Chapter 21

"Everything, all at once. It is not one springtime, but fifty, and not one or two great terrors flown away, but a thousand small shadows lifted from the land. Wait and see." -The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle

"Sam, wake up! …Please?" Stephan's voice reaches me in my dark thick slumber.

"You can't sleep all day." I recognize the whiny voice of my dead brother. My heart melts.

"Issac-" I mumble sadly, Patty cuts me off.

"You can't lay around here all day! We have better stuff to do."

"Sam, You can sleep when you're dead. Get up." Christan adds.

I remember my two friends falling to the ground and the lights being lifted from Christan and Patty's chests, and a giant darkness encircling Stephan. I start to shake as the tears start rolling down my face.

"You have to move on. Crying will do nothing for anyone." Christan points out with a smile in his voice. The loneliness creeps into me, cutting into anything that can bleed. "But you are gone…you are all dead." I whisper making the tears not crack my voice.

"You are blind." Stephan snorts. The phrase struck a cord in me.

"Excuse me?"

"You can't see what is around you."

"There is nothing around me! Only darkness." I yell at him.

"Then maybe you should try opening your eyes."

"Smart ass." I grumble. He just laughs at me. Open my eyes? Sounds like some metaphor; my eyes are open. I take a deep breath. Think, Sam, think. I close my eyes and let myself relax. Then I gently open them.

A bright light shines as the darkness lifts with my eyelids.

-I twist the key in the lock, and let the screen door slam behind me. I drop my keys into my book bag and switch hands for holding my thermos. It's way to early for the sun to be up, yet there it was. I take a swig of coffee out of habit. I got the best sleep I had in ages, but I still catch my eyes growing heavy. I must not be use to the early mornings yet.

I yawn and take a couple steps toward the library. My head turns toward the side. It takes me a second to realize I am staring up at the hill. Shouldn't someone be up there? I shake the question out of my head. No one is ever up there. An empty feeling creeps up into the pit of my stomach. I walk up the stairs to the main entrance of the library, counting each step that I take, trying to clear my mind. I swing open the door at the top of the steps.

"Zoning out?" Lola asks. I almost run into a cart by the counter. "No" I grumble and take a gulp of coffee. I walk behind the desk and lounge in a chair, staring at my thermos. "Were you dumped? You look grumpier than usual."

"I was not dumped, I'm not even dating" I take a sip of coffee, with Lola its always about boys, can't she just get a life. I snicker at my own comment, what am I talking about? All I do is work, talk about no life.

"O great she's lost it"

"I never had it," I answer.

I pull out a stack of books from under the desk and start my work. As I stamp books Lola drowns on about her crush, Josh. Sounds like a complete jerk to me, not that I am listening much. A boy with sand colored hair walks over to the help desk.

"Could you help me find a book I'm looking for?" He asks politely. I have a complete Déjà vu moment and just stare at the 14 year old boy blankly.

"So, which book are you looking for, sir?" Lola asks the boy after she realizes I am out of service. I shake my head releasing myself from my funk and try to focus on stamping books. I can't help but eavesdrop on the conversation. Grrr, why does it feel so familiar?

The boy blushes and messes with his glasses. I guess he has never been called sir before. "I'm looking for a book on traveling dimensions," he finally mumbles.

"Sci-fi or Non-fiction?" Lola asks with a bright smile.

"Umm, non-fiction, it is a science assignment." The boy kicks his feet around awkwardly.

"T-there are two books," I tell Lola. I write down their number codes and hand it to her. She gives me a weirded out look, but helps the kid find the books without questioning me.

I must have looked up those books before to be able to know the call numbers, but I don't remember doing so. That empty feeling settles in again. I take a deep breath and focus on my work.

Lola comes back a moment later, "How did you know the call numbers? OMG, what happened? Your eyes are watery. Were you crying? Just tell me what's wrong." She whispers to me.

"What?" I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand and am surprised to realize it is wet. "It's nothing. I must've gotten something in my eye."

"You know you can talk to me, right? If anything is bothering you, just tell me, ok?"

"I told you it is nothing! I'm fine. Worry about yourself." I grumble. Lola just nods and stares at her piles of books without another word.

-I finish up my work, and put the books on a cart for Lola to put away. I pick up my book bag and mug, not even trying to say good-bye to Lola (she is too busy on the phone with Josh anyway.)

I take a step out the door and take my first breath of freedom; the day is beautiful, not too hot and not too humid. The happy screams of children chatter in the playground near by.

I flinch at the sight of a dark shadow laying on the patio outside the library and down the steps. The thick rusty smell of blood scorches my nostrils. I blink and behind my eyelids a silhouette of a dead body twisted on the steps emerges. I hit the sides of my head with my fists and stare at my feet trying to break away from the image. "It is just your imagination, Sam." I whisper to myself, but the words don't feel right. "What is wrong with me?" I take a step back and slide down the library wall onto the patio stone. My hands are shaking uncontrollably. There is no body, only a dark shadow of a tree.

"Come on, kids, we have to go this way to get back to the daycare." A girl's voice yells from the bottom of the stairs. She waits a minute before walking up the steps. The girl is followed by many pairs of footsteps quickly leaping toward the patio.

I brush tears off my eyelids hoping none of the kids in the daycare will notice me. Not that my luck has been with me today.

"Are you okay?" A child about the age of 5 asks me. Her little face is full of concern.

"I'm fine. You should go back to your group leader." I smile at her and try to politely brush her off.

The little girl drops onto her knees and digs into a small pocket on her little white dress. "I have something I want to give you."

"Huh? You don't have to give me anything. I'm just a stranger. Didn't your parents ever tell you not to talk to strangers?"

"My Daddy told me that even strangers can help each other out. Hold out your hand." Her smile makes my heart melt. I do as she asks. The girl drops something cool and round in my hand and quickly closes her little hands around my fist concealing the object from my eyes.

"What is it?"

"Hope, keep it with you and you will never forget how to smile."

"I don't really-"

"I insist!" The girl looks kinda nervous about me taking it, like she doesn't know if someone will later tell her she made a bad decision.

"Karen! The group is waiting for you!" A girl about fourteen yells her red hair is tied up in a French braid.

"I'm coming!" Little Karen yells back. She gives me a shy wave and skips back to her buddies.

I slowly open my hand revealing the green marble the little girl gave me. I shuffle the marble in my hand, and raise it up to the sunlight. Something within the circular glass glitters. Suddenly, pictures and knowledge flash through my mind, a silhouette on a hill, a red haired girl with a giant scar, black and blue monsters fighting each other, an odd looking pirate with two purple guns and an evil a grin, a man who speaks nonsense, Patty and Christan falling to the ground never to get back up, and a boy with black hair smiling beside a monster as a bright light is chased by darkness. Stephan. Where did he…?

My eyes focus back on reality and the green marble as the kids walk down the stairs chasing after each other. I stand up and stare down at them. I recognize two people in the group; the red haired girl and Karen, the girl in the white dress. I smile to myself. Karen, I only saw her for an instant before. She was under a tree with a chair knocked from under her with a twisted look on her face, but here she is now, running around with Mercy of all people. I laugh to myself. Mercy turns her head to check on the kids falling behind. I realize that her scar is missing like it never happened. I clutch the marble tightly in my hand. "Hope." I whisper.

-I run down to the church hoping to look for the crazy guy who worked there or Stephan chilling on one of the couches. I whisper to myself, "Please have answers." I throw open the door and almost run over a tall guy with a pile of books.

"Hey! Watch-

"I'm looking for a guy that works here. He is about 5' 11", mumbles to himself and loves Oreos." I speak quickly.

"That sounds like George. He only comes here once a month to talk to his old teacher, Sister Helen, I think." The man says monotonely and walks over to a table and plops the books down.

I thought the man said before that his teacher died of cancer, I must be mistaken. I groan, "Thanks anyway." I speed out of the house and up the block to Patty's house. I stomp onto the doorstep and ring the bell. I hear yelling inside the house.

"Why won't you believe me! You never listen, never! You are the worst sister ever!" Ryan yells and pulls open the door. He almost knocks me over as he runs past. Patty steps out a moment later with her hair in every direction. She looks like she is going off 3 hours of sleep. "Hi, Sam." She grumbles.

"What was that all about?"

"Ryan has been freaking out lately. First, last night he woke me up every five minutes telling me there are 'living shadow monsters' in his room. Second, I finally let him sleep in my room in my bed and he kicks and screams the rest of the night. Lastly, he wakes up in this obnoxious mood talking about some angel exploding or something. That brother of mine is going to kill me one of these days, I swear."

"WHAT! HE REMEMBERS!" I freak and run in the direction Ryan was heading. Patty just facepalms and goes back inside.

-I finally catch up to him. Ryan is in a playground sitting on a swing. Moms, Dads and children laugh happily around him enjoying the nice day. Ryan stares at his foot as he digs a small hole into the sand. I walk to him gasping for air, and take the swing next to him.

"Patty sent you, didn't she?" Ryan mumbles angrily.

"Nope." There is a long pause as I wait for Ryan to say something. I don't want to bombard him with questions when he is pissed off like this. Listening can give better answers half the time anyway.

"I…I didn't make anything up! What I saw was real!" His hands shake as they grasp tightly to the swing chains.

"I believe you. I remember it all, too." I give him a sad smile. There is a long pause before I continue. "Do you know what happened to Stephan?"

Ryan gulps down tears, "He's gone. Everything he ever was is…gone, like it never even happened; and he was never here."

I smile and touch the marble in my pocket. "I doubt he's completely gone. Stephan is sturdy." I laugh, "Nothing can slow him down. Darkness never dies."

"Then where did he…?" Ryan's voice cracks a little.

"Back to where he belongs, back before he came here." I speculate and make sure Ryan doesn't here the uncertainty in my voice. Stephan was always too good at hiding, searching for him won't do us any good. If he wants to be found he will find us. "A true magician never reveals his secrets." He said once, but why does his last trick have to be a disappearing act.

"He told me once that he use to travel to many different worlds. He would travel almost constantly, and that staying in one place was nice for a change, being able to meet people instead of just passing through. I think Stephan wanted to stay here." Ryan looks up at me and I am unable to meet his gaze.

"Too bad things couldn't of turned out differently." I remember faintly the dream Stephan and I shared, so full of laughter. Was that dream never an option even if events unfolded differently?

"Yeah." Ryan nods and steps out of the swing. "I better go back to my sister before she begins to worry. ...Sam?"

"What?"

"Thanks." Ryan forces a smile on his face and walks home.

I sit alone with my thoughts, pondering. I wonder where Stephan could be among the stars and how reality can be broken and fixed so easily. I look up skyward. In the distance, past the noise of children and through the clouds, I hear the faint beat of a heart.

FIN! That's it. Thanks again awesome peeps, with all your patience and so on. I hope this chapter sums everything up, if there is a hole please tell me. Took me forever to finish this sucker and upload it, but it all pays off in the end.