This Is My Town

Chapter Twenty ~ Kiara

"Hello," the boy said. "I am Nikolas. What is your name?"

Kiara simply froze. The boy had a smashing resemblance to his mother, Pandora, and he was so innocent. What did he do to deserve eternal death like that, not being able to embrace his own mother? That was a horror that Kiara couldn't quite get over herself.

Without being able to help herself, Kiara stepped forward slowly and tilted her head sideways, smiling gently. It felt genuine, and she knew it looked as such too.

"Hello Nikolas," she greeted. "My name is Kiara; these are my friends. We want to help you."

Nikolas frowned. "You will help me?" he asked. "You will help me and mama be together again?"

Kiara's heart ached, but she nodded her head all the same. "Yes," she replied. "Yes, I think I will."

"Kiara, no," Enzo muttered in her ear, but as soon as Kiara glanced sideways at him he was being launched across the room and had slammed into the wall, slumping down without moving. Rye shouted and went to help him, but he too was launched across the room and landed in a heap beside Enzo, both unconscious. Kiara blinked heavily, but made no sudden move to help them. That could put them all in danger.

"Nikolas, they mean no harm," she told him carefully. "They are my friends; they do not understand what needs to be done as we do, alright? They will come to accept it."

Nikolas hesitated, then nodded his head slowly.

"So... how can you do that?" Kiara asked Nikolas curiously, dropping down to her knees to be at eye-level with the boy.

"Mama taught me," he murmured, his head down so his eyes can examine his hands. "She said I will not have it much longer. She said that she will be back in two days."

Kiara frowned. "Jaspar said a few hours," she said unsurely, and Nikolas shook his head.

"No, he was lying," Nikolas admitted. "After mama wakes, she will be going to meet a God. Is that not exciting?"

Kiara smiled, beginning to worry for her friends behind her. Did they hit their heads too hard? Would they be alright? "It is," she admitted, then creased her eyebrows together. "Although, I am a little frightened to die for good; I do not know what it is like."

Nikolas smiled gently. "It will only hurt for a bit," he told her reassuringly. "After that, you will be in eternal bliss. You can chose to stay here, where you can only be seen if you want to be, or you can move on to somewhere better."

Kiara frowned. "Why did you stay?" she asked curiously, and Nikolas shrugged his little shoulders.

"Mama told me to wait for her," he admitted. "She said she would not follow me, but she would bring me back."

Kiara hesitated, knowing her next statement was risky, but she went with it anyway. She was already plotted to die.

"Do you want to come back?" she asked quietly, and Nikolas looked at her, but his expression crumbled to one of sorrow as he slumped to the ground, crossing his legs glumly. Kiara followed and spread her legs out to her right, leaning on her left arm to look at Nikolas.

"No," he admitted, and his form glitched for a second. "It is peaceful here; I cannot get hurt again, and papa is here too. So is grandpapa, and grandmamma. Everyone is here and we can all be together forever. Except mama. She does not want to follow me here. She wants me to leave me family."

"Have you told her this?" she asked, and Nikolas nodded his head.

"Three hundred years ago," he confirmed. "She would not let me go. She told me to stay. But I spent so long with my other family, and I did not want to come back. She said it was not an option."