Where the Story Ends

The Fighter

In "Enough for Now", Elena Kensington had her say. Now it's time to see the story from Jayden's eyes.

Jayden Hamilton

Happy Ever After was a load of bullshit.

I'd decided it when I was just a kid. Four, to be exact. Mom was everything to my dad, Mom and us. It was the time where she was the most beautiful woman in the whole world, and no one would ever make me as happy as she did. It was the time of being too scared to apologize when I got mad and said something that hurt one of my brother's feelings, and she'd help me write them a note, and eventually, give him a hug to make sure I knew everything was okay. My brothers never really got mad at me back then, even though they pretended to a lot. Mom made sure I knew that, that they were brothers and they would tease and play-fight, but we were brothers. Nothing could break that bond.

And then she died.

I still remembered it, because I held her hand as she went.

She didn't look sick. She had a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead and her skin was pale, but she didn't look sick to me. Just tired. She had reached for my hand then, her fingers yellow, the nails brittling. The skin was dry and there were thin red lines on the pale skin from where it had split and bled. Her eyes were half closed, two thin slits, like she wanted to close them but wanted to see me, more.

My brothers had already gone. Trenton first, then Travis, then Cole. Connor had dragged Trent out when he started screaming, crying and wailing, and pulled him upstairs somewhere. His crying was still audible when the door was open, with Travis and Cole joining in. Connor hovered by the door, eyes wide and terrified as he looked down at Mommy, and me, standing a few feet away from the bed. Dad stood in the corner, looking like he was cornered and frightened. It scared me - Dad never looked scared. He was the bravest man in the whole world, him and Connor.

Mommy managed to turn her head a bit more, looking over at me. Her eyes were green, like the stems of the flowers in her window. She managed a smile, and I managed to relax a little bit. She was happy. That was good, right?

"Jayden," her voice was raspy, and she cleared her throat. The harsh sound countered her smile, but she extended her hand before letting it fall. "Come here, baby."

I hesitated. She spoke again, insistent. "Jayden, c'mere."

Connor pushed me forwards with a gentle push on the back of my neck. I turned to look at him, and he nodded once before flashing me a reassuring smile that quavered as he looked over my head to the bed in the centre of the room. I wrapped my arms around myself nervously as I made my way to the bed, eyeing the beeping machine next to her bed. The nurse that stood there ruffled my hair before passing and I recoiled - her name was Dina, and she was nice, and she could make Mommy laugh sometimes, but something about her scared me. I knew that she wasn't supposed to be there - she was never supposed to be there, not with our family, even if Connor and Dad were okay with her.

Mom's long, elegant fingers sifted through my hair, and she pulled me forwards with gentle pressure on the back of my head. "It's okay, honey," she reassured me with a small smile. "Can you come on the bed, baby?"

Nodding made her smile bigger, so I made sure that my movements were as big as I could make them before crawling onto the edge of the bed. I nudged her leg under the blanket, her very, very thin leg, and she flinched in pain. I froze, but she smiled a bit through the pain. "It's okay, Jayden. Come here."

I crawled to next to her head, careful not to touch her again. She reached for my hand. "It's okay, Jayden," she said again. "Mommy wants to tell you something. Are you listening?"