Shadowed Light

Epilogue

London 2042
"Come on honey, we're going to be late."
Clara looked up to find her mother standing in the doorway. Her favourite purse swung over her left shoulder and her keys swinging in her right hand. Clara closed the novel she had been reading and stood, brushing down her dress as she did so.
"I'm ready." She said, giving her mother a small smile.
Her mother kissed her on the forehead. "Come on, your father and sister are waiting for you in the hall."
Clara nodded and watched as her mother left the room before turning to her window. Her window overlooked the busy streets of London where she had grown up. It was strange. She'd lived here her entire life and yet it didn't feel right. Didn't feel like home. She much preferred the countryside and always thought she'd be better off living there instead of the city. She felt as though she belonged whenever she went there, like there was her home.
Clara looked around her room. That too didn't feel right. In fact, nothing really did. Not her school, or neighbourhood , not even her friends. She felt detached from the world, as if she weren't meant to be there.
It would be her eighteenth birthday tomorrow. It wasn't going to be a big thing. Just a small gathering of family and a few friends. Clara would be lying if she said she was looking forward to it. She hated birthdays, especially her own. She always felt as if someone was missing, however every time she checked her contact list everyone she knew was always invited. So what was she missing? Clara wasn't looking forward to the this birthday in particular. She wasn't sure whether she could bare that sinking feeling right in her chest when whoever this mysterious being was never showed up. She knew it was silly, that it was crazy, but she felt it every year.
With a small sigh, Clara left her bedroom and stepped out into the hallway of their flat. Clara's parents and Emily were waiting out in the hallway like her mother had said, all ready to leave the house. Clara smiled. At least they felt right. When with her family, she knew she belonged and that she was in the right place. That feeling was such a relief when her entire life felt like one big lie.
Clara father wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Come on bean, let's go."
"Oh Clara!" Emily yelled happily. "Guess who asked me to prom?"
Clara rolled her eyes. "Who?"
"Tobias Greggs!" She squealed.
Clara stopped walking. She felt a sharp pain in her head like a small dagger being pressed into her brain.
Think! A familiar voice shouted in her head. Where had she heard that voice before? It sounded familiar and get she knew no one with that voice.
"You alright, honey?" Clara's mother asked, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.
Clara shook her head, brushing it off and smiled. "Yeah, just tired is all."
"Still having bad dreams?" Clara's father asked in concern.
Clara shook her head. That was a lie. Ever since about a month ago, Clara had been having these strange dreams. Like fragments of a forgotten memory. Blurred faces, muffled voices. It was strange and each time she'd wake up drenched in sweat and crying. It had happened so frequently that her parents stopped coming to check on her. It had become a sort of routine.
The four of them stepped out into the apartment building hall. Clara's father released her arm and took her mothers, the two entwining their fingers together happily.
"Looks like someone's moved in." Clara's mother said, nodding her head to the apartment across the hall with a stack of boxes waiting outside it.
"Ugh," Emily grunted. "I hope their better than Miss Page was. Old hag."
Clara's father flicked his youngest daughter in the head and Emily stuck out her head before crumpling into a fit of laughter.
Clara's mother shook her head and smiled. Clara looked down only to discover she had forgotten her purse.
"Damnit, I forgot my purse." She grumbled. "Keys?"
Clara's father chucked them to her. "We'll go start the car, meet us out front?"
Clara nodded and dashed back to the apartment. She unlocked the door and ran to her bedroom where she found her purse sat on her bed. She picked it up and swung it over her shoulder before gabbing a pair of sunglasses. She went back out into the hall and turned to lock the door when she heard a sound behind her. Something inside of her told her to turn around. Shouted for her to do it. Her heart began to speed up and her palms sweat, although she wasn't sure why.
Clara turned around and felt her mouth drop open. In one big flash she remembered. She remembered. All of it, everything that had happened. Clara felt tears well to her eyes, upset with herself for having forgot. How could she have forgotten letting free all of those souls? How could she have forgotten him?
Clara took a shaky step forwards, tears beginning to spill down her cheeks.
"Clara?" A soft voice said. A voice which she should never have forgotten but had.
Clara voice cracked as she said, "Toby?"