Because Of You

Chapter 9:

(Do you guys want the last chapter today? Well, if I get at least 15 people that ask for it, I'll post it!)

Chapter 9:

I... I want to finish this... No, I'm not going to lay down- I- I'm so close, just... God, I feel so sick...

Mitch and I had bought a new house, out in the wilderness, not too far from the empire. It'd taken us a bit to move all of our stuff over there – here... and considering we still wanted to be able to visit my childhood house, the boys had gone ahead and moved into it from their apartments, sharing the spacious home. However, they left the master bedroom alone, seeing as they wanted my parents – the rightful owners of the house – to have a room where they'd be more comfortable. At least we didn't have to worry over selling the place, I don't think...

Our house was - is - over on top of a medium sized hill, a cliff overhanging into the large river. As I said earlier, the scent of freshwater is... What did I say? I can't remember...

We had plans to adopt a little girl, and had even begun to go around and look through orphanages. Now, seeing as bacca's only give up their children when they die, it would have been extremely rare for us to find a little bacca to adopt. We'd settled on adopting a little girl. We didn't care about her background, who her ancestors were, who her parents were... we just wanted a someone we could love and care for, and someone who would return that to us. We'd begun travelling to different cities, in search of our perfect little child. Perfect is a strong word, however, but you got my point.

We'd started in Manama, searching the many orphanages, but had no luck there. The somewhat snowy city wore a light coat of snow, the crunch of it under your shoes... I don't know how to describe it. Mitch had been a bit on edge back in that city, where he was forced to grown up without me, but he got over his fear of the dreaded place eventually, with support from me. After Manama, we had then decided to make another trip back to Central. We'd stayed with my parents, who welcomed us with open arms, and even helped in a major part of Central's search, despite work. In Central, we'd visited so many different places – big and small – it was hard to keep track of! However, from what I can remember, we hadn't found the little girl we knew had to be somewhere.

I know what you're thinking. It's not that we were being picky, understand. We just wanted a little girl, and we'd seen plenty! So many of them were beautiful, others strong, some both. We weren't going by certain specifics the child had, and we didn't have much for the child to live up too. Just as long as the child always tried their best was enough for us. We just... We'd wanted to explore all of our options before making a final say.

So, after Central, we'd gone to Amory. Amory served us no luck either, though it was fun being able to explore there! Neither of us had ever been, and my father had been one time before, but it was business, not pleasure. Besides, my mother and I had been back in the empire, so it's not like I'd been any other time before. The city was new for me and for Mitch- and Mitch had been to many, many places! Down south by the ocean, the scent of sea salt fresh and always welcoming, the sound of squealing children and happy couples of all kinds, the freshest food you'd ever find – unless you were over in Waterworks – and the most welcoming place I'd ever been in my life! Well, other than the empire.

After Amory, we'd decided to try Pilchard; however we'd made a few stops along the way. Waterworks was a plains town, over nearby Amory, and I'd known of the place from the Harvest festival. They were the hosts, believe it or not. They may have been a small town, but most of the surrounding area was covered in vast, rich farmland, many farmers living around the town. The residents were all nice, like Cameron the smith, and her husband Ian. Then there was Hazel and her dog Blaze, and Blaze was apparently a shapeshifter, as I'd found out during our visit, and a very open one at that. There were others, but let's not dwell on that, okay...?

After Waterworks, we'd made our way to Central, then started west, towards Rainwell, the town outside of Pilchard. We stayed a night there, visited an orphanage, and then made the rest of the trek down south to Pilchard. In Pilchard, the air was moist and sticky, the heat exhausting, and the swampy town smelled of fish all over the place, though somehow it was all very... Perhaps I was just homesick at the time, but nonetheless, Pilchard was deinifitely interesting. When we'd visited a few orphanages there, we'd made our way back to Rainwell, and then began our travel north to our final destination. The drive – did I forget to mention we'd been driving everywhere? Oops, my bad. – wasn't very bad. The road was smooth, the environment quiet and peaceful. The trees were luscious shades of green, some beginning to change to the colors of fall; reds, yellows, oranges, browns, and purples here and there all decorating our drive further and further north. It wasn't until we were nearing the northwestern ocean that we'd finally made our way to Grommith.

Grommith was a flashy city. People were dressed up, movies and TV shows were produced here, and overall it was a rather expensive place to visit. However, I seemed to fit in rather well. Mitch? Not so much. Travelling the streets with Mitch in his hoodie, we'd see many men in business suits similar to mine. Woman wore dresses or suits to wherever they were heading, and the designs there had been so different, I'd have never thought they'd existed! But sure enough, they did. Finding the orphanages we'd looked up had proved extremely difficult. However, the trouble had been completely worth it.

A girl, about the age of 8, we'd found. Her chin length, shaggy, untamable hair was a dark, rich chocolate brown, nearly the same shade as my fur; in fact I wouldn't have been surprised if her hair blended perfectly with my fur! Her eyes, however, were a bright, loving hazel, just like Mitch's... Her skin had been somewhat pale, as her dark hair had made it seem, and her smile was as wide as Mitch's had always been. She'd had fighting lessons from some of the guys there in the orphanage, and could protect herself fairly well. What was her weapon of choice? An axe.

That little girl, her name was Betty. She'd loved us! She didn't mind that we were soulmates, and the more we'd talked with her, the more in love we'd fallen. We'd left there glowing, though we'd have to fill out a load of paperwork for Betty to come home with us, so we'd decided to do it at the hotel.

Now, back to describing the absurd town. Even the cars were showy! My car was very nice and simplistic, but "simplistic" was as abnormal as snow in the summer! Well, unless you're in Kilmarth. Snow in the summer is as normal as the sun! Well... Then again, Kilmarth rarely sees the sun- you get my point! The cars in Grommith were... They had accessories. Horns or ears or whiskers and other things of the sort were on some cars, designs so absurdly weird adorning others. Not many people obeyed the traffic laws either, but as long as you watched every step you took, you were fine.

Remember when I was telling you about Mitch and how he'd got cocky? Well, uh... He... He was cocky in every place we'd gone, though there, he'd seemed overly cocky. Dashing across the street with such terrible timing that'd I'd kill him myself, or taking a stroll across a busy road. Honestly, I'm not surprised he hadn't been hit! But, anyway, enough of that, back to Betty...

After we'd finished the paperwork a few hours later, we'd left our hotel. We'd wanted to have her as our own as soon as possible. Betty Aceti Hughes. Doesn't that name sound wonderful...? Anyway... We were on our way back to the orphanage, and since it wasn't far away from the hotel, we'd been walking... And Mitch had suddenly remembered he'd forgotten something back in the hotel room. Something he had bought for Betty. So, after I warned him and pleaded with him to be extremely careful, I kissed him, and watched him make his way through the crowd, in the opposite direction I had been travelling.

I remember it all so vividly... The day had been warm, the smell of sea salt lingered in the air, as this was another ocean side city and the port wasn't too far from our hotel, and the sun was as bright as ever, in a cloudless pale blue sky that dared to hide its beauty. I remember the loud clatter of conversation, so many different things whirling through my ears at once before leaving my head again, causing a headache to form as quickly as we'd left the hotel. This city was hell compared to the empire, where it was quieter, more... Peaceful. I remember the buildings, tall in their pride and build of design that was flawless. I remember all of that.

And... I remember the sharp pains that had suddenly started in my chest, knocking the breath from my lungs as my vision had flickered gray.

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