LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 03 - post057

Themi shook his head. “When Pano told them that they have killed the angel who came to save them, the other kids ridiculed him, but also feared that in his madness he has seen correctly, and not wanting to face their own guilt, they ostracised him and he was not allowed a spot of his own. It is remarkable that he has survived until now!”

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1576

Empathy is an ugly sword, for it only cuts the one who is holding it. Prime Robert seemed, to himself, to flow out into the minds of all the beggar children, those poor, desperate and hurting children, and the betrayed dreams he brought to them as the angel of Athens, were an acid that burnt deep into him. As he bent over, keening deep inside himself, Cherine was the first to leap onto his lap and hold herself tightly to him, calling out that what happened is good, for he has come to save all the children…not only in Athens, but all over the world. Gradually he began to hear her.
“My loves, that little boy, I cannot leave him dead…”
I though that some would argue against his wish, but none did, the only comment being by Themi. “If Pano can see you bring him back, so that he knows it really is true, it will go a long way towards healing him.” Robert agreed to wait for Pano to be ready for such an experience.

When a Cherinian is troubled they can all sense it, and they will make conversation, joke, discuss business or the state of their football club, until that person is ready to speak. They did so for Themi.
“I have been working on the image of the angel, trying to make it clearer for us. I am certain it could not have been created by the imagination of this child, which leaves us with only a few alternatives. Either something like this was seen on television, at a cinema or in a comic book, or else, a previous incarnation of his saw…either an angel or else an alien, being killed. I think we might have to ask Solomon to take a look. In the meantime, why don’t you all take a look at the image I have composed.”
He is right, this is not an angel from any kind of religion I know of; the differences are not clearly seen, but they make it alien to our senses.
Natalie asked Jade to bring three sketch pads. She handed over one of them to each Robert, and asked Jade to keep the one. “Each of you must draw the angel, but without looking to see how the others have seen it. Since Solomon cannot see our thoughts clearly yet, this might be the best way for him to see the angel.”
When all three of them were done and the sketches were compared, everyone was surprised to find that the sketch by Jade has the most detail, though each of the other sketches have a few details she missed. Prime Robert handed the two sketches to Jade and asked her to create a composite that includes all she saw with the details the two Roberts saw.

1577

Luckily commonsense prevailed and we returned Pano to the apartment. Before he meets the other Cherinians, we must have found a home and parents for him, probably Cherinians. Then, when I take him to the house of Prime Robert, it must be at the time Robert is to bring the dead boy back to life.

I haven’t gone overboard and shown Pano lots of love or spoilt him, yet, for some reason, he has changed and accepts me. Perhaps he now finds me too alien for him to see me as a threat - which I hope is true, since it is the opposite of how people usually react to strangeness. It is not that he speaks about his past, just that he asks more little-child questions about everything and sometimes he makes up short stories, anecdotes, just to amuse me.
Themi has not said there is any need to hurry, so I am allowing Pano to grow at his own rate. About two weeks since Themi looked in his mind, Meli asked whether she may visit. She is so gentle and dreamy and I have such a soft spot for her, that I was glad to welcome her. I should have guessed she had a reason for visiting.
With her she brought some chocolate halvah and a handheld electronic game. She taught him how to play and then left him on his own while the two of us sat on the balcony. The suburb where the apartment is situated is a lower middle income area and much more lively, with voices drifting up from the pavement, so I like sitting there and sometimes lean on the handrail and look down at the people, thinking of how each of them can go home and be with their families and I let it make me sad for a while.
Pano came into the sitting room and Meli called to him. Once he was sitting by her side, she pulled some papers out of her jacket pocket and told him, “I want to read a few very short stories - or jokes. I’ll tell you why afterwards. Entaksi?”

1577

She read to him a number of the stories he’d made up for me. If she had used her own words, he might not have been as impressed, but hearing it all expressed with exactly the words he used gave him an eerie feeling and he turned to me.
I gave him a smile. “Trust Meli, she really has a lovely soul.” What I said sounds okay in Greece, as they will often speak of the soul where we speak of the heart. For instance, they’ll say someone has a good soul, or someone has soul or he or she is all soul.
Like a little robot, he instantly turned back to look at Meli. “Lilliana has told me that you are not interested in learning to read, so I started to wonder whether you might be interested in writing. For instance, the little stories you told Lilliana, you thought that once you were finished with them, they were gone. Because I love writing, I wrote them onto these pieces of paper. Here you are, you can have them.”
“What I think Meli is trying to tell you, is that she thinks you may have a gift for making up stories and maybe someday you can make lots of money from writing stories. When people buy your stories, you could make a lot of money - how would you like that?”
He has agreed to learn how to read and write. I can’t teach him, since I don’t read Greek, so Irene took on the chore. She jumps to the stairs outside our apartment, spends an hour or so with him and then, from the stairs, jumps back home. I grinned when I saw Pano go to the balcony to see Irene as she comes out of the building…he was a very perplexed little boy and decided to watch for her, but more closely next time. I wonder how long it will take for him to demand an answer.

During one of his lessons, I returned to the Teller residence. It still feels odd to me when the girls greet me with such enthusiasm and try to flood me with love. My Teller family were out visiting, so I asked to speak to Cherine.
“I can’t stay here until Pano finds a family…it could take years!”
She gave me that impish grin of hers. “You are in a hurry to go somewhere?”
“Yes.” I grinned back. “I want to find our Pano and help him also.”
Samantha said, “No time is passing in your reality…unless you want it to.”
“That’s not the point Samantha, I’m not worried about him, I only expressed my feelings - I’m in a hurry, not Panos.”
Cherine turned to look at her Robert, so I also looked at him.
“Don’t blindly give in to your feelings, Lillian. If you have not finished with our Pano, how will you help your Pano all the way? The angel business is not fully explained yet - surely you do not mean to allow your Pano to carry that burden for the rest of his life? Shouldn’t you also wait until Themi joins your Cherinians?”
“I’m sorry, I…”
His hand cupped my cheek. “Shh, sweet Lilliana - since I am the one who, for a short time, was considered to be your murderer, in some ways I feel as if you are one of my Cherinians, of my reality; do you really think I, we, do not feel what is in your heart? Go home to this Pano, who, to all intents and purposes, if what his heart feels matters, is also your Pano.” He laughed. “Go girl…your Robert and Cherine are preparing you a surprise and they expect you to be at the apartment.”
I returned to find Irene and Pano had moved to the sitting room and there were no exercise books. As I arrived, Irene told Pano, “Today is an important day for you and us. We have a secret and we needed to get to know you well enough for us to feel safe about trusting you with our secret. That time has arrived. Do you remember the stories about someone being the angel of Athens?”
“No.”
Irene looked nonplussed for a moment and I could not help grinning. “Irene, he was only five years old at the time, most kids don’t remember things like that from a year or two in their past.”
“I keep forgetting how different it is for normal kids. Pano, Lilliana and I are part of a group we call the Cherinians. You have met the little girl called Cherine, we have named ourselves after her, because she gave us a wonderful gift.” Since I can hear her from the kitchen, I went to make myself a cup of tea - I still get teased by Greek friends, since tea is usually drunk by them if there is a tummy problem. They also only like it with a slice of lemon and think I’m spoiling it when I add milk.

By the time I returned, Irene had told him some of the basic stuff about Cherinians, but I could see on his face, never mind sensing his emoting, that he does not believe her. “Pano, how many times have you tried to see Irene walk out of our building when she leaves? Have you ever succeeded?” I then told Irene, “Why don’t you let him see how you leave, once we close the door?”
She stood up, gave him a smile and jumped.
She jumped back. “At last, now I can jump from inside the apartment. I know it is silly, but every time I jumped from the stairs, I worried that someone may just happen to come out of their apartment and see me. I’m glad to see you are not afraid, Pano.”
“How do you do it? Can I learn?”
I told him, “Not yet, Pano.”
At that moment I sensed people arriving behind me and sensing it is my Teller family, I swung around with a smile of greeting and saw my brother among them. I wanted to rush to him and throw my arms around him, but he is still too young for such demonstrations of affection, especially in front of the family and Pano, another boy.
There was an instant flare of hostility from Pano when I introduced him to my brother, Jacob. Luckily Jacob did not sense him, as he was too excited about being brought to another reality, so I can have a talk with Pano in privacy, once we are alone.
Because I thought of telling Pano that I don’t think of him as a brother, more like a son, I remembered what he’d told me. I sent to my Robert and Cherine and he answered for them, *Only the Prime Robert can find her, we’ll pass on the request.*

1578

Irene was chatting with Jacob, but she turned to me and said, “We made our decision about Pano just in time, since it seems we’ll need to take him to the void for Solomon to meet him.”

Of course we did not go on that day, we spent it at home, talking. With Jacob also listening with fascination, I explained to Pano all that I think he needs to know for the experience not to be frightening. The boys were fascinated by the fact that they each heard me speaking in their own language, but I could not offer them any explanations, as I too am puzzled by this gift of the Cherinians.
The girls keep telling me that this has been a remarkable experience for them, as no Normal, when first learning of the Cherinians, has accepted us so matter of factly. Recalling my own reactions, I can certainly believe them. I wondered whether Pano is not afraid of something as strange as this because of his having seen and killed an angel (I’m speaking of how he sees it). It might be a part of the answer, but I also think his ignorance of the world he lives in is largely responsible. Aganthi has mentioned that the beggar kids tell each some pretty wild stories and they sometimes half believe them, so that may have also helped.
As a safety precaution, we took Pano to the Teller home by teleportation, so he still does not know where it is. I was feeling nervous for Pano, which could have made it difficult for me to leave my body. My Cherine sat on my lap and hugged me until she sensed I am relaxed.

Pano took to the void like a duck to water. After dancing and exchange kissing, he withdraw, slowly swirling around himself, obviously deep in thought. Having met everyone while they were still in their body, and having seen that Themi is the oldest, he drifted over to him.
*Is a question permitted?*
*Not only permitted, but also welcomed - as many as you have the need to ask.*
*Is it our bodies that make us evil? The souls are so bright and beautiful, surely there cannot be any evil in them?*
Themi reached out for any answers others may wish to add, then gave his thoughts, *I don’t know that souls do not have evil in them, but in a sense you are right Pano, it is the appetites and vulnerabilities of the body that cause most of the evil in our world.*
*Should we kill all the bodies so that we can all live here without doing bad things?*
Solomon had put in an appearance and was obviously listening, but he remained silent, perhaps interested in how Pano will be answered.
*Life is never as simple as we would like it to be, Pano. All souls need to be born and be tempted by evil, whether out of fear, greed or even love, for it is only through facing all the negative parts of life can the souls learn and grow. For instance, you have lived a number of lives and in each life, your soul grew purer and wiser. Maybe someday it will reach a stage where it no longer needs to be born in a body again, or maybe it will choose to return as a Sparkler, so that it can remain in the void forever.*
*When I die, I don’t want to be born again, I do not want to be evil, it is horrible.*
*Pano, we’ll discuss it after we return to our bodies. Right now I have someone very important to introduce you to; his name is Solomon and he is a Sparkler - he takes on a body like ours when he visits us on Earth, but here you can see that he really is a Sparkler.*
*I am pleased to meet you, Pano.*
Solomon kept the conversation light, but answered the questions Pano asked him about the Sparklers. He then promised to meet him the next day. I saw we were all ready to return to our bodies, so I quickly asked my Robert to delay everyone’s return by a few minutes and returned to my body. I asked my healer to help neutralise the libido of my brother and Pano, so that just being held will help them fight the need to return to the void.
When everyone sensed the difference in the boys and saw how I’d handled it, I was kissed by many, which was not good for my libido, as I don’t want to have sex with anyone, but I fought my battle with just my willpower. It was a little easier for me, as I have been ‘off’ sex since Brian.

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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)
^{11th September, 2019}

* posted on PALNet - Steemit - WEKU - CreativeCoin: 11th September, 2019