Beyond Human: Queen's Shadow Series

26.) Pretty Little Lies

~~~Ali

'Is that how you survived Grandpa?' I hear my grandson ask. "Yes," I sit in the nursing home, surprised that I was even still alive. From that day, it was still surprising how Apollos managed to save us, and how he managed to stop the assault in the church. It's then that I begin to reflect on that moment as I tell that story in a trance. I tell my two grandsons, "I guess I can tell you the full story," as I look down at my right arm. Sometimes, it doesn't even feel real that I got this. As I take a deep breath, I begin, "Well once Dottie got adopted, everyone was depressed. She even sent us out some mental images of her being happy with her family and after the mental images were sent out, they simply stopped. Then Apollos' friend told us that she was no longer a vampire, that was the biggest surprise to me. Apollos managed to conquer the thing that afflicted us for a long time,"

'The hunger?' my granddaughter said. I smile and say, "Yes. It was something that I didn't think was possible. Once you were turned into one of the vampires, it was over but he found a way to refer to the effects on all of us. He set us all free," 'But you can never see your brothers or sisters again?' "Yeah, that was the deal and he helped us. I didn't think we would live long enough to see that help. I don't think I told you about this part, but I'll tell you what else happened. Before me, Claire, and Marcus split up, we talked and we said our goodbyes. When Dottie was gone, we looked at Claire and we all talked. I was still inconsolable. Even though Claire and Dottie were close, she was still my friend. We still had ourselves and we still were close. Just because we all paired up with the same gender didn't mean that we didn't love each other. It just meant that we could relate to the other one more,"

"Looking at how this went, I knew what I had to do. I had to volunteer next. I wanted Marcus to see that there was nothing to be afraid of and for a moment there, Claire wanted to stop me but she didn't. She instead looked at me and said, 'I want you to live your best life. I want you to be happy as you can be, brother,' Was I going to be able to do this? I think to myself, Maybe. I'm going to do it, I don't know what I'm going to do but I know I'm going to do my best and live my best life. I'm going to do it because I know this is what is going to help the whole world and I get to be a part of it.

'I'm going to miss you,' I hear Marcus' soft voice. I smile with a teary face as I say, "So am I. I'm going to miss you every day of the week because I had a brother and sister that died, too and now I'm going to lose another brother," As all three of us, we all say 'For Dottie. Yes because if she can do it, so can we,' As Jeane comes back into the room, I can see her visibly shaken up, something must be on her mind. Apollos' friend was a very pretty girl and she had an extremely kind heart but she's been misguided for a lot of her life. I wonder where she is now? As she meets me and she realizes I'm volunteering, she smiles and says, 'I'm brave to even do this,' I say, "I'm not brave, I just want my life to be normal, too and now, I can do that" I take time to enjoy the freedom I've been given, "Thank you," I say to her with a smile.

It's then that she chokes up for a minute and she says, 'The pleasure is all mine, little one,' I see a blood tear come down her face as she says it. As Apollos and I are talking, he tells me of all the things I'll get experience as an adult, telling me to stay away from all the girls and that I'm going to love it where I'm going. 'I heard England is pretty rainy though,' He says to me, 'So make sure you wear a hood and make sure you eat well,' "Is that where Dottie is?" He smiles and says, 'You know I can't tell you that, but I can tell you something about her. She sent you a letter,'

"Really?" 'Yes, but you have to read it when you get older.' "How much older?" 'Probably when you're a little bit bigger than you are now,' He says with a smile, 'How about 15?' "Really? I'm already 15 if we count how long I've been a vampire. I'm actually older than 15," 'Unfortunately, that's the promise,' "What did the letter say? What did the letter say?" I reach in my pocket as my grandchildren keep interrupting the story but I love it because they get it from their father and he gets it from me. Sometimes we have to be chatterboxes.