KOTLC- afterstory (new generation)

Chapter 14

this story is currently on hold while we write the other book but there is quite a few unpublished chpaters!!!

The rest of the night was one of the best ones Stella had had in a long time. Her parents were in good spirits and if they were upset or nervous they hid it well. They ate pastries and laughed about happy memories for hours. This helped Stella get back all of the feeling. The numbness she had felt earlier made her nervous but she pushed it to the back of her mind, to worry about later. She just wanted to focus on the happiness of that moment. But when the physicians knocked on the door a few moments later, she knew that the happy moment would have to come to an end, and as soon as she heard Elwin's voice her heartrate picked up.

"Alright Stella, it's time to go to bed!" Elwin poked his head in holding what looked like an Ecodon. It was a light purple colour and it looked like it might have been a part of Elwin's infamous stuffed animal collection that Stella had heard all about from when Keefe had stayed at Elwin's house.

"Hey look Stella you're one of the cool kids with a stuffed animal!" Keefe exclaimed. Stella didn't have the energy to roll her eyes, so she just got up out of bed, took the stuffed animal and thanked Elwin.

"What is it called?"

"This is Gurgle!" Elwin exclaimed

"Gurgle???" Stella asked, but before she could ask anymore questions, Fitz's voice cut in as he entered the room.

"Stella, it's getting pretty late so we should get settled."

That was the part of the night Stella was dreading the most, sleep. She gulped. Her dad must have sensed her emotions shift.

"Woahh there, you alright Stell?" Keefe asked. He made his way over to her and pulled her in for a hug. "Nothing is going to happen," he whispered into her hair and kissed her on the top of the head. Almost like he knew exactly that she'd been thinking. And Stella knew that nothing bad would happen- partly, but a few tears slipped down her cheeks anyway. That's when Sophie came over and brushed her fingers through Stella's hair gently. She pulled it back and began to wove it into a tight braid.

"Stella, I want you to imagine everything you're afraid of, all your worries getting pulled back into this braid okay?" Sophie said calmly. Stella did as her mom said and pictured her inflicting, her dads powers, Onyx and all her other worries and thoughts getting pulled back and buried in the braid. It helped. A lot

"Fitz will take care of you." Keefe told her as he squeezed her shoulder. Fitz nodded.

"You'll be fine Stella, you can always take a sedative if you're afraid?" Fitz offered and then regretted it as he shared a glance at Sophie.

"I'm not afraid." Stella said, as she stepped a couple feet away from her parents, but her voice came out shakier than she wanted it too, "I, I don't know.." Stella paced. The room remained silent. They were used to Sophie never wanting to take sedatives and by the looks of things they expected that Stella too, wouldn't want to take them. Stella continued to pace up and down until she eventually sat down on her pink fluffy carpet with her head in her hands, thinking of every possible solution. She hadn't had many sedatives in her life, but she was afraid there was something her parents weren't telling her about sedatives. Stella didn't know if she should take one or not, she really did want to sleep, but...

"Stell this is up to you, you don't need our approval baby girl." Keefe said as he looked at Stella. She was still trying to decide. On one hand she didn't want to take it and upset Sophie but she also really needed sleep even if that meant taking a sedative. Sophie opened her mouth to argue with Keefe but then quickly closed it when he looked her in the eyes. This was impossible, at this point she was so tired she leant back and -her carpet was so comfortable she had forgotten, she just wanted to lay there forever and never make this decision. Until she realized that was what sucked her into the madness last time- laying helpless on her pink fluffy carpet. So she jolted up into a sitting position very quickly. She then realized something and suddenly the pressure that Stella had felt a minute ago to make the right decision vanished.

"I want to take the sedative." Stella said defiantly. Sophie inhaled sharply, then nodded but Stella avoided her eyes. She realized that she needed the sedative desperately to get rid of all these flashbacks.

"Ok let's get this over with."

Fitz walked over holding a light blue pill and a bottle of youth. He didn't look thrilled about the situation either, but he gave her a big smile.

"You ready Stella?"

Stella didn't feel ready to speak so she just nodded and snatched the pill out of Fitz's hand.

Keefe held out his hand to help her up off the fuzzy pink carpet of her bedroom floor. She got up and then- tripped over a book she had left on the floor.

"Ughhh not again!" She sighed. She landed perfectly into her dads arms, he was ready almost like he knew that was going to happen.

"You really are your mothers daughter" Keefe laughed, but instead of bringing her back to her feet, he picked her up so her head rested on his shoulder and made his way over to her bed.

"I know this is hard right now but you are so strong." Keefe whispered into her ear as he slowly set her down into her bed.

"Good night Stell, sleep tight my love." Sophie kissed Stella's cheek, Keefe gave her hand another squeeze and they both got up and walked to the door. It looked like it pained them to have to close the door but when Stella heard the click of the latch she felt like she didn't have to put on a happy face anymore. She let her face fall into a frown, what she forgot was that Fitz was still in her room.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Stell?" He asked softly.

"Mmm?" Stella mumbled.

"You're one of the bravest people I've ever met."

Stella couldn't think of an answer; So she quickly shoved the blue pill into her mouth and let it take over. The sedative took her away to a blissful oblivion down in the depths of her mind.

The next thing she saw was blue sparkly alicorns fill her dreams, they reminded her of the pjs she had when she was three. They looked like they were flying underwater and she was riding one of them. They're massive wings spanned the length of her vision. There were stars underneath them and econdons swimming beside them. She reached out to touch one and felt the familiar slimy texture of their backs. She grinned. Stella looked ahead and saw the dark blue water had turned black, and they were heading right for it. She tried yelling at the alicorns but they couldn't hear her. She looked both ways. They kept flying, picking up speed now. They flew straight into the black void and waiting on the other side were her worst nightmares. Hundreds of figures surrounded her. Somehow the alicorns and ecodons disappeared leaving Stella alone. The figures stepped closer but one in particular stepped forward.

The voice was terrifying.

"Hello Stella. You're going to come with us and be a good little pet."

Stella screamed and ripped her eyes open.