A Mother's Dream

Part 1: Chapter 4

Alistair had questioned me constantly about his father after his close encounter with him. I told him time after time that he was not a nice man and he should forget about him. But Alistair wanted to know more and fair enough he should because after all, he was his father. This was the moment, the moment I realised he had the right to know, when I decided to tell him everything.

We sat down on the couch a couple of weeks later to talk about my past and his.

“Now Alistair, what I am about to tell you is not a happy story. It’s not like your book. Are you sure you want to hear it?” I asked him hoping he would change his mind, but he didn’t. He simply nodded.

“I met your father in 1854. He didn’t tell me who he really was. I thought he was just a nice young man”, I said as I remembered back to the glorious yet dark time. I looked at the carpet as I continued. I couldn’t look at him while I told him such a horrid story.

“Maybe I should tell you when you’re older”, I said.

“Mother! You have to tell me”, he yelled. He was right. I was mostly trying to find a way out of the situation for myself. I didn’t want to admit what I did. If I were to move on with my life I would have to sooner rather than later. I was living in a rut made by the mistakes of my past and it was time to climb out of it.

“Okay”, I said. “I met him while I was shopping with some friends. We were heading home and I dropped some bags and he came along to pick them up for me. He was very kind. We dated for two years but he refused to get married”, I said. Alistair stared at me curiously. He was listening with extreme intent.

Should I or should I not tell him? I still wondered. Though, more quickly this time, I realised I have to.

“I asked him why and he said because he wasn’t human. I asked him how he could not be human”, I told Alistair. He was reluctant to say anymore but the situation was quite like this one. He knew I had the right to know as Alistair had the right to know what happened next.

“You father’s name is Lucifer”, I said and Alistair almost looked as if he had stopped breathing. He was in shock. He knew what the name ‘Lucifer’ meant and what it had to offer.

“Evil”, he muttered as if he heard my thoughts. He shook his head as if to shake away the pictures he was forming in his mind. “What happened next?” he asked as he came out of his trance. I frowned but he seemed to be listening just as attentively as he was before I mentioned his name. I continued.

“He told me who he was. I was afraid and upset. So I ran away”, I told him carefully as to not upset him but it seemed like nothing upset him since he met his father. He seemed different since the encounter. He seemed darker and now I realised that this is what he was smiling about. He was never going to take him. He was merely there to shower him with his malevolent ways.

“Mother?” he asked probably wondering why I stopped. I frowned at him in wonder of what I should’ve done next.

“He found me one year later when you had been born and he told me that…” I stopped.

“What did he tell you?” Alistair was beginning to get agitated, perhaps even angry. He had the right to know.

“…that it was your destiny to rule the underworld by his side”, my voice trailed off into the distance as I watched his fearful face carefully.

“No, no, no. I won’t”, he refused. I took his shoulder and brought them closer so I could embrace and comfort him.

“You don’t have to. Just because he says it’s to be, it doesn’t mean it is. Don’t ever stop fighting”, I told him sternly as if I were telling him to not argue with me about staying away from the filthy mud that can be found outside. He nodded as he buried his face into my shoulder.

This was the pivotal moment in both of our lives. It was the moment when Alistair began to fight. It was the moment I began to wonder how on Earth I was going to protect my boy from such forces.