Pastel Colored Sadness

CHAPTER 7 The Pains of Tomorrow

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Chapter 7

The Pains of Tomorrow

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The next day, I found a piece of black cloth and the necklace of my scales, putting them over the diary on the kitchen table. These were things I never wanted to see again, but never wanted to lose. I hated how it was, but knew I would regret trying to fight it. I then found a premade meal to my liking in the fridge and was halfway finished with it when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find William standing on my porch, listening to the waves.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly before I could greet him. "I heard what Conner did to you and wanted to apologize. He's mortified by what he's done. He wanted me to give this to you," he hands me a stuffed lamb, a female version of the one I have. It was like Conner had blown on the embers in my chest, but instead of pain, it was an echo of affection. He might have a big mouth, but he wasn't without greater redeeming qualities.

"Please come in," I say softly, taking my place on the couch. William shut the door behind him slowly.

"He wouldn't tell me everything that happened, I was wondering if you'd tell me?" he asked, staying by the door with his blind person's stick. I should find out what those are called, I decided. It sounded rude to call it a blind person's stick.

"Do you know you have magical blood?" I asked, afraid to lift my eyes to him. If they were twins, they both had to have magical blood, even though one would have been made an Olm.

Olms are created when the ceremonies couldn't--or just plainly didn't--give them their proper magic, and the magic of the earth seeped into their blood, making them immortal servants of mother earth. Olms are born blind...

William stood still, so still I thought he was made of stone. "Yes... how did you know?" William asked.

"I'm a Siren," I whisper, hugging my two lambs together, "Conner touched a necklace of my scales last night and... did something that led to him kissing me," I explained.

"I'm so... so sorry, Taylor," William fell heavily into a chair opposite me. It sounded like he was about to tell me that I was going to die, "Conner doesn't know that we have magical blood, and he can't until he sheds his first skin at the height of his maturity. Everyone can't wait, because he'll be the strongest of our kind, to have waited so long before first shedding," William shook his head, then let them fall into his hands, his stick nearly hitting the lampshade.

"You're an Olm... aren't you? You have no magic but the ability to speak prophecies," I gently change the subject. "You're like me, cursed with immortality," I hugged my lambs tightly to my chest. It would have been funny if they were squeaky toys, but it would feel appropriate too. I was squeezing them so tightly that I would have killed them if they were real. I twirled my fingers in the soft violet color of the skirt on the one Conner gave me.

"Yes... isn't it ironic that my twin brother is a different species than I just because I was born after him?" He laughed humorlessly. But there was no resentment, just misery.

"We can be miserable together," I offered, taking his hand.

He smiled at me with his white eyes, "If I could have children with you, being an Olm, I'd want to live with you forever as my lover," he whispered, "I'd have as many children as you wanted, for millions if not billions of years."

"Funny thing is, I would do the same, but I'm being forced to give birth to the strongest of my brother's children, a child that will bring a new era to the world. The Olm at my birth told my parents so, and it's the reason I was cursed to become a Siren," I could hear the agony in my falsely cheerful voice. With so much time we'd together, and with how similar he was to Thomas, I knew I could have fallen in love with William eventually.