Little Cherine Book 03 - BPost037
“How?”
“Please leave it for tonight. In the morning, we will go back to the hill where we will be alone and we will find out.”
1761
Twice that night Eddie came running to waken Robbie out of his nightmare. Finally he brought his blanket and slept on the ground next to him. It seemed to comfort Robbie, for he had no more nightmares and slept, only sighs in his sleep showing he was not at ease in his mind.
# We had actually been enjoying his visit to this world. We felt sorry for him, knowing it must be terrible to not know who he is, but once he had our friends with him we enjoyed it. Listening to them talking had also been revealing of how deep the convictions he has are. Soon as we saw how he had misinterpreted his nightmare and we felt his anguish, all our pleasure leached away and we were left with hearts aching for him. Poor Cherine, she felt so terrible seeing him suffer because of her.
True to his word, in the morning they set out for the hill. Robbie waited for Eddie to explain. He needed to know, but feared that if Eddie had some way of finding the truth and he found that he had caused the death of the lovely girl he’d sketched, only madness waited for him. He would not be able to live with the knowledge he was responsible for her terrible death.
“Peter, one of the reasons I live away from civilisation is because I have certain abilities that make it unbearable for me to live among people. To help you I will have to reveal one of my abilities to you. Do I have your word that you will never speak of this to anyone?”
Robbie had already decided that Eddie was going to hypnotise him so this confidence surprised him.
“I give my word.”
“I have the ability to enter your mind. What I was thinking of doing is coming in, finding the memories you have blocked off and opening them for you. That is all, I have no wish to see what your secrets are.”
Robbie pulled away with horror on his face. “No!” He calmed down, controlling himself and he tried to explain. “Eddie, if what I did was so terrible that my own mind could not bear to allow me to remember, how can I allow you to know.”
“It is the only way I can help.”
Eddie did not pressure him and immersed himself in his own thoughts as he watched the plain before them. As the hours passed Robbie struggled within himself. Finally, the thought of going through the same nightmares again made up his mind for him. Better he know than this fear. He decided that if he has caused her death he will find a moment alone and end his life.
His palms sweaty, Robbie spoke softly. “You can do it.”
“You must relax and try to open yourself. Imagine your mind opening to the whole plain, all the animals out there. Tell yourself you want me to visit you in your mind. At all times, even when you feel invaded, remember I come as a friend and try to stay relaxed and open.”
Robbie did so and felt Eddie reaching in. He fought his own distaste for this invasion of what is most private and tried to send a feeling of welcome. Eddie seemed to be struggling, his body falling over and writhing and suddenly he was back in his own body. He lay there calming himself and then looked up at Robbie.
“I’m sorry, I could not break through. Your amnesia is not natural, somebody else has placed a block on your mind. It felt different, alike, but somehow different.”
“Robert.”
“What?”
“My name, it is Robert.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.” Robbie stared at him and tears fell as he began to sob. “I know that Robert killed her. Robert killed Cherine.” He was shaking violently and Eddie grabbed hold of him.
1762
“Who is Cherine. Robert, who is Cherine?”
“I don’t know!” he wailed.
Later, Eddie struggled to get Robbie back to the camp. The servants saw him struggling from a distance and thought Robbie had been injured. They ran out and helped get him back to camp.
# We all watched, our own hearts torn with his pain. How stupid the old man has been, we railed, to let this happen. How could he let our Robert think he killed Cherine!! Even without remembering her, or his love for her, his mind is breaking apart, tearing itself as he accepts that he has killed a child, one who was probably very precious to him. He had also accepted now the theory that she was his little sister. The agony of feeling his pain and our pain was unbearable.
That night nobody in the camp got any sleep. Eddie watched over him, with always at least one of the servants there to help. The servants were afraid, for they thought a devil had got into the foreigner, but they were loyal to Eddie and stayed by his side.
By morning there was a deadness in the mind and eyes of Robbie. Eddie even tried slapping him and when that did not work he forced his way into Robbie’s mind to block off the memories again. He could not, for Robbie had withdrawn into some darkness within himself and had taken those memories with him, clutching them to him as if they are something precious.
The only thing left to Eddie was to induce the brain to create the chemicals that will tranquillise him, knock him out for a time in the hope he will come to terms with his pain. We waited for days on end, but beneath everything lay that dark horror he could not let go of.
# “Pappou, you warned us, you said we are his weakness. He fought so many battles without fear, winning them all, and now he is killing himself because he thinks he killed me. This is not a lesson, it is torture!”
# “Somewhere inside him is our Roberto who knows he did not kill you. We have to trust in him kori mou. Do not despair yet, while there is life there is hope.”
# She stared back at him out of her pain, “What hope pappou?”
# Themi seemed to be the only one not giving way to despair and anguish. He was angry. “This is not a lesson, Cherine is right. Lessons teach and strengthen you. How can this strengthen Robert!”
We could share with Robbie, not with Eddie, so when he got the servants to help carry him to the hill and lay him under the tree, we were puzzled. The servants left and Eddie sat by him.
“I asked Hettie; she did not do this to you Robert. I looked in her mind and she spoke the truth. She even showed me that you are still in Italy, lying in a hospital recovering from an attack. Who are you Robert, how could you have killed Cherine when she is still at home and safe? Are you from the future, did you come back to stop yourself from harming your love and the trip back, mixed with your horror and pain blocked your mind?”
He sat there for a while and staring at Robbie he made up his mind. Softly he spoke to Robbie. “I will stop this senseless war right now. I have to convince your Cherine to come here or else you will be dead by tomorrow. No animal will come near you, just wait here for me.”
Eddie vanished. He did not jump as we do, we thought we could sense a different power being used.
# We looked across at our Eddie, a question in our eyes and without much hope he answered. “I do not know. Hettie would not be easy to persuade. Even if he does, would you have believed me if I had come to you in the middle of the war? Wouldn’t you have thought this is another trick?”
1763
# Cherine answered with the words we could not speak. “I would not have believed you. I would have refused to come.” Her own words killed any hope within her and left us also with only despair.
At the Equator there is almost no twilight. Darkness had almost covered the land when the servants appeared. They searched for Eddie and then arguing fearfully among themselves they left, leaving Robbie lying there. Apart from a few ants, no other creature came close to him as he lay there lost within his mind. The moon came over the horizon and sank again; the pale colours before dawn arrived and then the rosy glow and the sun rose and our Robbie still lay there.
We felt the first stirrings within his mind. Eddie had obviously not expected to be gone so long and the brain was no longer being sent the chemicals needed and he was waking up. As his mind came closer to the surface we all stared at each other in horror. This was no longer our Robbie.
A caricature of him is all that was left. Most of what makes a personality, an ego, is torn and gone. He is like a badly damaged copy of himself. We can hardly bear to feel him in our minds, but he still is our Robbie, all we have, and we hung on.
He sat up and looked out at the land below him without recognition. When he did stand up he walked off without any direction, often stumbling and veering according to obstacles in front of him. The servants came back in time to see him at a distance and they ran after him. They saw his face and nearly left again. Luckily they decided to steer him back to camp.
There they put food in front of him and when he did not eat they spoon fed him. They came to realise they had to wash him, lead him to his bed, take him to do his bodily functions without messing in his clothes. They had a huge baby who was not able to understand much, but who obeyed them. They were very gentle with him.
# After all we had been through during nearly two years, this was what finally broke many of us. Cherine and Dommi had to reach into the minds of Diana, Alexis, Nicole, Jade, Cassie and Jodine and help ease them into a deep sleep where they could no longer feel his broken mind. Others too needed help to handle this and I do not know where the strength came from, but Cherine and Dommi gave what they could.
# Alki for the first time opened his mind to us and with the doctor, his wife, Socrati, they all helped. Keith was trying to help his own Annabelle and us. Percy and Jonathan were struggling with their own daughter and Tasso and his wife and sons fought to help Agapi and Klo. Lua left her body and returned to Daniel for his strength.
# It is not that we were stronger, but somehow Wendy, Bernie, Aganthi, Irene, Maria, Claudia, Laura, Candy and I fought our despair on our own. Never have Cherinians been in such a shambles. What happened next was a shock we dared not believe!
Eddie returned and with him were Alki and Cherine! They immediately knew this is not their Robert, but Cherine, with that amazing empathy of hers reached out to him. He smiled at her, but it was not our Robbie smiling. She sensed it.
“Alki, I will have to go into him. This is like it was for us at Hydra, only worse.”
“What has happened to him?”
“I’m guessing, but I think he had to face some horror he could not bear. I think his mind has gone into hiding and an infant version had to take over. I wish Dommi was with me, she is better at this than I am.”
“I’ll return and send her to you.”
Dommi came and the two of them lay to either side of him. He would not lie still and wanted to play with their hair. Dommi sent him her mother love and tried to put him to sleep. He stared at her with big eyes, but slowly he sank into a blissful sleep, first having rested his head on her breasts.
Instead of going after Robbie they went after his memories. They also tried to break through and could not find a way to. Suddenly Cherine gave an exclamation, drawing Dommi to her.
1764
*These memories are not his, they feel like mine; and those, aren’t they yours? Dommi, he has the memories of all of us in him!*
*How did he do that. Even we have not done that!*
*Maybe it would be easier for me to break into my own memories. You try yours Dommi.*
She was right, it was not easy, but she broke through and was able to show Dommi. Then she went into her memories and went through them in fascination. When she came out, Dommi was not long in joining her.
*They are not my memories Dommi, they are of another Cherine! He is Robert, but from another world!*
They left Robbie and returned to their own bodies. They discussed what they had found in excited voices, Eddie listening closely.
“Now that I know how to break in to my memories I think I can find a way to release his own. They were all blocked by the same mind. Eddie, you are sure this was not done by another Doris or yourself?”
“I presume Doris is what you call Hettie, my wife. No, this does not feel like our minds. I have never felt a mind like this one.”
“Eddie, Cherine and I have to eat, sleep a while and then we can try. We have to be fresh as I think it will be a long and difficult fight to get him back.”
“We cannot go for him yet Dommi. First we need to look into his memories. We must know why he says he killed me, or his Cherine. If he did, what do we do?”
“I am not prepared to be his judge Cherine...”
She cut her off, impatient that Dommi did not see. “I was not judging. Think Dommi, if for some reason my Robert had to kill me. Would it be a kindness to bring him back?”
Eddie cut in. “Find out first and then decide.”
They only slept about an hour, gave up on trying to sleep and returned into Robbie. By now all of us on our world were awake again and watching. They almost gave up on trying to free his memories when Cherine found herself thinking of how much her Robert loves her and the block fell away. They decided to go about it in an organised way, not just looking for how or why he killed Cherine. They began at the time he first met Cherine and worked their way forward.
They were forced to take a number of breaks to eat or look after their bodies. We could feel their amazement, their awe when they first met his protector and as they continued they both began to love this Robert who is not theirs. We did not mind, for we felt their love only added to the love they felt for their own Robert as they learnt of his potential.
Eddie was careful to remain tactfully in the background and the girls rewarded him by sharing what they had learnt. If they were amazed he was stunned. When they got to the stage where he left us with the old man we watched carefully, hoping to learn the identity of the old man, but that remained even now hidden.
They came out for another breather and to discuss what they had found.
“Are you telling me that he was attacked by a Hettie and Eddie, my alternate - and he won without even struggling!!?”
Cherine, not very tactfully was laughing. “Struggling? Eddie he never bothered to fight them, all his efforts were to take away their pain at losing. He was worried about them, that was his weakness.” She showed him and he sat there staring at this man who now was just an infant and shook his head.
“No wonder you were laughing. If only he would do that for my Hettie and me.”
“He will, once we get him back.” Dommi replied.
1765
“If we do Dommi. I have seen now how he loves his Cherine. If he killed her I can tell you, if we bring him back he will find a more terrible way to punish himself.”
This time they were not within him long and they came out with tears and such joy that they confused Eddie’s own emotions.
“Girls, please! What is going on?”
“He did not kill her Eddie. Another Robert killed his Cherine by accident. Here, see for yourself.”
They again did not go after Robbie. They now knew from Robbie what a close and true friend Eddie is and taking him with they returned to view the rest of his memories. The three of them took a very long time and when they returned they stared at Robbie with an awe as if they were looking at something supernatural.
“God, that a man like him could do this to himself just because he came to the conclusion he killed a child, without even knowing who she was! Imagine if he had also been able to recall how much he loves her!!”
Cherine studied Eddie, her eyes that dark colour they can so quickly change to. “Now you know how weak he is Eddie, would you ever use your knowledge against our Robert?
“You saw that my alternate became a Cherinian. If you would have me, do you believe I would be a lesser man than him?”
“Then get ready to join us if we need your help. I think we may have to do as the other Dommi and Cherine did and take him to the void.”
“Cherine, we do not have his Candy. Might it not be better we first get our Wendy to join us?”
“Yes, we must let her see how the other Wendy sang to soothe him.”
They got Wendy. As they showed her the story of our Robbie, those of us in our world began to come alive. Coffee and Milo was made, plates filled with quickly made sandwiches and biscuits were brought out and there was almost a festive air. We knew that even our Robbie cannot resist such a powerful combination of his loves.
They already knew about that dark well he had hidden within once before and they searched there for him. They had gone so deep they did not know if they could return again, but had not found him. Wendy sang out and from a direction they sensed a strange resonance. They went in that direction and suddenly they burst into daylight. They found Robbie.
Their joy was short lived. We, and they, soon worked out what had happened. He hid here, creating this world and body within his mind. His thoughts followed to torture him here too and he fled again, leaving an infant mind behind.
They entered the infant mind and went into the well of darkness again. Again they found him and with the same result. World after world, infant within infant mind. As they sat upon the lawn of I do not know how many worlds later they were beginning to despair. As far as they were concerned what was happening was impossible. We too thought it is impossible - for anyone but our Robert.
They continued and they soon noticed that the worlds were becoming smaller, less fully created. Finally they arrived at a point where there was only a Robbie and even then his body was not fully formed. They stared at him in horror. Wendy could no longer bear this and they considered leaving her to wait for them. She cried a while, her voice an echo of tears that fell like a silver waterfall of sorrow and grief. Once she had stopped though, she refused to stay behind. They entered the next well and as they sank they found Robbie, not on a world, not in any body, just a shell that held his mind
.Dommi wrapped herself around him, emoting her mother love and Wendy sang to him while Cherine searched for the weak spot to enter. She knew what to look for and found it. She broke through, floating within his shell. She brightened and saw his soul, almost ethereal as it cringed. Gently she spoke to him, calling out her name and sending her love.
*Cherine? Cherine is dead. I killed her.*
1766
*Robert, I truly love you, but you sure can be a stupid idiot sometimes. Just because you had amnesia and had nightmares that you killed me, you decide it was true? Shit! You are always jumping to conclusions and treating them as the truth. When are you going to start using your brains like you keep on telling me to?*
*I did not kill you? You really Cherine, my little sister?*
*You nitwit, I’m not your sister, I’m your wife!*
*Liar! Cherine is a child!*
*I am a child you oaf. All your wives are children or babies. If you do not believe me, come with us and let us show you your own memories. If you’ve got any guts you can also come into me and see my memories.*
*Babies?*
*Do the names Wendy, Dommi, Meli - do they mean anything to you? Listen to your Wendy, she is singing for you. Feel the love your Dommi is sending you. Oh my sweet stupid Robert, feel the love I am sending you. Please come back to us.*
*I like the music.*
*Come to me my love. Let us show you the truth. You could never hurt me.*
She cajoled, insulted, teased until he began to either believe or become curious. He let her touch him and tasted her motes of love. The shell around him melted away and the three of them carried him back, from body to body until they finally reached his true body and mind. The instant he arrived and assimilated all his memories he blazed with his wonder and joy - and felt very stupid.
*Go back to your bodies, I’ll meet you outside. Girls?*
*Yes Robert?*
*Thank you. I don’t know how you did it - you are my sweet miracles.*
“Throughout my life with Cherine and then my family of Cherinians, I have made assumptions and treated them as fact. Sometimes I am proven wrong and decide never to do that again. But I do. You saw my fight with the fire-world? I made assumptions and right or wrong, they gave me a way to face it and fight back.
I think the old man sent me here in the hope of teaching me how dangerous making such assumptions can be. Well, he can go stick it up his arse. I will not change.”
In the middle of it all, his joy, the love, all the emotions and laughter, he got up and leaving the girls went over to the servants.
“I know what you did for me. I do not know how to thank you. All I can say is asanti sana.”
The girls called to him. “Robert, our own Robert needs us too. Will you come with us, I’m sure he would like to meet you.”
“I think he will be embarrassed to meet me - I’ve just gone through the exercise of proving how stupid a Robert can be.”
Dommi touched his face with her fingertips. “No. What you did is show how deeply a Robert loves.”
He stayed behind with Eddie, promising to visit before he leaves.
“Did you know who I was from the beginning?”
“That is why I came to collect you from Dimitri. When I saw you in his mind it confused me, I knew you were in Italy and yet I could see you here too. It frightened me for a moment.”
1767
“You saw that in my world you and Dimitri are Cherinians. Would you join your Cherinians and be as good a friend? Before you answer, you have sensed that my gifts have returned to me, apart from the protector, which I presume is back at home watching my loved ones. If you bring Hettie here, or to the house in Athens, I will return you to your original bodies on condition you make reparations to the children you killed. You will learn to contact your own healers and have long lives. That is whether you become Cherinians or not.”
He smiled sadly. “Robert, I have spent twenty years out in the jungle because I saw the temptations and all I had done that went against my nature. Our talk on the hill, you saw no way to help humanity. Maybe the only way to help is for the Cherinians to remain in the background, using their gifts to soften the brutal ones at critical moments, giving a chance for those who care and are sensitive to make our dreams true. At that time it may be possible for the Cherinians to grow without upsetting the world dramatically.”
“Damn! We went through all that hell just so that you could tell me that!?”
Robbie was now afraid the old man may take him away so he grabbed Eddie, went for Dimitri and jumped to Athens. Quickly he imparted all his knowledge to their Robert and then relaxed.
“Girls, I guess my stupidity embarrassed you all? Sorry my loves.”
“You did not embarrass us…oh!”
“I’m sorry, I was talking to my own family. They must have been very frustrated, watching me and seeing me come to the wrong conclusion. They must have felt like wringing my neck.”
“I think not Robert. I think you broke their hearts.” Wendy spoke softly and her eyes were as tender as they always are when she looks at Robbie. He could not resist hugging her.
“I think there is a certain amount of Peter Pan in me. I see myself as being poorer in spirit if I allow myself to grow up, lose the child in me. These lessons have done a lot to make me grow up and I see the need for it. The sad part is that I also see that I was right, I’ve gained, but also lost a lot.”
Wendy traced his chin with a finger and her eyes grew misty, “As long as you can love us children, we will be the child in you; for your heart to be able to love us this way we have to be a part of you.”
“Wendy my love…” he stared at her and tears poured from his burning eyes. “You just told me my ultimate truth. All my girls, all children of the world, of all worlds - they are all my green leaf.”
Chapter One Hundred Twelve
We waited anxiously to see where he would go to this time. We wondered when would the old man decide he has learnt enough. We do not want him to change our Robbie any more.
“I find this confusing. For a time I thought to myself that the old man is our Robert from the future. I have to be wrong. Robert always tells us that to go back to the past and change what happens only creates new alternate worlds. If he says we are the prime world, then how could we remain the prime world if he comes back and changes his past?”
“I think Robert has already given the answer Cherine.” Meli looked incredibly sad. “The prime world dies.”
That shook all of us. Even the adults, especially Themi could not see what she meant and we all clamoured for an explanation.
“When the old man told Robbie to look in his eyes and he collapsed to his knees - he called out, if the future cannot be changed, why did you show me.”
“My God, she is right!” Jonathan looked terrified.
A dry voice, gentle and filled with love answered, “No.” We all swirled to look at the old man who had appeared without us feeling him. “The past cannot be changed, but the future can. The prime world can choose which branch of the future to take. Your sacrifice and that of your Robert has stabilised this world so that it follows the branch of life.”
1768
Themi wanted to ask questions about that statement, but gave way to Cherine who stood up and walked to the old man, her back rigid.
“Is it over? Can he return now?”
“Who can say he has learnt all there is to learn Cherine? Yes, he will return now. Themi, you want to question me. No, in answer, all Robert has done is reduce the possibilities that he will be the cause of destruction. This world is made up of billions of souls. Who can say that no other soul will commit some act that will spiral this world into the fall of civilisation? You must all remain vigilant, watch and quietly intervene where you can to keep the world stable. That is all you could hope to do; there is no guarantee such intervention will be enough.
Those of you who study politics and watch the news will know that the world population has grown to the point where it cannot be sustained without continual growth in production methods. A collapse of civilisation will bring mankind to its knees, billions will die and what will be left will stay on its knees forever. The spirit of Man will break.
Even without you Cherinians, mankind is at a crossroads. If time can be bought for mankind, the discoveries over the next hundred years will wipe out most of the reasons for suffering in this world. Medical discoveries will lead to the creation of a healthy and stable population, without you risking your existence by helping them through your healers. It is healthier for them to find their own road, for any growth spills over into other important directions, helping them mature in a more holistic manner. There are discoveries waiting that will expand the minds of men and lead you to the stars so that mankind is able someday to become almost immortal as a race.
There are those, from the wealthiest and most powerful, to the poorest, whether out of political or religious beliefs, or because they see they can manipulate those beliefs in others, who will cause such destruction that even if they lose, all of mankind will have lost as they turn away from their ideals and progress, from growth, in search of ultimate safety in thinking only small thoughts. Any thinking man knows that such ultimate safety does not exist in this cosmos and that risks have to be accepted in the search of hope for a future where man has grown and achieved most of those ideals for all.
Cherine, you have seen, in world after world that Robert depends on you and your love. Your strength is his strength. You too had your lessons to learn. Come closer child, it is time, look upon me and know for yourself.”
We all felt the terror in her, the knees that wanted to buckle at every step, but she forced herself and came to him. She looked up for a time, her mind shut off so that we could not share as she trembled and cried out. He put his hand on her head.
“It will get easier. You are the lover of life, of all that makes humans something more than they are. You represent what they can be, the light and beacon of their potential. Your Robert and his Cherinians are part of the tapestry your soul is made of. Guard it.”
He disappeared and only then did Cherine fall to her knees with a sob that tore at all our hearts.
Robbie appeared, his eyes instantly on Cherine, he knelt to take her in his arms. Her need was too great for any of us to even cry out with joy at seeing him. When a soft blue glow surrounded them it seemed to us as if the two of them had melted, merging, become one, but then the glow faded and we saw Robert lifting his love in his arms as he stood up.
He softly told her, his eyes fixed on hers, “Together my loves, all of us together, we will be your strength.” He looked at us, at all of us, and there was a terrible pity in his eyes for all of us, just for a second. We felt a part of him and Cherine become one and then it locked itself within them, part in each and yet still one. His eyes cleared and he looked at us with a smile. “School is over it seems. I need a golden glow of loving to feel you all within me again.”
He got it and this time it seemed to hang forever at its peak until we no longer could bear it and we let it spread out in a gentle wave that spread far out and may have touched millions of hearts with the sweetness we held within us.
Their empathy spoke to them and all Cherinians were about to leave when Cherine asked them to stay. “We can wait to be alone with him now that he is back.”
Dommi carried on, “You all stayed with us during our years of pain and anguish, without you we would not have survived. Cherine and all of us want you to be here to share our joy.”
1769
“Would you please all have our celebration on my world? There are many there who should be part of us.”
“Yes. Meli let them know we are coming. My loves, would you still accept Gilli with love if I can find the best way to bring her here?”
“What! You can do that now Robert!!”
“No my love, not yet, but I feel we will be able to, soon.”
We all reassured him and he felt our love for her is real. Before leaving, Robert wanted some time to go around to each and every one for a hug and a word or two. For each he had a gift, a twinkle in his eyes, a smile of tenderness and love, a wink or just an extra pressure of his hands as he held them. Not one did not feel just that little bit special afterwards. He spent time whispering to Henry and he glowed like a man does when he has been told that a dream has come true.
He knelt in front of Ordinx and Solomon and bowed his head to them.
“I owe my life and sanity to both of you. You all thought I was crazy when I called you our dearest friends - can you see now that I was just being a calculating bastard, making sure I have your love when I need it?”
He caught them and us by surprise and he got the laughter he wanted and suddenly the tension we had not realised we all still felt melted away. He leaned to each one and kissed them on their lips.
“Please tell your people that I no longer consider you Cherinians.” He paused as a shock went through them and us. With no smile, just a look that bared his soul to them, he then spoke the words that changed everything for all of us. “From now on I consider you all our family. The two of you will be my daughters whenever you are here, thus representing all your people, and the love I give you will be my love for all your people - just as it is also my love for the two of you. Please convey this to them and ask them humbly on my behalf to please accept my family and myself and our love.”
No two nations or people have ever been bound as tightly as Robert bound us to them and they responded with so much love that from that moment it became impossible to think of them as aliens, they are truly now our brothers and sisters.
Lastly he came to us. First of all he went to Jodine and knelt in front of her.
“I can never make up for this precious time we lost, but I will try my lovely daughter. Do you forgive me?”
She cried and clung to him and her heart opened and brought her fully now into our circle. Robert bent his head over hers and wet her hair with his tears.
“I feel humbled Jodine. I do not deserve such love.”
Of course, with every word and beat of his heart he was weaving a spell of love that captured her and made Jodine his forever. I know he does not do it on purpose, it is just how he is and that is why every single heart melted along with hers.
When he got to Cassie and Jade he pulled them to him at the same time. “I see your love has grown, you are twin souls! My darling imps, you cannot imagine how happy this makes me.”
There was not one of us he did not find something special to say, recognising changes in us and either healing wounds or making our changes something glorious. With me he did not say a word. He looked deep within me and there was a dance of joy in his soul as he saw who I am now. The warmth of his love was a balm that soothed my hurts and pains while his pride in me made me feel like I have become a queen.
We noticed as he went from one to the other he would glance every now and then at Dommi. He left her for last.
“You can offer nothing, you can only take what we give you.”
“You still remember that?”
1770
“It has been a pain for a long time in me. Can I let the pain go now my love? Have you seen how you give far more than you take?”
“You stupid…man! I was just being a silly insecure little girl.”
“I hope you are now a secure silly little girl. Just the kind I love.” He gave her a silly smile and she giggled and then wrapping her arms around him she burst into tears and he held and kissed her as she sobbed her heart out, finally letting herself go, no longer having to be strong for all of us. He knew and let her cry. When he began to whisper sweet endearments and kiss her wet eyes, we knew she had purged herself of her pain and now gloried in his love and pride.
He sat down, placed Dommi on his lap and held her. “Claudia baby, do you think I could have a big mug of coffee and a cigarette before we leave?” We would not let him go outside and Dommi stayed on his lap without even wrinkling her nose at the smell of his smoke. She giggled.
“I never thought I could love the smell so much.”
Eric shyly came to Robert. “You asked me not to judge you and I did not listen, I judged and held it against you, even though I was also grateful for all you had done for me and Cherine. I have come to apologise Robert. It took time, but now I can see I was wrong. Thank you for loving my little girl.”
“You really should not be thanking me. She will always have my love, you know that, but you also saw that I have condemned her to becoming something greater. Her life will not be an easy one.”
“You did not condemn her to it, she did it herself by being who she is. I never expected to be so proud of her.”
“For as long as there is a Cherinian, you and Marian will be honoured by all for bringing into this world our Cherine. Eric, she could not just appear out of nothing. She only represents the best in each of you.”
Nobody said he only knows how to enslave little girls; not even just females.
We arrived on Meli’s world to find all the people of Daniel. We all looked for Gilli, but she was not with them.
“I am glad to see you Daniel. My little Gilli, she has changed her mind, forgotten me?”
“A great sadness Robert. Lua came and told us of what had happened to you. As a year had passed and she had decided you did not love her, she had made herself strong to hide her grief. Hearing Lua, the shock was too much for her and she broke. We tried to watch her, but she left us at night. She is somewhere in the forest and many of our men are searching for her. She will be brought back to you soon as we find her.”
Robert stood silent for a moment. “Call your men to return, to leave her. I will go to my little queen.”
He turned to us ready to apologise, but seeing our faces did not speak. He took Meli’s hand. “Can you show me where my love?” A lump was in his throat and she also felt his tears.
“Just wish to find her Robbie, you will.”
He rose straight up into the air turning around himself. He seemed to hesitate and then flew away towards the forest, slightly to the right of where Daniel and their people live. Cherine extended her gift so that Daniel and his people can also share with us.
He sensed where she is and came to the ground about fifty metres away and walked to her, careful to make a noise. When he arrived by her she looked up at him and smiled.
“Have you noticed how the dewdrops hang on the cobweb and it looks like a rainbow? Look at all those colours.” She was entranced by the sight and Robbie came down onto his haunches and took a look.
“That is beautiful. Have you seen any other things in the forest that are beautiful like this?”
“Oh yes.” She took his hand and led him to a frumpy ugly piece of fungus that grew out of a tree. “Look inside. It is a magic garden.” Robbie looked and despite everything he too was enchanted. Tiny plants were growing in a shallow pool of water and muck. They were brilliantly coloured, as if an artist had gone crazy with his palette.
I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)23rd August, 2019
* posted on Steemit: 23rd August, 2019
@nikosnitza