Hiraeth: Belonging (II)

Chapter Twelve

The bus took us Southwest to the border of the Middle and Western Realms. We arrived a mile's distance from Obsidian City, and it didn't take much of a walk to get to the gates. Vincent and I were greeted by guards, who let us in eagerly.

"We haven't had any visitors in awhile!" one of them, a curly-haired woman, exclaimed.

"Sorry, Leila. Things have been busy," Vincent apologized. "How is everyone?"

"Pretty good. The kids are excited to have a long weekend. They're all playing in the park."

Park?

Vincent ran in the direction of a cluster of trees, dragging me along by the wrist. We were quickly under a giant oak, in the midst of swingsets, slides, jungle gyms, and trampolines.

"QUINN?! LIZ?!" Vincent called, looking through the small crowd of children.

"VINCENT!!!" tiny, familiar voices called back. The two young beings of darkness climbed down from a treehouse and ran into my friend's open arms. "We missed you!"

"I missed you, too! How is school?"

"Amazing!!!" Quinn squealed.

"It's alright I guess," Liz said with a shrug.

"Are you helping Adrean take care of the house?"

Quinn nodded. "Yeah! Cleaning Day was yester-Day."

"I hate cleaning," Liz added.

Vincent laughed.

I explored the town while Vincent checked on Adrean. I visited the "History of Darkness Museum," which now had the murals, removed from the island, displayed in a huge exhibit.

I walked through the greenhouse full of Void plants and enjoyed looking at the familiar navy blue flowers. I flipped through books at the library, bought a snack at the market, said hi to newly-trained law officers outside the station, admired the empty school campus, and finally arrived at the courthouse.

As soon as I walked inside, I was greeted by an obsidian statue of Mike with Dennis by his side in canine form. The sculptor (whose name, Darcy, was on a plaque under Mike's feet) did an amazing job - his crooked smile was perfect, his body language was perfect, even his hair was perfect. The plaque read, "Michael Arthur Hughes: savior of our people and hero to Hiraeth."

I didn't quite know how to feel about a statue of my near-boyfriend. It was definitely weird, but I honestly thought he deserved it. He deserved a lot, and yet he kept on giving and fighting for nothing in return.

In a way, I wanted to be like him. That probably seems weird, but he was my role model. He was such an amazing being - he was powerful, and brave, and hard-working. And kind, and sensitive, and caring, and determined, and thoughtful, and selfless...

I wished I could be with him wherever he was, helping him fight for a cause greater than either of us.

I wandered to his office. It looked very unused, but there were letters stacked a mile high on his enormous obsidian desk. I picked one up, dreading what the address might say. Much to my surprise, it wasn't from Wondryn, and the name was written in sloppy handwriting. More letters were similar, and I soon realized, These are from children!

Some of them were already open. I read a few, laughing at typical kid things in the contents.

"My puppy is blak like your shadow doggie. I bet they would be good frens."

"I sent you some taffy. It is my favorite candy. But I didn sind to much becus you could get a kavetee."

"I am hapie that you are not sad anymore. My daddy is a doctor. He says you are helping a lot of beings to not be sad."