Inhuman

Epilogue

"I am not afraid to keep on living,
I am not afraid to walk this world alone,
Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven,
Nothing you could say can stop me going home."

My Chemical Romance – Famous Last Words

The sun glared down at the tops of the trees, casting long shadows across the grassy field. A gentle breeze made the boughs of the trees shiver and a leaf drifted down to rest beside the red tartan blanket we'd spread out. I turned my head slightly to look at it from my reclined position. The green leaf was tinged slightly yellow, the edges curling a little. "Autumn's coming way too soon." I observed quietly, but no-one heard me... or if they did no-one paid any attention.

"Uncle Charlie! Give me the ball!" squealed Molly as she sprinted after Charlie.

He laughed. "Come on Moll!" he called kicking the football just a little more out of her reach. "We both know you can run faster than that!"

"I got three jacks." said Tasha laying down a handful of cards.

"Oh you little cheat." muttered Sophie. "I've got four here."

"I need a five letter word that means unusual!" wailed Ceci poring over her crossword. "Anyone got any idea?"

"No idea. I'll keep you posted." I muttered propping myself up on my elbows.

All through college, we'd clung together. Our new friends came and went. The girls got boyfriends, the guys got girlfriends who drifted in and out of their lives. Somehow, and I'm not totally sure how, two years after everything changed, after everything which brought our group closer together, no matter how much the odds were against us, and fate tried to push us apart, we still turned to one another for comfort, and still went everywhere together, did everything together... the only thing we had not done together was the precious moments most teenagers wanted. The parties, the getting drunk out of their heads, experimenting with drugs... I didn't get out, with looking after Molly, and occasionally, on Friday nights, my friends would rather babysit my daughter with me, than follow their college friends. I wondered vaguely if they ever regretted it, however much they insisted they didn't.

Two years had not changed our group so much. James and Charlie were taller, and had deeper voices, Tasha, Sophie, Lucy and Ceci had gotten prettier... me? I was still just Amy Wren, the weird motherly one... but inside, when we were together, we were still just the same.

Charlie came jogging over before flopping down between me and James on the tartan blanket. Behind him tottered a giggling Molly who flopped into my lap, imitating the way Charlie had. "Oh my God, Amy, she's a natural at football. Have you been training her?"

"Give over." sniggered Tasha, taking a biscuit from the packet we were all picking from. "Amy good at football? She's always failed and always will."

"Shut up Tash." I said with a grin. Somehow our general humour had moved on from innuendo after innuendo, to simply insulting each other's skills which we didn't really care about.

"Of course that's the case." muttered James so I glanced round at him. "She's his kid isn't she? She's bound to be amazing and perfect at everything just like him and the rest of his stupid alien race."

"Drop the attitude, mister pessimistic." I muttered, giving him a sharp poke in the side so he jumped a foot in the air with a shriek. The others sniggered until he gave them a dirty look.

"Well it's true isn't it." he mumbled, rubbing where I'd viciously attacked him

My attention was suddenly brought back to Molly who was sitting in my lap prodding me, saying over and over again "Mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"