Little Cherine Book 06 - BPost011
Gently, “I don’t think now is the time for surprises. Cherine, will you warn him please?”“No. We wanted to surprise him.”
3601
Robbie was in bed, nice and warm and with a little girl to either side of him (the twins) to keep him toast-warm and happy. He smiled as Adam came in.
“Are you going to make a habit of this?”
“If you don’t look after yourself. Girls, would one of you make room for me? I would prefer to be touching when we transfer.”
Robbie looked sad. “Now they are going to tease me - a man in my bed.”
“At least you still have your sense of humour, I don’t think I could have given that back to you.” He climbed on the bed and took his hand. “Shall we get it over with? I want to go to Kefalari and taste some of those sweets the girls love and then I want to go to the Seychelles. So much to experience and I can’t stay away forever.”
Being Cherinians we do not fidget, cough or clear our throats, so although the room was nearly full with so many of us, we did not make a sound. Only our hearts raced anxiously as Adam went into Robbie’s mind.
Adam opened his eyes, but waited for Robbie before moving or making a sound.
“I’m sorry girls, Robert, the damage is not repaired by the few memories I replaced.” He then told us, “I think his healer can do more for him than I can. He is not correctly connected to his body. I don’t have the information to help.”
“Good to see you Adam. Thank you.”
“May I try an experiment Robert? She cannot harm me.” Robbie nodded without asking what Adam planned.
We took him to Aven. Athia introduced him and her face paled. He sat down next to her and touched her hand gently.
“I have just spent some time in the mind of Robert. It has saddened me to see how he has been hurt. From the first day he met your people, the only thoughts he has had with regard to you and your people has been how to right the wrong done to you. He is a good man Aven, like the leaders of your people used to be. Gentle, loving and willing to sacrifice himself if it will bring life and happiness to others.
I know why you hurt him and there is no anger in me, I understand you and that understanding gives me much sorrow. Robert did not do well in creating you. Neither did your entity do well in sending five of you. It should have sent one soul. One soul would have been a true soul with true instincts, the five could not. More of their concentration was spent on them trying to work as one than on dealing with Robert.
We cannot change the past, but we can change the present for the better. I promise not to harm you or change anything within you, but I have to enter your mind. Whatever you agree to show me I will see and when I am out of there I will tell you what I think I can do to help you become a whole person. You do know that without Athia you would have been in trouble? You were falling apart, but her nosy refusal to leave you alone helped you to stay sane. She gave you a focal point, something outside of yourself to concentrate on. May I enter?”
“You are Robert and all the girls?”
“In a way.”
“Then you have the powers of all of them in one! You could force me, why do you ask?”
“I am a Cherinian Aven!”
“A Cherinian. That is what they keep saying, speaking of love and life and using their soft words to fool and destroy me. You may come in, I cannot stop you. I know you are going to trick me and change me so as to make me love our enemies. I despise you.”
Ignoring her last comment he replied, “Thank you.”
When he came back from her he opened eyes filled with joy. She turned to him in surprise, but he was in a hurry. “I will return.” and he was rushing back to Robbie.
3602
“What did he do to you?” Athia asked.
“Nothing. I think he did nothing. He showed me how to strengthen myself, how to open some ways I saw were blocked and then he jumped around, but without touching my mind. I could not see what he was doing.” We could sense a wonder in her. “He said it is good I learnt to hate. He said I had to so as to learn to love my people and that will teach me one day to love myself also. Athia, he is kind.”
What could any of us say to that?
As she spoke we had also been monitoring Robbie. We felt he was pleased and surprised by something. It was also as if he had become clearer within our minds. We had to go and see what had happened. Adam explained as soon as we all trooped in.
“I suspected there might still remain within her mind a few strands of his mind and I was right. If I am right I got back about twenty percent of what he lost. Over the next few hours what I replaced will heal and you should all see further improvement. Robert, you must take it easy, give your mind time to repair on its own. Cherine?”
“Yes Adam?”
“He must not try to jump. Teleporting as he is now could send him in a different direction than he’d planned for.”
Robbie had noticed Athia staring at Adam with burning eyes and she knew that. To save Robbie trying to make the words come, to ask her, she explained, “Aven said Adam is kind!”
“Surprised.”
“She said you told her it is good she learnt to hate.”
“I did. Anybody for Baked Alaska? I’m dying to try what it really tastes like, not just the way it tastes to you.”
I laughed. “Why don’t you take Aven? Your first date.”
He stared at me, contemplating something, but we could not feel him. “You do know that with the years I have come to some understanding of Robert?” We nodded. “Not when he gets crazy, but the rest of the time he is fairly predictable.” Again we nodded, agreeing, and Robbie mouthed the word ‘traitors’. We laughed. “Why is it that after so much time you are still a mystery to me Samantha?”
I had to give an answer, even if it was glib - I do have a reputation to uphold. “It could be because you chose to be male?”
He laughed. “Yes, I suppose that would be the only answer that would let you off the hook.”
Taking Athia with he went out and invited Aven - after he invited her to visit him in the void. Aganthi remembered in time and quickly took some money to him. With a foolish look of chagrin he thanked her and they left.
“He is going to corrupt my little Empathia. I’m sleepy.” He turned onto his side. Cherine motioned for Irene to go to him and for the rest of us to leave.
Adam showed no interest in cars, buildings and any of the other technological marvels of our world. He did not want to visit any of our cities. Showing him the natural beauty spots of our planet were what caught at his imagination and kept him rapt for hours. By the time he had to leave, he said he is in love with Earth and will never come back. We protested, insisting we will bring him back.
“No, I do not wish to return. Seeing her raped and despoiled is painful.”
Diana said, “Then come to Meli’s world.” He agreed and took the opportunity to kiss our cheeks and left.
Back at home we felt Robbie was getting stronger and we rejoiced. Watching my family I felt myself fill up with an awe and joy that this is my family. I blurted the words out before thinking them through. “I almost wish I was a man so that I could love all of you.”
3603
If any of the other girls had said that, I think it would have frightened them, but with me, they only laughed and teased me mercilessly.
By the next day Robbie could walk if someone held him - that someone having to become an adult first. After two days he had his first coffee and cigarette on his own. He felt guilty about smoking in the house, but we insisted. Whenever he is in the sitting room, Aven either stares out the glass doors at our garden or else goes to her bedroom.
“Aven, would you sit with me? I’d like to talk.” Reluctantly she sat closer, facing him. “First of all, we have not been very good hosts, you must be bored. Why don’t you let some of the girls take you to more interesting climates? Would you mind somewhere warmer than it was on Freddie?”
“Why?”
He took her literally. “Because the place I’m thinking of is hot. The girls can teach you, if you like, how to swim and you’ll enjoy it.”
“I mean why do you want them to take me?”
He deliberately misunderstood. “Do you mean you would prefer to go by yourself? I don’t think that would be wise Aven. You don’t know our ways and you might even get lost.”
“No. I meant why do you care if I am bored. All of them are.”
“Oh! This is their home. You can’t be at home and not have some boring times, they don’t mind.”
Athia called out to her, “Aven, remember, Robert is not kind like Adam. He is teasing you.”
“You mean he does not really care if I am bored?”
She giggled. “No silly, he is trying to force you to say what you really mean when you ask him why.”
“I thought it was just the damage I did to his mind that was making him stupid.”
We all laughed and Robbie pulled a face. “I guess first round goes to her.” We laughed again and clapped. He continued, “Aven, my baby girl did her best to corrupt you, but you are too honest. You never pretended to like me, you declared you would destroy me, many times. If I was foolish enough to fall for your trick and enter your mind I have no one else to blame, you had warned me.
While we are clearing the air I’d also like to confess that I like you. I’ve been thinking about what Adam said to you. He was right, I wish I could have seen it much earlier, we might have saved all of us much heartache. You must have also had time to think on what he told you. Do you have any ideas how you would like to handle things from now onwards? Do you still need to hate or can we move on to the next stage?”
“Are you going to get your revenge here or are you waiting to go back to…Freddie?”
“Revenge? Let me think.” He sat with eyes closed as if thinking deeply. “I have a problem Aven. At the moment I have to conserve my strength to get better. Then we will be travelling on Freddie millions of years into the past to your original planet. I will have to do that many times to bring everything the Inguel order. By the time that is finished we’ll have to go to your over-soul and you’ll have to explain and bring out the souls we will bring back to material life - to their original bodies, made from their own cells. Then I’ll be busy watching how you develop and be ready to help out if you need me. If things work out well, then we have to return to your over-soul and collect more souls. After all that I still have a lot of other worlds to bring back. Aven, I can’t do everything at the same time, I’m not some kind of superman. Do you mind if we leave the revenge thing for later - say a few thousand years in the future?”
Aven was puzzled, but spunky little Athia took over.
“We do mind Robert. Dad, you have to get your revenge soon.”
“And what must that be?”
*We have to marry her.*
3604
“What!! Athia, you are getting carried away! That is crazy.”
“You’ll see.” She sat with a stubborn look, emoting her determination.
Dommi asked, “Athia, what about Robyn?”
“Her too.”
Robbie was losing his patience, but as he was about to retort sharply, Cherine stopped him. “Leave it for later Robert.”
The upset set him back and he took another two days to regain lost ground. Cherine had a private talk with Athia and she moped for a while. Aven realised Athia had got into trouble for her sake and tried to be nicer to her, even though she’d been angered by her suggestion. She soon bounced back, so it was not long before she began whispering to her friend, plotting who knows what.
Robbie decided it had been some time since we’d last bought clothes and more or less ordered us to go to London on a shopping spree. Lynda asked if they could go to new York instead and we all agreed enthusiastically. Rose came over to spend the day with her son while we were gone.
From Lynda’s apartment we took the underground and then in a sort of crazy tizzy we went from shop to shop. Dommi used her credit card, but even the very high limit was soon exhausted as she was using it to buy things for all of us. We then had to go to meet a friend of Alki at his office to collect some cash. When he saw we were only women, no men with us, he refused to give the money, claiming we would get mugged. He gave his credit cards to his secretary and she followed us as we bought more clothes. We could tell she was dying of curiosity about who we are, but Cherine gave us the thumbs down so we did not do much to enlighten her. She phoned her boss when we reached $50,000, but he sharply ordered her to allow us to spend as much as we want. That made her fawn on us which of course made us dislike her. We were glad to get away from her. At Lynda’s flat we looked at the mountain of packets and felt embarrassed.
“Where are we going to put it all? We don’t have enough cupboards!” Rosie said.
“We do.” Aganthi replied. “We have a lot of clothes we never wear. I think we should give them to the kids at our school.” That idea cheered everyone up. Lynda smiled to herself.
“After all you put me through you did not buy any makeup Athia.”
“Are you taking us to a nightclub?”
“No.” She burst out laughing. “We are going to have a quiet night at home. I’d love to get some junk food and watch a bit of cable. You know what I’ve missed most of all? Bread. The bread in Greece and on Freddie doesn’t taste right.”
She had to take us to a bakery so that we could buy enough for all of us to taste. I had a taste and then put the rest away for Jessie; I do not like my bread so sweet.
Elpida thought Aven would be amused to hear how Athia manipulated Lynda. She was not good at narrating a story so Lynda let Aven look in her mind. She did not act as if she was being brave, she did not expect Aven to harm her and she did not. If Aven was amused we could not tell, but she stared into Athia’s eyes for a while until Athia blushed.
“Lynda, her win was your loss before and afterwards her win was your win?”
“That is right. I still think I should spank her.” That needed explaining and Aven thought spanking sounded just right for Athia.
“I keep telling her that her win is a lose for me, but she won’t listen.”
“If she was right and I was wrong, could it be she is right in your case also?”
“She wants me to love Robert! That is stupid, he is not even of my species!”
3605
Cherine gave that strange smile of hers and both Athia and Aven were fascinated by it. Athia gave a huge grin but kept it to herself, not explaining to Aven. It certainly made the rest of us wonder, were we really supposed to love this difficult person? I know Cherine is hardly ever wrong, but I suppose nobody is perfect all the time.
We did not go to a speakeasy or singles bar or nightclub, but we did go for a walk in Time Square. I was disappointed with it and the type of people there at night. Jade emoted a continuous threatening wave that kept everyone away from us. We wondered that any Normal woman dared walk there at night. Being aware of the type of emotions being broadcasted from behind walls drained us and spoilt the evening for us. Soon as we thought nobody would see us we jumped back to the flat.
“That is not what America is like! Most of the people are nice.” Lynda protested. We soothed her and reminded her we had experienced much worse in many countries. That silenced her.
Aven found a lot of what we talked about irrelevant and sat by the window looking out. We did not know whether she was trying to see the stars or whether it was the darkness outside that kept her so interested. She noticed a man walking by himself, saw three men walking behind him and then another two appeared in front of him. They were weaving and that made Aven notice them; she did not understand they were trying to make it look as if they were drunk. Suddenly she noticed that the single man had stopped, his head twisting this way and that, which even she could recognise as panic.
With the five men around him he had no clear way to escape and it was not long before they robbed him of everything he had. Aven would not have cared, but then one of them hit the man. She watched closely now and when all five attacked she gave a cry of disgust. Before we could react she jumped.
The men all sensed her and stopped, trying to see her clearly. She did not bother with any challenges and attacked with her powers. By now we were crowded at the windows looking down. Within seconds the only man still standing was the intended victim. Wild-eyed he stared at Aven, looked at the bodies, thought for a brief second of reclaiming his things and then he ran like a scared rabbit. There did not seem to be anyone else on the street so we jumped.
“Aven, get back to the flat please. We’ll take care of them.”
She sneered. “You come to prove you are warriors now!?”
“No Aven, we have come to repair the damage you inflicted on them. We do not kill!! You know that.”
“They are not sentient.” We could not really disagree with her opinion of them, but unpleasant as it was we sent our healers in to save them. I was careful to instruct my healer to only heal what could cause death and only if it came from the attack. We jumped back to the flat.
“Lynda, do you think this has caused a problem for you?”
“No. Even if anyone saw anything they will keep their mouths shut. Fuck but I’m glad Aven hurt them so badly. You cannot imagine what it is like being afraid to leave your home because of scumbags like those.”
With the difference in time it had been a long day so we settled down to sleep wherever we could. The next morning we grabbed our things and jumped home while Orshiir, Bernie and Jade stayed behind with Lynda to clean and tidy up the flat. Lynda went out for a couple of hours to arrange for payments she did not want to fall behind on and then they all came home.
Robbie listened to our stories and then called Aven to him. Wary but stiffened by pride she stood before him.
“The force you used was excessive, but the girls have already explained that to you. Aven, I wanted to say, if I ever face a battle where I need a brave heart next to me, I would be happy to have you. I am proud of you, our own alien crime fighter!”
Not all of it made sense to her, but she did understand the bit that mattered and she walked away from him as if not interested, but we could see in her posture that despite herself she was touched and proud.
While we had been away, Robbie had arranged with Apostoli for a party to celebrate the birthdays of Goldi, Jodine and Bernie which had all passed with only our wishes. Apostoli brought a sofa from his office for Robbie to sit on, against Robbie’s wishes. After a few hours we took him to the back room for him to lie down. Cherine wanted to stay, but he refused. He said he could still be at the party through our minds. That meant we had to fool ourselves into believing we were having a great time. Luckily for us we felt him fall asleep and slowly after that the party quieted down and we sat talking.
3606
We took the sofa with a small table down to the beach and gently woke Robbie. Keeping a dome of warmth for all of us, we sat on the beach and watched the sunrise. Robbie had his toast with honey and coffee and chatted a little with Daniel about the ship. They claimed it is without damage and they are outfitting it for small voyages.
Meli pointed out to me that I neglected to explain something that makes nonsense of something I say. I originally said that only we could fly or jump on her world, not the Gillians. Then, much later, without any explanation, I have Daniel talking about going to the beach and so on. The reason Daniel can is because he no longer is just a Gillian. Being linked with his daughter, sharing with her in the void, his mind has had doors opened and he can teleport and he has a healer. The changes in Daniel have affected all his people so they all can fly now, though they cannot jump yet. All of it was so obvious to us that I slipped up - sorry.
Back at home, Robbie insisted we all get a few hours sleep and he dozed with us until lunchtime. This was how we expect it to be until he grows stronger. It does not mean we only sat around quiet as mice. Aganthi and the others spent a lot of time at school, attending classes to reassure themselves their system is being maintained. We also study hard to catch up with our university studies and jump over to Scotland to attend lectures. I am not a registered student and we use our gifts to camouflage my presence. I attend lectures I find interesting so as to learn a little of this and a little of that, from out of whatever subjects the girls are taking. For it to make sense, I have to spend more time than them studying a little of this and that. It means I will be the only one without a degree, but then I might decide to get one sometime in the future, I’m not in a hurry; doing it this way, learning is fun.
Robbie usually prefers, when going for a walk, to only have five or six girls with him. More often than not, the walk will be to the small neighbourhood coffee shop. It was Sunday and since more people walk around, he did not protest when about half of us decided to walk with him. The sun was out and we had a suddenly hot day. We were keeping up a line of cheery chatter when Robbie stood still and shook his head, as if trying to clear it of cobwebs. He gave us a small embarrassed smile and we resumed our walk. A minute later the same happened again. Very carefully we had been monitoring him, but we could not feel what was bothering him. That worried us and so the rest of the girls soon joined us.
We sat at the small coffee shop, but within a minute of his coffee arriving, Robbie stood up, muttering that it is time to go. The owner waved us away, gesturing we can pay him on our return. Silently now we walked with him, Jade and Maria keeping their eyes and senses roving in case Robbie is threatened in some way. It felt like ants were crawling up our backs.
Most of the three to four storey blocks of apartments in suburbs only have up to three flats on a floor. Most of their verandas have canvas awnings and some are glassed in. On the side of the building the kitchen door usually leads out onto a small narrow veranda. Often they are untidy with plastic buckets, tables with potted plants and we’ve even seen one filled with suitcases wrapped in plastic.
On one such kitchen veranda a drama was preparing without us being aware of it. A boy of about four had climbed onto a table and on hands and knees was looking at the garden below. A cat strolled by and he leant out calling to it. The table was unsteady and rocked onto the shorter leg and he overreacted. With a scream he fell from the third floor, heading for the concrete walk below.
Before any of us had time to react, Robbie jumped, his protector with him to ensure the child is saved. The protector caught the child as Robbie had veered by metres. As Robbie appeared, he slammed into the wall with a sickening thud. The protector put the child by the open kitchen door and pushing him in, instantly left the crying boy to help us with Robbie. There was blood all over the wall and his body lay on the ground. Softly we touched him and jumped to Dr Maria’s clinic. We were all in shock and forgot about Aven, only concerned about the damage we saw and sensed in Robbie.
Contrary to what Normals would have done, we did not try to block the younger ones from seeing him. We do not know what speed he was travelling at, but he hit the wall face-on. Our healers were scrambling like mad within him, joined now by Maria’s experienced healer, reporting skull, facial bones, shoulder, ribs, hips arm and leg bones either pulverised or broken in a number of places. Organs and his one eye pierced, shattered or damaged by the blow, the other eye missing.
3607
The instant we arrived with him, Cherine and Dommi took Irene and Noelle with and jumped to his mind. They found him drifting in a sort of dream void, totally unaware of what had happened. He was distraught because he could not see any Sparklers, Anadir Worlds or ours and withdrew into himself. They tried to calm him, using the two girls to soothe while Cherine and Dommi enveloped him in their special love.
Within less than an hour Robbie had been stabilised and organs were being repaired. Everything else had to wait for later. Athia spoke to me softly. “Dad will be angry with us, we forgot Aven. I better search for her.”
The thought of me leaving with her showed me what it was costing her, so I steeled myself and we left. We walked up and down the street trying to sense Aven. As we were about to jump home Athia turned and ran. I followed her. She went to the building the child had fallen from, swerved away from the front door and ran to the side. Aven was sitting on the ground, next to the blood, staring at the bloody smears on the wall. She was violently shaking. We looked up to see why it was affecting her so strongly and both cried out and then threw up. Stuck to an edge of the wall was one of Robbie’s eyes.
Athia was bent over from her pain and misery; before I could grab her Aven did and holding her tightly they both sobbed. I heard voices from above, saw two heads sticking out of a window and when they disappeared I knew they would be coming down. I called to Rosie and Meli and the three of us used our gifts to clean the wall and ground, I sent his smashed eye to Dr Maria and grabbing Athia and Aven we jumped home.
“What did you send it to the clinic for? Maria can’t put it back.”
“The protector can use cells from it to create a new eye.”
“The healers were already doing that Sam, both eyes are being repaired.” Meli put her arms around me and I began to sob again.
Aganthi arrived and after touching us rushed to the kitchen and brought us each a glass of coke. We were all in shock so we drank it.
I guess I lost it. I threw the glass against the wall and started to scream, swearing at Arthur, blaming him for everything. They told me that I then curled up on the floor and sobbed my heart out, but I don’t remember it. I’ll go through my mind and reclaim those memories later, I do not like losing any part of myself.
(Arthur, I’m sorry, I had to write what actually happened, but I don’t really blame you, it was the baby in me I guess, needing someone to blame)
This time we took Aven with and she was allowed to see Robbie. Athia asked her to go into her mind and she showed her all the internal damage.
“He will live?” she asked.
“His body, yes, we are not certain of his mind yet. It may be that he has suffered just once too many times.”
Her fingers touched the glass. We explained the reasons for keeping him in a sterilised environment. “Not that it is really necessary with us, only for Normals. Still, it does give his healers less to worry about.”
“I did this to him. Why did he jump since he was told he must not.”
“The life of a child is more important Aven, he had to try.”
“No. No, you are wrong! Without him so much stops, so many lives are lost.”
“We do not think that way, love.” Athia said. “All of us would sacrifice our lives to save one life. We cannot allow ourselves to think the way you do, or else we would become paralysed by fear.”
She was silent for a while and even before she spoke we sensed a change in her, as if either something had just woken up in her or she’d just come to a realisation. “That is why he did it, because he really thought he had to save me?”
None of us replied and seeing our eyes she finally broke down.
3608
The clinic is full, day and night with Cherinians. Tasso took from Agapi and Latreia what they had seen and knew of his condition, and he made it his job to show everyone else. If even one person had come without love we would have screamed and thrown them out, it almost felt like a circus with Robbie the main attraction. That I could think that way knowing what he means to all Cherinians shows how fear and grief affects the mind.
The first sensible words the girls got out of Robbie were, *The child, I missed the child.* They tried explaining the child was safe, but he could not hear them. He was trapped within his own horror or nightmare and nothing else existed for him. Cherine left them and went for Adam. He also tried, but failed to reach through his pain. They continued trying, but slowly, slowly they were breaking down.
“Wendy, can you sing for him? Maybe he will hear you.” She returned and sat sobbing her heart out, ashamed that she had not helped.
Aven by now was sharing our minds, our fear of her forgotten. She tugged at Athia’s arm.
“Strategy. You told me to stay flexible, change or make a new one if it does not work.”
“What can we do Aven, there is no strategy here, we…”
“There is! What Cherine and them are doing, it is a strategy, but it does not work. Find a new one. We must think.”
I felt as if her words had been spoken especially for me. I saw that I had stopped thinking, allowing my fear and grief to shut off the only part of me worth anything.
“Sol, if we bring him to the void, can you force his soul into a body?”
“I don’t know. It is a good idea Sam, bring him so that we all can try to help.”
I spoke to Cherine and she agreed that changing the environment might help. They wrapped him up within Dommi and went to the void. Maria told us to go, she would send her daughter if she needs us back here. We arrived, bringing Aven along. We all felt like wailing when we saw what was left of him.
Adam appeared. *That is not all of Robert. I suspect he has found a way to exist within the void at the same time or else part of him is in another dimension. Even in this condition he manages to amaze!*
*Solomon?*
*I think Adam is right. There is not enough of him here for his soul to hold itself together.*
*What if we meld with him - will the implosion bring all of him to Adam?*
*Try not to. I’d suggest you girls meld and then bring him in, but hold back from the implosion. The call to join you might pull all of him into you.*
That sounded like very good advice so five of us danced with each other and gradually melded. The other girls sent him in to us at the right moment. Even with Solomon’s admonishment still in our ‘ears’ we lost control and imploded, coming to within the Kaleidoscope World. Joyfully we called out as we felt him. Adam swiftly took over.
*You must not return to your body yet Robert. There will be too much pain.*
Robbie was not listening, his attention captured elsewhere. He moved over. *Aven? It is you?*
*Yes.* She almost sounded scared.
*Solomon, can you take us to your world please? I want a body for all of us.*
*We have never tried that Robert - would it be wise to put so many souls in one body?* Even Aven laughed at the emoting by Robbie.
Robbie first gave of his time to his loves. Some cried, some just wanted to be held and some wanted to hit him for making us suffer so much. I think he enjoyed the last most of all. He felt our pains, each of us in turn and tears were not necessary for us to feel how it affected him. This time he left Cherine for last. Solomon, at his request, conjured a log for him to sit on and he placed Cherine on his lap, his arms holding her tightly. Dismayed she felt him ignoring her, his attention now on Aven.
3609
“Do you know why we are here?”
“It is time for your revenge?” She did not show her fear and that helped win over our hearts a little more.
“No, it is time for the girls to decide what their revenge will be, they will guess before you do, but they will let me finish.” He looked around with stern eyes.
“The damage you did to me, it was real Aven. So was the damage Robyn did to you. I knew a moment of crisis had arrived and we had to take advantage of it or else we may lose you forever. The problem was, that I did not know how to bring it to a head.
When I was told I should not jump and what was likely to happen if I did, I saw it might be the window of opportunity I’d been waiting for.
Cherine and Sam do not trust me so I had to do little things to make them concerned, clouding their minds, so that will explain to all of you why I acted as I did at the coffee shop. On the way back I chose the balcony and created an illusion. The child did not really exist. I did try to jump for it, I had to, if I’d deliberately aimed for the wall my loves would have sensed it. That might explain to you why the protector disappeared after he helped you get me to the clinic. He knew the child was not real just before he grabbed it, and he is angry with me.
The pain I have inflicted on myself is real and it did cause further damage to my mind. None of that was pretence.
Aven, sometimes anger blinds us to what we really want. We tried to make you see what we can offer your people, but I realised that only by losing all hope of that happening would you see how much you wanted it. Once anger could be set aside and there was no further hope, then you did see.
None of us demand that you love us Aven. All that we ask is that you change your name to Haven. Become the port that gives your people hope and a chance to live again.”
If we allowed Aven the chance to get angry with him we would have lost. Quickly I stepped forward and slapped him.
“You caused us so much anguish and now you expect us to forgive you! To hell with you.”
He is still weak enough that my action and words stung his heart. “Sam, it is the future of an entire species at stake, it was worth it.”
I swung around in a fury. “You always taught me that the pain in the heart of even one child counted more. Because we are your children and loved ones, our pain does not count!? You go save all the species you want, but do it without me.”
Cherine wiggled and got out of his grasp. She stood before me and stared into my eyes.
“Robert, I have had to suffer through too many of your deaths. I’ve had enough. Sam, I’m with you.”
Those who joined us did because of Cherine. Robbie was left with Diana, the twins, Latreia, Agapi, Gina and Empathia. Should I count Robyn? She was standing next to Aven, but her real love is Robbie.
“Robert, are you going to make me go back into her?”
“No, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
Empathia spoke loudly. “You are wrong, she must go back. Aven is over most of her hate, but she still does not know how to love. Only Robyn can show her.”
“No Empa…Empa…no.” He fell over.
Solomon picked him up in his arms, his head hanging down. “Samantha, you have undone all the good we did. How could you take away his Cherine?”
“She did not take me away, I make up my own mind.”
3610
“You left him because you trust her. What do we do now?”
To that question we did not have an answer.
A while later we heard Adam complain to Ordinx, “Why couldn’t I have been the Entity of a normal family?” Sadly he left us, returning to his job and home.
The girls who’d stayed by Robbie were grouped together. Of them all, only Athia was furiously thinking. She went to Aven. “You must help me. I need a new strategy, some way to change Sam’s mind. They will all follow her.”
“What is the point, you cannot bring him back again.”
Tears fell as she admitted, “I know. Only Sam can.”
“How can she save him?”
“If I knew I would do it. Maybe…maybe if he feels we are all one, that we still love him, it will bring him back.”
“He is like that because he thinks they do not love him?” To keep it simple, Athia nodded. “I cannot think of anything that would help you Athia.”
Athia waited for a long time, I was beginning to worry about our bodies, but I reasoned that since they were with Dr Maria she would take care of them.
“Aven, I think I might have a strategy, the only problem is it is impossible.”
“Impossible for you Athia? Tell me.”
“It is impossible for you Aven. I thought that if I opened myself to you and you saw what I am really like and you loved me, it would force Sam to see that Robbie was right. I know you can’t love me, I’m just a nuisance and I keep on making mistakes. I did that to my father, it is all my fault.” She wept with her head between her knees. Aven sat thinking for a while.
“Would you like to find out Athia?” She nodded, not agreeing. “It might be interesting to see if I do.”
Like a little girl, her voice filled with tears she asked, “You think so?”
Aven sighed, “Either I will love you or hate you. I wonder which it will be.”
Athia lifted her face. “You will hate me.”
Aven smiled. “I might be too scared to because then I’ll have you chasing after me again with all your stupid strategies. Let’s try it.”
We held our breaths, hardly daring to believe. Athia took her back to the day Aven, or rather, her predecessor, sent the souls to destroy her. She felt the shock and pain of an innocent infant who did not know such things existed and then how in an effort to understand she looked beyond the hate and felt the unceasing keening of a terrible grief.
Faced with what they had hidden from themselves the last hardness crumbled and she stopped resisting. Aven saw how precious Athia had been to her for a long time. When she saw the pain she’d repaid her with when she attacked Robbie, Aven was inconsolable. Athia took her and cradled her, softly and tenderly making right whatever had been wrong between them. Aven was like an infant bonding with her mother and she emoted an adoring sort of love. Athia released her and asked her to be an equal, to love her as sister or friend. Aven opened herself completely and they joined in a love that ached throughout them.
“Feel her Sam, you were wrong, she can love. She is the Haven Robbie asked for, but he was wrong. She is also our Haven.”
“Cherine will be the judge of that.”
She opened to Cherine and within minutes Cherine gave a laugh of pure delight. “She loves Robert!” Recovering she turned to me. “She still has too much anger because of you.”
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)10th December, 2019
- posted: 10th December, 2019
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