Marvellous days

Chapter 72 -Hope Is the Thing...-

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm - 

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

by Emily Dickinson

Hope… Can you have hope if everything around you says despair? Can you feel hope if you are surrounded by darkness? How is it possible to feel hope deep in your heart if you know in your head that it is impossible? It is because the heart is stronger than the head. It makes you feel hope, it makes you hang on no matter how much your head tells you to give up. It is what makes us strong. Hope lets us defy evil.

And that is exactly what I felt when I saw the dark cloaks emerge from the forest: hope. I don’t know why. I should feel fright, sadness, despair… but somehow hope stayed the main emotion. Maybe because I am not just responsible for myself but also for my family, my husband, my daughter and our unborn child… I had to feel hope to make myself go on. I am responsible for them and I wouldn’t give up.

They stopped and looked up. For the first time in nearly two years I saw Aro’s face. He looked smug and self-confident when he looked up at us and said: “Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

Caius looked just plain evil and grinned at us superiorly. Marcus on the other hand was lifeless. He was there but he showed no emotions. I knew him well enough over the decades that he was indeed lifeless. He once had been happy, but it all left with the loss of his mate, since then he was just a shell, another puppet of the Volturi.

Carlisle stepped forward then and nodded at the Volturi leaders. “Aro, what brings you here?” This wasn’t the time for pleasantries, so he got to the point. Aro laughed eccentrically. “I would have thought you would know what you did. Or are you trying to fool us, old friend?” Aro asked. Some of his guard chuckled, but were silenced by Aro’s glare.

“I am not fooling you. I have not broken the law in any way,” Carlisle defended himself.

“Oh, is that so? We heard quite the contrary. We’ve heard you’ve been naughty and found an antidote to vampirism. Always the curious one, always pushing the limits, Carlisle,” Aro said in his papery voice.

“I have a clear conscience. It is impossible to “cure” vampirism. There is no way as far as I know,” Carlisle argued. We all knew what Aro meant with the antidote, me, but Carlisle tried to get the information out of Aro. Aro looked at me speculatively for a moment and then watched our group amusedly.

“So you really are trying to fool me… Don’t you think I don’t see the change in your mate?” Aro asked. He came a bit closer. All of his guard walked with him. We stood our ground though.

“Esme isn’t human if you mean that. She is still a vampire. She has found her gift of changing, but she doesn’t pose a threat.”

“That is not your obligation to judge. I’ve never heard of such a gift. She would have the most extraordinary gift there is on earth. That is just impossible,” Aro shook his head and looked at Caius. They still looked smug.