As Penelope made her way to the kitchen, she realized just how normal this life was starting to become. This version of herself, Penelope Addams- at least it's only her last name that's changed- was much alike to her normal self, Penelope Marlowe. Except, it seemed that Addams had all the privileges and hobbies Marlowe had wanted had she had the money. Addams' memories were of dance classes, fencing lessons with her father, singing opera with her aunt, playing the piano with Lurch, designing clothes with her mother, etc.
This life seemed pretty enjoyable, but would she be able to go back to her other life? Was she missing at this very moment because she was here instead?
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Soon enough, she found the kitchen where her aunt sat patiently, reading a newspaper while sipping her coffee. Penelope had fond memories of her aunt Anastasia, though she was considered a bit strange by everyone else since she was the "normal" one. The family loved her nonetheless and it was a surprise that Gomez hadn't accidentally killed her yet, but she imagined that her aunt still carried a streak of that Addams peculiarity that kept her alive.
"Morning, Ana." Penelope greeted in a more normal tone now that she was more immersed in her role as Penelope Addams.
"Morning, my dear. Your breakfast is over there. I had to promise Lurch that I wouldn't tell your parents he made it." She said with a triumphant smile as she pointed to a covered silver platter on the kitchen counter.
"Right, thank you." She responded calmly, hiding her brief moment of surprise at literally being served with a silver platter. Back in her apartment, she would have probably had a cup of coffee and some toast for breakfast. Instead, a plate of pancakes, a bowl of fruit, and a side of scrambled eggs hid underneath the covering. Anastasia always made it a point to give her normal food when her parents were away since, as a doctor, she worried about Penelope's nutrition. However, it wasn't all that necessary considering that the Addams family peculiarity seemed to keep them alive and healthy- for the most part.
She took the platter with her and sat at the empty chair across from her aunt. Anastasia put her newspaper down and placed her elbows up on the table to prop her head up. There was a teasing smile on her lips and Penelope knew that meant she was about to be nosy. "So... anyone at school you think is cute?"
Penelope glanced up at her, annoyed. Though she was now in a high schooler's body, mentally, she still felt 20, and even if she did like anyone from her high school, she probably wouldn't do anything about it. Everyone at her school seemed to keep away from her, again, because of the peculiarity of her family. Of course, no one in this town ever saw the truth, all they saw was "goth weirdos."
"Um... no, not really," she answered in a bored tone, hoping that would make her aunt drop the subject.
"What a pity. Crushes are always fun," her aunt remarked casually before continuing with the subject, much to Penelope's dismay. "You know, a family is moving to Forks from Alaska pretty soon. One of them is going to be a doctor here. I met him when he was interviewed about a week ago and let me tell you... he is a fine man. And he's such a gentleman. No one in this town could compare." Anastasia's eyes were practically hearts as she went on about him before finishing with, "He's married, sadly."
"Interesting..." Penelope commented in a disinterested tone while she kept eating, cleverly disguising her actual interest and shock. A family from Alaska and a doctor among them? She couldn't jump to conclusions just yet but how far off could she be? Her mind was reeling at the possibility of actually seeing the Cullens in the flesh- or stone, whatever they were made up of. "And what's this doctor's name?"
Anastasia smiled before sighing dreamily. "Carlisle Cullen."
The way she said it almost made Penelope laugh aloud, but she couldn't bear to do that to her aunt. She bit down on her lip to keep from laughing before composing herself. "Well, um, I hope his family can settle down comfortably in our little town. Would you excuse me for a moment?"
She didn't give her aunt a chance to respond before hurrying out of the kitchen and back to the big balcony. She only let herself laugh for a moment since she couldn't blame her aunt for crushing on one of the most handsome vampires in the Twilight universe. Penelope's eyes landed on the white house in the distance once again. If she had vampiric eyesight then she might be able to see if anyone was moving in, but she couldn't tell with her mere human sight. It was only a matter of time, of course, and maybe one day, she would see the lights turn on.
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But then what? Was she going to go through the whole storyline of the 5 books? She couldn't do that, could she? That was two years' worth of time and what about her own life? Penelope still didn't understand how time was working here in relation to her old life. Was time moving without her there? Was she simply not physically there, but here? Would her roommate get worried at some point and go into her room only to find that she wasn't in the apartment at all? Her family and friends would probably think she got kidnapped or decided to just run away out of nowhere. What was she going to do?
Penelope hadn't even noticed that her breathing was shallow or that she was gripping the railing of the balcony so tightly that her knuckles were white.
She took some deep breaths and let go of the railing, chanting to herself, "It's ok, it's ok, you're ok..." Eventually, she calmed down enough to form a plan. In Addams' memories, she knew that the family library contained books on varying topics so perhaps there's something in there that would help her get back. With that in mind, she went back into the kitchen to finish her breakfast, telling her aunt she just needed to make sure that her mother's plant, Cleopatra, was fed.
After breakfast, Anastasia got ready and left for another day of long hours at the hospital, leaving Penelope to have free reign over the house- which she would take advantage of.
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The library was dark and vast. It was two stories tall and practically every inch of the walls was covered in bookshelves apart from some little reading nooks that broke up the uniformity of shelves every now and then. She sat on one of the two couches that were facing each other in the middle of the room, where her family would sit to discuss big news or anything important. There were windows but there wasn't much sunlight outside to be considered bothersome by the family, so they weren't covered.
She remained there for a while, deliberating her situation. Apparently, Addams had spent a lot of time in here when she wasn't in her lessons, but even having this knowledge, she still had no idea where to start. What category would her situation fall into? The supernatural? Perhaps that would yield something.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, the Supernatural section of the Addams family library was extensive. The collection alone took up an entire side of the library. Her eyes scanned the various titles of the leatherbound books, all neatly organized in categories. She found herself smiling when she came across the respective Vampires and Werewolves sections, taking a few to read later to see if they were accurate or not. There were some books she had to close immediately since some of them emitted monstrous sounds from whatever creature the book talked about.
Penelope stopped in her tracks whenever she spotted a book on any sort of supernatural travel since that seemed to be what happened to her, but none of them seemed to fit her particular situation. For the most part, they seem to describe some portal opening up, usually coinciding with an out-of-the-ordinary event having occurred before the travel. The dreams she had experienced could count but she didn't go through a portal- at least not one that she knew of.
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After hours of scouring the supernatural section, she left the library feeling a little defeated since all her research did was make her hungry. Nothing in the books ever described her situation perfectly. At times she thought she had found something useful, but then it would turn into something else that was completely different.
With the vampire and werewolf books in her room, she went down to the kitchen for some lunch. In this life, she knew Addams would most likely summon Lurch to make her lunch, but that felt strange for Marlowe. Instead, she opened the fridge to see if anything might call to her. There were varying degrees of suspicious-looking foods and there was a brown, mushy substance that looked like it was pulsating.
Deciding to not test fate for now and instead choosing to eat out, she grabbed a coat and went out to the garage. Her jaw dropped at the sight of the luxurious-looking cars that belonged to her family.
"God damn..." she whispered in awe to herself. "Maybe this won't be so bad."
Her eyes landed on a cherry red, 1955 Cadillac Deville. She remembered how Addams picked it out because it looked like it had horns coming out the front. She found the keys to it and started it up, letting the car roar to life. Part of her was nervous since Marlowe didn't know how to drive which was the reason she always took the bus unless her friends gave her rides in their cars. Addams, on the other hand, was perfectly fine with driving since she just got her permit at 15-
15?!
"Oh, how the mighty have fallen..." she groaned to herself, her head leaning on the steering wheel as she finally let that sink in. So not only was she in this strange life, but this version of herself lacked the 5 years of brain development, life experiences, and education that she came in with.
"Well, that's just dandy," she remarked sarcastically to herself. She wasn't particularly excited to share a mind with a fifteen-year-old, but at least she knew how to drive now. After opening the garage from a control in the car, she drove out of the garage, making sure to close it behind her before heading down the winding roads surrounded by dense forest.
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