We drive up to a huge white house in Denver, Colorado. The house is surrounded by pink dogwoods in full bloom. The windowsills have flowerboxes overflowing with tulips. The house has a porch that circles the whole house, with towering white pillars. I get out of the car, snatching both my backpack and Titus', while he gets Melody. He carries her to the house. We walk up to the bright blue front door, where I grab a gold knocker and hit it three times against the door. I am startled, though, when Carter immediately openes the door.
"I would like it if you didn't wake my ill mum." I smile.
"I missed you too, Carter." His face relaxes, and he pulls me into a hug. He squeezes me a little tighter than necessary, but I don't mind. I assume he needs a good hug. He puts his gigantic hand on the back of my head, and kisses me on the cheek.
"I am so glad you are safe, mate. I was afraid that something would go wrong, and those blasted men would keep you or something along those lines." I pull away from him.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." Titus says behind me. Simultaneously, their faces break into goofy grins, and they embrace. I look around the house. The door yawns into a huge living room, with red furniture, and walls filled with pictures of Carter's small family. Him, and his mom. There are some pictures of Titus and Carter together as young children, and even some of Lilly. Lilly has blonde hair. There is a picture with Carter, towering over the both of them, with his arm around Lilly and Titus. Titus is smiling at the camera, but Lilly is looking up at Carter, amusment dancing in her young eyes. I swallow hard, trying to convince myself not to cry. I have had enough crying. I avert my eyes from the picture, and go to sit in a red chair beside the red couch that Melody is laying on. Her face is written with pain. It makes my chest heavy, how uncomfortable she looks. But, then again, there is nothing comfortable about dying. I brush the hair out of her face, and kiss her on the forehead. She smiles slightly, but her face screws up again almost as soon as she does.
Carter and Titus walk into the living room, and I turn towards them. They are speaking in hushed voices. Titus motions me to come over to him. I stand, and walk over to him.
"Would you like to meet my mum?" Carter asks. I realize that Titus must be convinced that he is about to say goodbye to this woman who was obviously like a second mom to him. For him, I nod. He grabs my hand, and swallows hard. We walk into a nice bedroom, where there is a bed full of pillows. A fragile looking woman is in the middle of it, her red hair sprawled across the pillow. Her eyes are open, but it looks like she is sleeping. She slowly moves her head towards us, and smiles when she sees Titus. He grips my hand as he walks towards the bed. When she sees me, her smile broadens. I feel bashful, like I am interrupting a sacred moment. Titus lets go of my hand and grabs hers.
"Vivian, this is Rory. She is my girlfriend."
"He got to her first." Carter interjects from behind us. I roll my eyes. She is beautiful. Her face is smooth, and her eyes are crystal blue.
"Lovely to meet you, Rory. You are one lucky lady to have won the affection of my boys."
"I certainly am. They take care of me." She sniffs and touches Titus' face.
"They are good at that." I see on Titus' face that he is trying not to cry.
"We will leave you to rest, mum. No need for a sniffle party. We are going to play some video games for old time's sakes." She laughs.
"Okay, sweets. Make yourself at home." Titus kisses her softly on the forehead.
"No need to tell us twice." He whispers. We turn to walk out of the door, and she calls out to me, "It was lovely to meet you, Rory. Take care of my boys." I spin around and smile at her before walking back into the living room. Carter leads us into the kitchen, and starts to pull out the ingredients to make pizza. Carter makes himself busy, but both Titus and I notice that he is holding back tears.
"There's beer in the fridge. Get us one, will you, mate?" Titus grabs three beers from the fridge, and pushes one in front of me. I open it, and take a sip. This beer is better than the one that Titus introduced me too. I take another sip.
"What is the situation with the lady in there?" Carter says after taking a gulp.
"She is dying. We just need to make her comfortable at this point." I put the beer down.
"You have completely given up?" I ask Titus. He looks at me as if we have already gone over this a thousand times. "You can't accept that I am going to die, but once this one lady comes into our lives it doesn't take you too long to realize that, oh, all we can do is make her comfortable? What if there is something we can do?" Carter raises his eyebrows at Titus.
"Baby, she is much closer to death than you are. She has lived a full life-"
"What is your definition of full life? Being imprisoned for two years, and cut off from everyone she has ever learned to love? Such a full life." I blurt out. Titus presses his lips together and frowns.
"My definition of a full life is certainly longer than fifteen years-"
"Thirty."
"You are fifteen." His voice is edgy. I exhale loudly, and take the beer into the living room where I sit down angrily. Melody is sleeping peacefully now. I have to check for a second if she is breathing, but she is. I hear Carter whisper to himself from the kitchen, "Too much blasted death."

YOU ARE READING
Death's Exception
Teen FictionYou tell your kids to not be afraid of monsters. "They don't exist" is the common told lie. Little do you know that monsters do exist, and too often are we the ones who create them. Aurora Destiel deserved to be a normal girl, with a normal life. Sh...