Elements

Chapter 29

Ira Thomson's POV

The weeks after his death were painful. It's hard to lose someone you've loved for so long. Jackson hadn't just been my boyfriend; he had been my first real friend. To see his lifeless body...it took all my courage to stay strong.

Mrs. Hefter's memory of Jackson was erased. I was there: Mother placed a hand on her forehead and muttered a few words, closing her eyes. Tears streamed down my face as I saw her eyes shift from confusion to glazed over. Her pupils turned white and she went unconscious. Mother lay her on the couch, closing her eyelids. It looked as if she were just taking a nap.

"She'll wake," Mother whispered, backing away. "But she'll have no memory of her son."

I knew it would be best for her, but I cried once again, my tears staining the carpet. Mother brought me home. Not to the kingdom but to my house, the one I had lived in for so long before. She lay me on my bed. I continued to cry, placing my palms on my cheeks. My hands were so cold and lifeless they froze the tears to my face. I pulled my hands back, inspecting them.

"If I had known what these powers would do," I managed to say before Mother left, "I would have never wanted them."

Mother put her arms around me and kissed my forehead. A tear dripped down her cheek, shining silver. "You had no choice. You were destined to save us."

"Why did I have to be destined to anything? Why couldn't I have just lived life normally, with Jackson?" I rest my head on my knees, wiping my eyes on my jeans.

"I'm sorry, Ira. It took courage to embrace your new life. You handled it so well. I'm so proud of you.

And I'm sure Jackson would be too if he were here."

I sat there at the window, staring outside. Autumn had come to an end; all the leaves had been shredded from the trees, all the pumpkins and Halloween decorations being put back inside, all the kids starting to wear coats and scarves and mitten for the cold weather to come. For winter to start with its icy temperatures and heavy snowfall.

Mother had thawed my "foster" mother from the ice. She woke up from a long sleep with no memory of the day she was frozen. And of course, I didn't tell her she had been frozen for almost two months. My foster father also came home. We found out he hadn't come home due to the storm being very close to where he lived. His phone had died and there was no power. In his words, the storm had miraculously vanished. There was no trace of it left. And somehow there had been no damage.

"It was supernatural!" Dad had told us at dinner. "I'd never seen anything like it. It was like heaven and hell were fighting spiritually, not on Earth or something."

Mom and Dad noticed me playing with my food, so they asked me what happened. I told them a scripted answer: I told them that one of my friend's relatives had died. When they asked which one, I answered Jane, which confused them.

"Who's Jane?"

Then I realized Mother had erased their memory too. In fact, she had erased the memories of anyone who had known Jackson well. The realization almost brought me to tears again.

That night I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Jackson, about what had happened in the last few months, and what would happen next. The Destroyer was dead: Finally, the Element Kingdom was free. But now what? Would everyone forget about the deaths, the destruction, the war itself? Would life really go back to normal? I dreaded knowing the answer.

We had a funeral for him, and all the rest who had passed. Each element did something special; the Saplings planted flowers near the graves with the Breezies helping to give them sunlight and control the temperature; the Firebolts helped fuel the funeral pyre for those to be cremated, while the Aquagirls washed the ash into a newly made pond at the front of the palace. Us, the gods and goddesses, the queen herself, we stood hand in hand. Our tears fell into the pond, alongside the ash. I glanced at my reflection; Goddess Crystal, wearing her royal dress and accessories. How different I was then, how different I am now.

Jackson was not cremated, he was buried. We all prayed for him.

I got to see him one last time before he was buried. Mother had closed his eyes and placed his hands crossed upon his chest. I crafted a heart of ice from the pond's water, enchanted water that would be frozen for eternity, and placed it in his hands. I kissed his forehead and stroke his hair. I wasn't crying, but my heart ached. It was just as painful.

The kingdom bowed their heads and closed their eyes. We all stood there, murmuring, muttering, and praying. I'm sure many of us were grieving greatly on the inside. And so many were thanking fate for being alive right then.

No matter what, all of us stood silent. Only the crackle of the fire, the warm breeze, the cool water at our feet, and the soft earth beneath us.

I could never explain what happened that day. I just know that at the end of it all, we had all changed.

We had freed the elements. But they still roam free, and they're far from complete.