"Hiya I'm Margaret," a tiny girl with pigtails and a salmon pink Victorian dress extended her hand out for me to shake, which I did in return. "My name is Michael, Mike for short," the boy with messy strawberry blonde hair and freckles introduced. He wore a denim overall with a simple white t-shirt underneath.
"I'm Myrtle and I'm five," another girl in a lavender doll dress spoke up. She looked a little more different than her siblings, with darker and curlier hair, almost ginger, and round glasses.
"We're all five, Myrtle, we're triplets, duh," Mike scoffed. "Ay, that's rude. If you keep on being like this imma tell Mom," Myrtle retorted.
"She's the tattletale who told us on Mother," Margaret added, " she's the one who got us grounded and—"
"She's the one who literally saved us from landing in jail, so be grateful," I cut her off.
Myrtle shot her siblings a smug smile and the two instantly argued in defence.
"How 'bout you guys? What are your names?" Mike piped up. "I'm Dolores and he's Five," I replied.
"Five? But we're five years old and he looks a lot older," Margaret said in confusion. I then told them that his name was Five. "Hey! You're named after a number!" Myrtle exclaimed.
"Gee I haven't noticed," Five answered sarcastically. "You don't?" Margaret asked cluelessly. "1910s kids really need sarcasm in their life," Five whispered to me.
"So! What do you wanna do? Play Hangman or something?"I knelt down a bit to ask them.
"What's Hangman?"
"You don't know——" I cut Five off. "It's a game I invented cuz we're... game creators. Come on, I'll show you," I lied, leading the triplets to the sitting room.
I took a piece of paper and a pen and told the children the rules and instructions while drawing seven blanks. The kids guessed the letters as I slowly revealed the secret word little by little. In the end, they found the hidden word— titanic.
We took turns playing hangman until it was time to put the kids to bed.
The kids' bedroom was quite large. It had three separate beds, and the bed sheets were decorated with swirly French patterns. There was a yellow rug and pastel curtains and toys like a rocking horse and building blocks. In other words, it looked like an innocent kiddie playroom.
"Can you tell us a story before we sleep? Please?"Margaret begged. I agreed but Five wasn't too happy about it.
"Okay, so the story we're telling is called Hansel & Gretel by Brothers Grimm," I said, "and Five and I are going to take turns telling the story."
"I did not sign up for this," Five grumbled. I kicked him in the shin and began the story.
"Once upon a time there were a pair of siblings called Hansel and Gretel. They had a kind and nice daddy but a cruel stepmom," I started. I nudged Five's elbow to tell him to go on.
"The stepmom wanted to get rid of the kids once and for all so she tried to persuade pops through it. Hansel heard everything and told Gretel about it," he continued.
"The next day, the stepmom told the siblings that they were heading to a family tri to the forest. Hansel secretly snuck the bread he had for breakfast and put it in his pocket. He left a trail of bread crumbs on the way so the siblings could find the way home," I went on.
"That dumba— I mean, Hansel was dumb enough not to know that the birds in the woods ate the crumbs so yeah, they got lost. Of course, it was kinda their fault—"
"Anyways they ran and ran and found a candy house on the way," I interrupted, "they were starving so I literally ate the house. The owner of the house came out to greet the children, but little did they know, she was a witch."
"And little did they know, they were about to be the old hag's supper. The witch locked Hansel up in a cage till he was fat enough for her to eat and made Gretel do all the chores."
"Since the witch had terrible eyesight, Hansel took a wooden stick and pretended it to be his arm every time the witch checked his fatness, so he was safe for a while," I said.
"Until one day the witch just lost it and took Hansel out of the cage so she could cook him," Five deadpanned.
"Knowing her brother was in trouble, she tricked the witch by telling her that there was something in the gigantic cauldron with boiling water in it. As the evil witch was distracted, Gretel forcefully pushed the heavy witch into the cauldron, which she was burnt alive in, and saved the brother," I finished.
"Now, what to do you think that burning in a cauldron alive feels like?" Five added.
"Five!" I slapped my forehead.
"Are you sure this is suitable for kids?" Myrtle asked, "because if it's not I may ask my mother to sue you."
"Why don't you try?" Five threatened. Before I could say anything to stop the two, the remaining of the triplets butt in.
"Honestly I DO think this story is quite violent," Mike smiled mischievously, "and I may let Myrtle tell you on mama. But I might change my mind. IF you sing us a song before we go to bed."
I worriedly glanced at Five. I knew that he hated singing after that time he auditioned for the talent show back in elementary school. But we may lose our job if he doesn't do that.
Five leant back in that small couch he was sitting on and gulped. He hesitated for a while but eventually said, "Fine. One song."
He sat at the end of Margaret's bed and sang:
"Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds die—"
I slapped my forehead. We are SO gonna get fired.
Myrtle broke the silence. "What was THAT?!" she asked.
"Somewhere over the rainbow from Wizard of Oz! You never heard that before?" Five frowned as the triplets shook their heads in return.
"When was the movie out?" "1939,"I answered with a sighed.
"Shit," Five whispered back. Five turned back at the curious kids and flashed them fakest smile ever. "Did I say Wizard if Oz? I meant I wrote that song. You see, we're singer- songwriters," he gave the lamest lie.
To avoid any more confusion, I quickly kissed the triplets on the head to wish them good night. As the kids fell asleep one by one, I smiled lightly and Five motioned me to head out of the room first like a well- mannered gentleman, before shutting the cheery room.
A/N:
Just literally two days ago The Umbrella Academy announced that there would be a fourth and final season on instagram. I am literally crying😭😭
The storytelling scene was based on a scene from the 1991 movie The Addams Family, when Morticia Addams told the kindergarten kids the story of Hansel & Gretel. I do NOT own the scene.
Five's singing scene was inspired by a scene from the Nickelodeon TV show Henry Danger. Yes, I acknowledge the fact that I watched Nickelodeon at the age of thirteen.
I apologise for giving this chapter such a lame name. I just ran out of ideas, so pls give me suggestions so I can rename this crap.
I'm so sorry I published this chapter two days late. It's just that, I still have summer assignments to catch up on. Unfortunately this won't get any better in the future because school is starting soon. :(