This Reality

22: The Books

Hello!
Sorry this update has taken a while. I kept getting sidetracked while trying to write it. Anyways, it's Friday today so you can probably expect another update this weekend? Hopefully¿ Let's hope so.
I hope you like this chapter and thank you for your comments and votes! They make me smile.
Enjoy!

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My mother and father risked their own lives and safety to bring happiness to children who would have otherwise not known it.

Their selflessness makes me so proud. I am quiet for a few moments and Milla's voice cuts into my thoughts.
"Astrid, you've gone quiet again."

"Oh, uh, sorry, I was just thinking."
I pause.
"About them."

Milla smiles. "It's good to think about them." She takes a breath. "I remember when I was really young, before the leaders were in power, my grandmother died. She was old, and it was expected. Still, I was very upset."

I nod, encouraging her to go on.
"For a while after her death, I would feel guilty for ever being happy, and after a few years, I stopped being sad about her death. And because of this, I felt terrible. And I told my mother about it, who told me it's okay. She told me, "You'll get over their death, and you'll stop being sad. But you won't forget about them and you won't stop thinking about them." And I think these words could be important to you, because you might still be really sad about your parents, but I want you to know that it's okay to move on and stop being upset but it doesn't mean you will forget about them."

I run over this several times in my mind and it starts to make sense, and I smile. Once again, I have gone quiet.

"We should go back upstairs," I say softly, "Jax and Tiger are probably wondering why we're talking so long."
"Yeah," sighs Milla, standing up.

We haul ourselves off the floor and both go up the wooden steps and find ourselves back in the front room of the house. Jax and Tiger are engrossed in a discussion about the Leaders.

"Well, they knew they had power, and they knew that they could control us." Explains Jax, in answer to a question I did not hear.
"But why did they have to ban all fiction? Did it pose that much of a threat to them? Asks Tiger, intrigued.
"They didn't want any of their people to be caught up in some fantasy world, which would take the attention away from them. If you ask me, it made our country far from perfect."

Milla stops them in their conversation.
"Are you ready to go now?"

Jax spins around upon hearing Milla's voice. "Uh, yeah, are you guys all ready?"

Everybody nods and we begin to head to the front door of the house.
"Wait!" I exclaim, running down the hall and down to the basement. I pick up a book off the floor, and smiling at its title I tuck it under my arm and run back to the door.

Once out on the front porch, Milla locks the door and we begin walking back home, home being Milla and Jax's apartment.

It's not very late in the afternoon, around lunchtime, and the sun is shining fairly high and there are a few white clouds whisped across the sky like candy floss.

The adults walk a few metres ahead, discussing where to go for lunch and Tiger falls behind so he can talk to me.

"What did Milla want to show you down in the basement?" They ask curiously.

"You remember the books that were in the storage unit? Well, in the basement there were more," I explain, earning an understanding nod.

"What did you go back downstairs for, just before we left?" They ask.

I hold out the book and show them the title. "A Brush With Magic," they read aloud. "Can I have a look?"

I hand them the book and they carefully open the cover. It must have been a few years since some of those pages have been turned.

"Why did you pick this up?" They say, after a few moments of admiring the cover illustration and tracing my parents' names with their finger.

"I want to read it. I want to see what sort of things they wrote and experience it for myself. Maybe it'll make me understand them better."

Tiger just nods, staying quiet.

"So," says Jax, "what do people fancy for lunch?"