I've been ill these past few days, so I have a few more chapters waiting to upload, but this is all for today - I'm going to try and either post one each day or one every two days, I haven't completely decided yet.
EggyDanosaur x
Chapter 7 - That Time of The Year
That time came again - the time to visit my parents. We packed our bags and said goodbye to the dogs as we left them in a shelter. We went to the local carriage rent and rented out a carriage with two beautiful horses in the front and a very talkative driver - but that helped us take our minds off of the reason that we were travelling. It had been another year, already, and we could not believe that last time we went Toby was eight and the twins were six. Not to mention that we were a year younger as well, but time seems to pass much more slowly as you grow older.
It took five days to get there and back. It was like a holiday, but not one to be happy about. It was a holiday that we all wanted to enjoy, but we just, well, couldn't. Even though I was the only member of the family who had actually known them. We stayed in a hollow that had been built into a hotel, the same place that we always stayed in. It had been built out of my ship that I came to the New World in, so it was named, rather appropriately, The Extra-Terrestrial Hotel. I'm never sure if I should take offence by that or not. We stayed in the same room that we always stayed in, Room 5, and we had the same routine that we always had.
First day/night: Finish travelling. Arrive late, have dinner and go to sleep.
Second morning/day: Get up early and see the sunrise. Then go and see graves. Have lunch at hotel.
Second night: Start travelling back home.
Except...there was one change to our routine. This time, as well as mourning my parents, we also mourned Manchee. It just seemed like we should, even though he hadn't died there, and he wasn't buried there. I could hear Todd's Noise loud and clear, first mourning my parents, like we always did, and then I could hear: Next I mourn Manchee. Such a good ruddy dog. Have I mentioned that? He saved me, and Viola. Without 'im we wouldn't be here.
I couldn't hear any more because I guess that he deliberately hid his Noise from us. He rubbed his eyes and stood back up. I stayed crouched down low to the graves, doing my own mourning. I love you, ma, I thought as I was down next to my mother's grave. I moved over to my father's. And you, pa, I smiled sadly. I wish you were still here. I wish that Todd and the children could have met you.
My memory jogged suddenly, and I remembered somebody that I had forgotten to mourn every single time that we went back there. I stood up and ran my fingers through my hair, breathing heavily. Augustus came over to me and hugged my leg. "Are you okay, mummy?" He asked sweetly. I nodded, then took him over to the stones again.
"I knew somebody, a long time ago, when me and your Father lived in New Prentisstown. I worked as a healer in a healing house, and I was terrible. There were many other apprentices, but the nicest was my friend Maddy. She came out with me one night - we had a plan, of which I shall not tell you yet, but a soldier came over and shot her down on the road."
"Can we pray for Maddy?" He said quietly, looking over at me.
"Yes, of course." I smiled, ruffling his mousey brown curls. "Thank you, Gus. I'm sure that Maddy would really appreciate it." I love my children. I can't explain it, but when people say that a mother's love is the strongest love of all, they mean it. And as I'm writing it now, I mean it.
Harper and Toby came over as well, and once Gus told them about Maddy, they mourned for her too. I left them there and went to sit on a bench with Todd. He was watching them, and I found that I started to watch them too. They looked so peaceful, just sitting there looking at the stones. Gus was tracing the writing on my parent's gravestones, reading aloud to his siblings.