The Perry Brothers - Ch. 28

Terri and Terry, 29 years old

The sun rises rather quickly. The twins walk around aimelessly in the kitchen, trying to make coffee. They can barely keep their eyes open as they swich the coffee maker on. The brothers go to the living room and Terry begins reading the news paper while Terri watches TV. Catherine walks in, wearing a bathrobe, and greets Terry and Terri with a loving smile. It's the most regular sunday morning.

   The family goes to sit by the breakfast table. They drink their coffee, eat their breakfast. Catherine seems like she's wondering or holding something back. "Is everything okay, sweetie?" "Yes, I was just thinking... You see, I have been thinking lately, that I... I would like to have a child." As the twins hear the news, Terry spills his coffee and nearly chokes on it. Terri tries to carefully ask if he's alright. "Yeah, yeah. A child! Uh, yeah, um... Sure! Why not? Kids! Why not get five of them right now... Yeah..." Terry is being sarcastic, but scared. He lets out a nervous fake laugh. "You don't want kids?" "Ah, no, yes! Everything's fine! I-I... I'd rather not talk about it." Catherine and Terri look at each other for help, but neither of them know what to do. Catherine finishes quickly. "Hey, I thought, I could go on a walk. By myself. So you guys can... or cannot, what do I know? Bye, honey!"

   After Catherine's gone Terri starts talking. "Terry, what's wrong? Sure, you've never really liked kids that much, but you've always seemed like you wanted to be a dad." Terry gives up and sighs, but still won't look at Terri. "I don't know... I just don't feel like I'm ready. I mean, I think I'm ready! I guess, I just don't feel like it." Terry stays silent for a long while. "I just don't think, I could ever be a good dad." "Don't be ridiculous! You'd be a great dad." "Yeah, sure..." Terry is being difficult again. "Look, I'm not going to force you to do this, but I know, you can do it and..." Terri does it again. The puppy dog eye. Somehow, after all these years, he can still do it. And it works.

   "Okay, I think we have no other option than adoption." "I don't know, sweetie... It's a lot of hard work. And I mean a lot." Terri gives a big sigh. "I know, but I don't think Terry's ever going to-" "Hey, I'm right here! I think, you could talk a little bit more respectfully." There's a long silence. At first it's awkward, but then Catherine laugh a short, soft laugh. "Think about it. We're gonna be parents." Terri smiles. "Yeah... That's pretty awesome." The silence continues. Terry doesn't say a word, but smiles wide. He's going to be a dad.

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 27

Terri and Terry, 28 years old (the beginning is Terri's p.o.v)

Just another normal day. Nothing special. Get up, go to work. Wait. It seems like things are getting skipped. I forget everything I've done, right away. Whatever. There's something else weird going on. I can't figure out, what... Oh well. I guess, I should just carry on. I walk around town, but I don't seem to have a destination. I guess, I forgot about that too. There's no one to be seen. Hmm... Everything seems out of place. That's not, where the tree usually stands. I guess, trees can change places then. Wait, what? Something's not right. Well, things are always a little weird. But still... Wait. Where's Terry? Oh my god, where's Terry? This can't be right. I realize, that the whole left side of my body has been bandaged. I try to scream Terry's name, but I can't make a sound. Help! Where's Terry? I need to find him! Suddenly a car drives right past me. I fall down, but can't get up. I only have three tentacles. I should have four. It's a birth defect. Usually Terry helps, but now, he's not here. What am I going to do? I try to scream, but still, no sound. I drag myself to a patch of grass. How could this even happen? Someone comes and puts a white blanket on me. When it finally gets taken off, I'm lying on stage. The audience is full, and everyone looks familiar. Yet, I can't recognize any of them. The only thing on stage, apart from me, is an old typewriter. Nothing else. Someone stands up in the audience. It's Terry! I scream his name and...

   Terri opens his eye. He's sweating and shaking. At first, he remembers nothing, but then starts to panic. He quickly looks over to his left and sighs in relief, as he sees Terry sleeping next to him. Still there, still attached. It takes him quite a while to realize, it was just a dream. It still frightens Terri. He just wishes he could hide somewhere and cry. That's how bad it was. There's a light in the hallway. Catherine is probably in the bathroom. Terry wakes up to Terri's heavy breathing. "Man, you're shaking all over. Did you have a nightmare again?" "A bad one. A really, really bad one." Terry sees his brother's fright. Terry always knows. There's nothing Terri could hide from him. "Do you want to talk about it?" "I-I don't know, I guess..." Terri starts explaining all he can. He's restless and slightly panicing. There's something that he realized. Something that touched him really unexpectedly. "I don't really no why this would be such a big deal, I just..." Terri sighs and looks over to his brother. Terry looks at him with a smile. It makes Terri feel a lot better. It makes him feel like he matters. "You know, I think I realized something. I guess, that I... I really need you." Terry's eye opens wide. He stops all of his thoughts. "And I don't mean just the obvious things, like sharing organs, having less limbs. I need you." Terry's eye is getting watery. His lower lip starts trembling. Terry is desperately trying to hold back. He quickly throws his arms around Terri and tries to sob quieter. Terri hugs him back with a big smile on his face. He has won the battle.

The Perry Brothers - Ch. 26

Terri and Terry, 27 years old

"Should we have a theme? I think we should have a theme! What's gonna be our theme?" Terry rolls his eye once again. Terri and Catherine are totally obsessed with planning their wedding. "How 'bout winter wonderland?" Oh, come on. That's so cliché. Terri however likes the idea. The couple goes through different colours, patterns and flowers. Snowflake invitations. Ruby giants. Lots of lace. Shoulder warmers. Long gloves. The colours are going to be white, light blue, silver and purple. It fits well with the winter theme and also the ring. Terri and Catherine are going crazy. Luckily, Terry gets them convinced to do a smaller wedding.

   There's absolutely no peace. Let's go dress shopping, let's go cake tasting, let's go here, let's go there. It's really taking all the energy out of Terry. "Who are we gonna invite?" Terry wakes up from his own thoughts. "I-I don't know... Friends... Family... Whatever." Terri groans and tries to think of more people. "Hey, how about Roland?" Terry looks over to his brother, confused. "Roland? Terri, I'm not sure if that's a good idea..." "It'll be fine. We haven't seen him in a long, long time, and he was our best friend." "But-" "You could finally tell him, how you feel." Terry is choking up a little bit. He's looking at Terri with an angry, but vulnerable expression. "You know what, I don't care. It's your wedding anyway, not mine." Terri gets frustrated. "I thought we went through the phase of your and my life! I... Well... Fine. I'll invite him anyway." Terry definitely doesn't want to see Roland again. And telling him, how he feels. No way. Terry never bothers others with his feelings. Your thoughts are your thoughts, you keep them to yourself.

   "This is it, Terry. I'm getting married." The twins fix their purple ties and smile at each other. Wow. Both of them realize just now, that they really are grown up. That's weird. Terry still sees his brother as the little over-active kid. Always getting into trouble. Terri still sees his brother as the little awkward kid. Always having trouble standing up for himself. They can remember their game nights like yesterday. All the stupid fights. This wedding is supposed to celebrate Terri and Catherine, but somehow, it feels like it's about Terri and Terry.

   The music starts. Instead of classic wedding music, they have a love song. Not too cheesy though. They didn't want a too traditional wedding. Catherine steps in. She's gorgeous. Her beautiful, silky hair is left loose and free, but very small, glitter snowflakes are scattered carefully at the ends. Her dress moves beautifully while she walks. One single flower petal drops to the ground. Terri can barely stand still, waiting for Catherine to reach the altar. As she gets closer, she offers her hand to Terri and smiles. This is really it. Marriage. I just feels so right to stand next to each other, right here, right now. It feels magical. It feels like a fairytale. The best fairytale.

   When the ceremony is over, of course, the couple shares their first kiss as husband and wife. Catherine also gives Terry a small kiss on the cheek. Terry blushes. It's impossible to describe, how much it means to him, that Catherine appreciates him. He really thought, there would be no one in the whole world, that could accept him, even though they only want his brother. Terri is glad too. More than glad. Catherine is perfect in every way.

   Music. Darkness. Lights. Smiling faces. The reception is laid-back. Samantha walks over to the couple. "Hey, Sam! It's been so long." They give a big hug. "Uh, Catherine, this is Samantha, our old friend." "Who did you call old?" Classic Samantha. "So, you're still with Lily?" "Yeah. I can't believe it's been already 15 years..." Catherine won't believe what she's hearing. "Wh-what, wait, how? You've been together for 15 years? I mean then you'd have to have met when you were little kids!" "Well, little kids... Maybe just kids. Preteens. Do you guys have some sort of a honey moon?" "Well, no. We're just going to stay home together." Samantha let's out a smirk. "Well, congratulations to the couple, and Terry! Now, I'm gonna go get more drinks so I can go crazy..."

   Catherine has gone and talk to her friends. The brothers are looking around and see Roland. "Hey, Roland!" "Hi, guys! Congrats and all, this is amazing." "Yeah, thanks. How are you and Molly doing?" Roland suddenly looks upset, but quickly is over it. "Oh, yeah... We're not... Yeah, it didn't work out." "Oh... I'm sorry, I should've..." "It's fine. I'm actually kinda glad." Terri stops for a moment. "Hey, stay there, Terry and I gotta talk." Terri takes his brother a little further away from Roland. "There's your sign." "What?" "Ask him out!" "Terri, no! He's not interested in me!" "And how would you know?" "Isn't it clear? It's never going to happen." "Terry, we went through this already! Now you're just deciding to be miserable and alone." "Well, maybe I am then. It's still not going to happen!" Terri turns his brother to face him and looks into his eye. "Terry. I know that face. I know this feeling. I recognize that voice. You want to tell him. And you should." "Well, sometimes things don't go the way you want." Terry turns away. Terri gives up. He doesn't want to use the puppy eye on this one. This one's serious. He knows Terry would feel humiliated in this situation. Maybe someday, he'd find someone. There's no use pushing Terry.