Sky

Chapter 15: Lala

All three children were listening closely to the story. Sandie was only two-thirds listening, the other third of the time she was burying her face in Jason's chest, as if clutching him for dear life. Maybe this story was a bit too scary for a bedtime story. What was I thinking?

Ren was paying good attention, but she was also looking around. Blackboots couldn't blame her. It must be pretty boring to listen to someone else's family history, even if it was quite interesting.

Now Andrieus on the other hand was listening intently. It was as if he was sucked in, Blackboots wondered if he even remembered to breathe. Oh, and he'd burst into tears more than once.

"Meanwhile, Jake, Sakura, and Sky's souls went up to heaven. But, for some reason, Sky wasn't let in with her children."

Andrieus gasped. "What?! Why not?!"

Blackboots looked him in the eye and said, "Wait and see. Since she wasn't let in, legend says she roamed the earth for 4,000 years, doing the same thing over and over again: finding a foal, orphaned or not, and watched over them till they were grown...."

Elliott looked at Sky with tears in his eyes. "Goodbye, Sky," he sobbed. "I'll miss you."

And with that, he dashed off. Sky sighed. 18,573 down, who knows how many to go, she thought. Elliott had been one of the many Sky had watched, and now he was gone. Even thought it'd only been 10 years together, to Sky it seemed like it had only been 10 weeks. Or was it 10 days? Now that she was immortal, things were crazy.

Sky thought of Stardust and Chase. They were certainly dead by now. Up there with Jake and Sakura, having parties without her.

She sighed and flopped down. She would find a new foal in the morning. Even if the children she helped were grateful, to Sky it was nothing. She was always miserable, constantly thinking of her own children. Finally, she fell asleep, humming her lullaby.

The next morning she went to the village immediately, not even stopping to eat. She didn't need to eat, nor did she have time. She had to go find Foal#18,574. As she ran, she turned invisible so the common eye wouldn't see her. She normally didn't even tell her kids she was a ghost until they were about to set off into thee world. Young, wild, free-

"Ouch!" Oops. Sy forget that she still couldn't walk through things, even when she was invisible. She ran behind a house so no one would see her become visible. She ran to the little horse. "Are you okay?"

The foal looked very confused. "I think so," she said after hesitating. "I bumped into something, but I don't know what."

Sky was sure this horse wouldn't be able to tell she was slightly transparent. Besides that, she looked exactly the same as she did when she was mortal, but instead of having a black coat she was pure white now, being a ghost and all.

"What's your name?" Sky asked her.

"Lala," the foal answered.

"Well, Lala, do you have parents?" Sky asked. Lala shook her head. "Then I suppose I'll watch you. Do you have a place to live?" Sky asked. Lala shook her head again. For the 18,574th time, Sky recited: "Follow me. I know the perfect place."

"Sky led Lala to a certain waterfall." Blackboots said proudly. 

Andrieus gasped. "Sky really did love that waterfall, didn't she?"

Blackboots smiled and nodded.

A few months had passed. Sky had gotten to know Lala. But there was one problem. She knew Lala loved her, but she didn't love Lala. Well, not as much as she should've. Sky knew the horses she'd helped loved her a ton, but to Sky it was nothing more than a little favor. She had a passion for watching over children, but it seemed her emotions died with her.

But one day that all changed.