Chapter Six Years Before
SIX YEARS BEFORE
THE BUTTON MANOR
Six years before Leontes Button was found dead on his yacht and three years before the tragic events of the seventh Button Prodigy Ball, where a guest would end up dead and nothing would ever be the same, the heirs all found themselves in the Manor’s attic, as they sometimes did during the dead of night.
The attic was in the east wing of the house, close to Bilal’s and Perdita’s bedrooms, and was one of several attics on the estate. What made this one special though was that it had a secret passageway through the east wing laundry room. It felt like entering Narnia every time.
The whole thing had been Perdita’s idea originally.
She had convinced the others to come up after a particularly grueling week of tutoring, training, and being told they weren’t yet good enough.
And then after that it became a routine, a way to cope with the weight of expectation placed on their growing shoulders.
She would simply text their sibling group chat Benjamin is in the attic, and without any questions, they would come.
The Benjamin in question referred to the one from F.
Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” the story that Romeo had been forced to read by an English tutor.
He’d hated reading the book so much that he’d set it on fire, later claiming to his tutor that the book had been left in all sorts of odd places.
Benjamin is in the kitchen …, he’d say, or Benjamin is in the laundry …
, or Benjamin is in the attic. At ten years of age, they all thought it was hilarious, so much so that it became their code for I need you, please come and find me.
These days, Benjamin was mostly in the attic.
It was their private lair, the one place in the house where they could hang out together without their daytime fears, and shrug off the constant scrutiny.
On receiving the message, they’d sneak up the hidden ladder, bringing with them stolen snacks or trinkets they’d picked up on respective quests since their last meeting, and they’d talk and laugh and eat for hours in the safe confines of their windowless palace.
None of their father’s creepy dead animal heads staring at them, no tutors, no instructors, no pressure.
Just the five Button siblings, somewhere they could freely discuss their own dreams.
On this particular night years ago, their father’s murder a far-off specter, they were seated in a semicircle, eating cookies and exchanging random thoughts.
“As bad as everything is, I actually do quite like music,” Tavi pronounced to the room.
“Yeah?” Perdita said, and Tavi nodded.
“It’s peaceful to me … when I get to do it for myself, you know? I love performing, but I hate feeling like I have to perform in a certain way and style with certain pieces. If I could, I’d be in a band when I’m older.”
This got Tavi several impressed glances from his siblings.
“Like a rock band?” Bilal asked with a playful snicker that had no malice laced in it. At this point, the bond between the two Button boys was still strong, not yet fractured beyond repair.
Tavi smiled at Bilal. “Yeah, why not?”
“That’s pretty cool,” Bilal replied.
“I’ve secretly always envied your abilities, Octavius. I wish I could play an instrument,” Fola said wistfully.
“You can do math though, which is way cooler in my opinion.” Tavi smiled.
Fola nodded in agreement. Math definitely was cooler, she decided.
“You could play the triangle, Fola,” Bilal said.
Fola shot him a look. “I want to play a real instrument, Billy.”
“I mean, I wouldn’t mind playing the triangle or the kazoo,” Rome said with a shrug, adding to the discussion as though this was something that was actually going to happen.
“Imagine if we actually had a band,” Tavi said. “I bet we’d have a cool name.”
“The Disappointments? Dad would love that,” Bilal said, dampening the mood a little.
The room fell silent, and Perdita felt anxiety bubble inside of her, so she spoke quickly before the illusion of the attic washed away and they were left with the bitter reality that they had no real choice in their future.
“I’ve got a pretty good singing voice. I could do the vocals in our hypothetical band?” Perdita suggested, which was followed by a chorus of snickers.
“I’ve heard you in the shower, Dee. Let’s have someone else do vocals,” Fola said.
“Hey! I have the voice of an angel,” Perdita said.
“Yeah, a fallen one,” Bilal chimed in, which made everyone laugh again.
This was the magic of the attic. It made things better in this house of horrors.
Perdita hated life most when her family felt fractured, and over the years, she did everything in her power to mend the cracks when they’d form. But she knew she couldn’t hold on forever.
As she’d eventually learn—when Octavius would be the first of the siblings to leave, followed by Bilal, and then, at last, herself—some things were too fragile to remain unchipped forever.
And eventually their Narnia would be a thing of the past. The horrors would prove too much for them all to stand.