2050: A Time of Courage

Chapter 31: Lilian

It's amazing how days can stretch on, how they become weeks and then months.

The day of Alessa's execution disappears like some half-remembered nightmare as, day after day, Rose seems to come back into the world of the living.

Emilio, too, seems to cope as well as anyone could with the loss of his parents.

By the morning of September fourteenth, we're about as fine as we can expect to be.

The day starts off like most of the others, with all of us huddled around Siena's kitchen table. Breakfast this morning is cereal, and though it's not the greatest none of us will ever complain.

Siena has just gotten back from downtown Florence, bringing a newspaper and several different herbs back with her. She's singing joyfully in Italian as she scampers around the kitchen, depositing the newspaper in the midst of us as she moves gracefully toward her cabinets. Herbs are sorted in a blur as Siena never stops singing.

"Why is she in such a good mood today?" I wonder, glancing over my shoulder at her.

No one at the table has an answer for me. Theo, Rose, and Jason continue eating without a care as Dimitri and Shemik wait impatiently for Emilio to translate the contents of the Italian newspaper. Emilio's expression takes me by surprise, a combination of what appears to be hope and joy manifesting itself on his face as he reads the front page headline.

Eventually, He all but throws the paper onto the table. He ignores the majority of us as he captures Shemik,  who is sitting next to him, in a hug that almost looks painful.

"They did it!" Emilio declares, "A peace treaty, they've agreed to discuss the new one. The leaders of twenty-one countries are meeting in Paris tomorrow for a conference. They've had so many of these treaties over the past few years, but they never get far enough to seriously consider one. Do you have any idea what this means?"

Shemik doesn't answer, and Emilio rolls his eyes.

"Happy birthday, Shem. The war is almost over."

Shemik studies him intently, eventually escaping his grasp. She doesn't seem all that joyful at the mention of today's significance, as though the acknowledgement of her seventeenth birthday means nothing at all to her.

It takes only a moment for me to decide that she might actually believe that.

"The world leaders met to discuss a treaty in 2047." Shemik tells him, returning her attention to the pitcher of water in the center of the table, "Treaties mean absolutely nothing in today's world. The same goes for birthdays."

"She's right." Dimitri agrees, "Treaties don't mean a thing anymore."

"This one could be different." Theo snaps, "Come on you two, don't be so pessimistic about it."

Dimitri ignores Theo's comment, taking in another spoonful of cereal as though signifying that the conversation here is over. Emilio only sighs, as though some part of him knew that this would be the result.

I can't decide what I'm feeling. I should be unimaginably hopeful, but I'm not. I remember a bit about my life before the war, but for me there will never be a way to go back.

Life before all this consisted of Mom and Dad, of school and routines and everything normal. I'm not normal anymore, I never was. I'm a Superior, always destined to be different for better or worse. My parents are gone, and I doubt that I could take one more look at Mathers Hill, Indiana without dissolving into an emotional mess. It was home, but it'll never be that for me again.

I can't go back, because I've moved too far forward to make myself look over my shoulder.

The end of the war can't fix all the issues. I'm not sure anyone could. There will always be Inhumanes, always be people who hate Superiors and want to harm us.