Then he delivered the punch!” “What? How can he do that? I mean, even if he wanted revenge for! a punch that was 19 years in yellow pages, that surely was not the act of a gentleman.” “That’s why I hit back! He was wrong in the first place and he is still wrong for acting like an immature guy!” “So to say Pheebs, you gave him a good dolling up?” I looked at Prue, she had that smirk on her face. “Sure I did. It never was a good idea to challenge a Halliwell girl!” Prue chuckled and I have to wonder, ‘what did she mean by that?’ Just then, we heard yelling from outside and someone came into view, along with a few others probably trying to see that he didn’t lose control. “Phoebe Halliwell! You’ll get double payback for what you have done to my face!” My sister jumped off the bed and if we haven’t get a hold on her, she might have already threw him to the floor, considering he wasn’t of a different species to any demons and warlocks we came across. One thing remained the same, they all pissed my sister off. But I could see why that guy was angry and I have to share Prue’s laugh. Phoebe has proven her ‘not to mess with me’ side again. I could count the number of slaps and punches she had awarded to his face for pulling a sneaky attack on her. As he was dragged away by his friends, Prue decided to calm her down once and for all. The next thing we anticipated, that guy was sliding along the floor slamming against the hard wall at the end. Seeing his dazed look, we burst out laughing and that settled our sister’s ugly mood!
We went to mum’s place, at Phoebe’s insistence. Somehow, the incident with that guy had stirred up memories for having to defend her name at the oddest moment, played by the wicked mind of uncompassionate humans. There we were, kneeling before the only thing that reminded us of her presence, we thought aloud in silent about the things we could have done with her around. “If mum was around, she’s gonna get real mad knowing that I fight in school now and then.” “You are so right Phoebe. But if mum was around, nobody would ever get a chance to say those nasty things about her.” I took her hands into mine. “If mum was around, I bet she’s gonna get the most migraine having to hold you in tight lease sis.” “Hey! Don’t say that! I’m not totally a wild horse am I?” Prue looked at her with a smile that told her she had her thoughts revealed in her words. “Ok, even if I were one, make it a beautiful and sexy wild one. I have always like more than one stallion chasing after me.” “God Phoebe, you’re hopeless!” “No, I was only hoping.” She broke into her sunshine smile and we got tangled in one another’s arms. “If mum was around, I would make her proud of me.” Phoebe said with a tiny voice, sort of choking back all her emotions. “If mum was around, she would be proud of the love we had for her.” I knew that because it was that kind of love that had us love each other more. “If mum was around! she would be proud that we protect the innocents and fight with our hearts and souls against the evil forces.” Despite her unwillingness initially, Prue has been very responsible to our bestowed destiny. Phoebe’s hands wrapped around each of our waist as we hugged close to her, faces against faces. “If mum was around, I would tell her how much I love and miss her.” “If mum was around, I would tell her how much I love my two sisters." “If mum was around! she would tell us how much she love us! and would very much wanting to see us, right here, right now.” Prue continued after taking a deep breath. “But mum was never around with us, for the last 20 years she hadn’t been. But I am around, Piper is around and Phoebe, you are around too. It may not be the biggest deal that we see each other every single day, but it means a great lot of deal to me. For during the darkness journey, when I was totally blinded by emotions, when I couldn’t see! you two were there. You two lent me the hands I so needed to walk out of that journey, and I made it. So had the both of you. Cause we have been one another’s support, one another’s pillar of strength and love. Mum never had a short life, she has been living in us all the while. Her dreams, her beautiful side to everything! we are her legacy, we are what mum wanted us to be.” Looking up at the blue sky, I have something to say. “Mum, we love you, and in that heaven somewhere! you know.”