Flickering Shadows

Finding Out (Chapter 22)

FINDING OUT

I WOKE TO cries of "happy birthday!" all around me.  I opened my eyes to find balloons hanging everywhere and a giant banner with "Happy 18th birthday, Lucy!" hanging above my bed.  I could not believe that I was eighteen today.  I had waited so many years for this day, I was free!

           Dylan scooped me out of bed and hugged me. "You're older than me, I can't believe it!" he breathed into my ear.

           "Only by a month!" I chortled.

           Dylan, Amanda, and I spent the day in the cafeteria.  We convinced the cooks to make a chocolate fudge birthday cake for me.  "Eww, count me out." Dylan cringed. "I hate chocolate."

           Amanda and I stared at him like he had grown another head.  "What?" he asked.

           "You are not human!" We said in unison.

           The three of us argued over which flavor was better (chocolate won) for the next hour.  Amanda left a while later to hang with Carissa.  It was just Dylan and I again.

           "What're you going to do when you get out?" he asked.

           "Get a job, try to go to college." I answered.

           "Are you going to stay in Colorado, or what?"

           "I think I will move somewhere in Denver.  Or maybe somewhere secluded, like Wyoming.  I hear it's nice there." I said dreamily.

           "Oh," Dylan said. "What I really mean is, what is going to happen to us when you go?"

           I could hear the fear in his words.  "I don't see any reason why it couldn't work."

           "Good." He smiled.

           "What are you going to do?" I asked him.

           Dylan thought for a moment. "I would love to have my band make it, but I doubt that would happen.  Plus, I do not want to be away from my future family.  I think I'll go into television."

           "You want a family?"

           "Yeah," Dylan said. "I have always wanted to be a dad."

           "Cute; I'm not so big on being a parent."

           "Why?"

           "Kids, they don't seem to like me."

           "No, I think there is a deeper reason."

           I hated how Dylan could see straight through my lies.  "I don't want to be the kind of mom my mother was.  It would be better if I did not even try." I admitted.

           "Lucy, you are a completely different person than your mother. You will not be like her."

           "Promise?" I asked.

           "I promise." His dark blue eyes pierced mine with absolute sincerity. It was in that moment that I placed all my trust and the hope I had in the world in him. I believed that he would guide me through life, protect me from those who wished to wrong me, and love me until the end of time.

"You are leaving tomorrow!" Dr. Howard frowned.  "I am going to miss you! You were always my favorite."