Follow Your Heart
Part 1
Jack stood on the hilltop, looking out over the city he had lived all his life in. It was hard to believe that, just fifteen years ago, almost all of the city had been destroyed, including the mall he had lived in at the time. That was the problem with bringing back electricity, but not the fire service.
"Can we go yet, Dad?" moaned Jack's little son from behind him.
"Why do you always have to complain!" snapped his daughter from her brother's side.
"Ellie, can't you be nice to your brother for just a little while?" Jack said, turning to face the moody adolescent. His daughter folded her arms and turned her head to the side without answering. Jack sighed and turned to his young son.
"Can we go home now, Dad?" the boy asked, pulling his jacket close around him, "I'm cold."
"Sure we can, Leo. Come on." Jack took the seven-year-old's hand and led him down the hillside. Ellie followed, still in a huff.
"Will we ever see Mom again, Dad?" Leo asked, frowning.
"Maybe, one day," Jack answered, thoughtfully "Mom's gone on to where we can't follow her for now, not until it is our time, just like it was her time to leave us. One day, when it's our time to go, we'll follow her and maybe we'll find her again, but not until then."
Behind them, where neither her father nor her brother could hear her, Ellie sniffed as the tears trickled down her face. It wasn't fair, she thought, she wasn't old enough to lose her mother; she was only twelve! She had heard the story, of course, of how her parents had lost their parents, but that was different. They had formed tribes back then because everyone was in the same situation. They had all had each other. She didn't have anyone.