The Contest

“Scott? You came back? Mum questioned, dropping her brimming tea cup on to the breakfast table, soaking the white linen tablecloth. With her blue eyes wide with shock, she desperately tried to speak, but could not utter a word.

Pop just stared at Scott in disbelief. “Can someone tell me what is going on?”

Scott squeezed my hand.

“He never left,” I explained.

“What do you mean? You were inconsolable when he disappeared, this doesn’t make any sense.”

“It’s a long story, one which will shock and disturb you both.”

Sitting at the table with my parents, I related the whole story in graphic detail, with Scott at my side to give his account of events as they had unfolded, from his transformation into Icon at the hands of Hugh, to his eventual reversal.

At varying points my parents intervened. “If all this is true, what I don’t understand is why you were going to marry Hugh?” Mum asked.

“I was just so angry with him and wanted to get my own back, so I planned to jilt him at the last minute to make him suffer, that’s why I wanted a small family wedding.”

“It’s all beginning to make sense now. I had no idea, but one thing I did notice is that you seemed more distraught at Scott’s withdrawal from The Contest than you did when Hugh had his accident. I just knew something didn’t quite add up.”

Pop, being Pop, was clearly annoyed. “Why didn’t you tell me Eemay. Hugh is certainly a devious, evil character and I really didn’t suspect a thing, but I could have soon dealt with the situation if you had told me.”

“Pop, I was angry and wanted revenge. With respect, I knew that if I involved you, you would have taken over, so I decided to do it my way, with the help of Penny.

My original plan was to give Scott the reversal spell on the eve of my wedding to Hugh. .As you know, I was going along with all the wedding preparations and it was hard keeping up the pretence with Hugh. But I intended to walk down the aisle on your arm, beaming broadly to take my place beside Hugh. At that precise moment, Scott would have intervened, accused Hugh of attempted murder and breaking the rules of The Contest, and rather than marrying Hugh, I would have married Scott instead.”

My parents stared in total amazement, their eyes as round as saucers and their mouths gaping.

Pop, still put out that he hadn’t been involved, couldn’t resist adding, “I really wish you hadn’t kept this to yourself, if I had known I would have supported you wholeheartedly, surely you must know that.”

“And so would I,” Mum chipped in, feeling left out.

“Yes, of course I know you would, but Hugh had almost succeeded in his evil plan to destroy Scott, and I wanted to make him suffer, but it now seems that fate has intervened. But despite everything that has happened, Scott and I both want the wedding to go ahead as planned, without the added complication of Hugh.”

Pops face suddenly broke into a beaming smile. “Eemay, I’m just so proud of you. The way you have handled this shows real strength of character and determination.”

My parents hugged me to them so tightly I could hardly breathe, before shaking Scott’s hand vigorously in acknowledgement and approval of our intended life together.