Tears of Life

Chapter 1-Journey to the Past

October 12, 1996

For most of the inhabitants of Ipswich, Massachusetts, it was an ordinary day. The sky was cloudy and dark as it rained slowly. People in this part of the country rarely paid much attention to this kind of weather, as it was so normal. But today, Emily Cochrane felt as if the skies were reflecting the pain she felt inside. Today was the day of her beloved father's funeral. He had died 1 week ago, only a couple of months after Emily's 7th birthday. Paul Cochrane had died of a heart attack, at only 32 years of age. And now, this young girl's heart seemed to be broken. Her only consolation was her four best friends.

Her cousin Caleb Danvers, Pogue Parry, Tyler Simms and Reid Garwin. They stood around her now, the four of them only 8 and 7 years of age themselves, supporting her in the ways only best friends can. Of course, only Reid really knew how she was feeling, as his father had died nearly 2 years ago. And he was the only one who could really console her crying. He held her hand as Paul's casket was lowered into the ground and watched as tear after tear slipped from her green eyes down her face. He knew that at this point she should cry, and said nothing, only holding her hand gently, occasionally giving it a squeeze, reminding her that he was there. Caleb, Pogue and Tyler surrounded the two, Caleb holding her other hand, and the other two's hand's on her shoulders. Her mother was too far into her own grief to comfort her child.

Evelyn Danvers tried the best she could to support her sister in her grief, but had very little experience in this field. She held her sister's hand and allowed Marissa to cry into her shoulder, but other than that could do nothing. Paul was dead, and no power in the world could bring him back. She knew Marissa was angry with her husband, William, for not being able to help Paul in his suffering, but it was far too late by the time William had convinced the other families to try. Yes, Marissa Cochrane and her family, including Emily, knew about the power. Marissa had accidentally seen William use many years ago, and had demanded an explanation. And so this family was let into the secret of the Power. But now, as the final shovels of dirt were packed onto her husband's grave, she was angry and frustrated at this Covenant, for not helping her husband.

Emily watched, without really seeing, the final shovels of dirt and cried. Tears rolling down her cheeks, one after another, with no end in sight. Her father was dead, the man she had always seen as invincible, was never coming back. And at this young, tender age, that was nearly too much to bear. So she turned to her cousin and cried, feeling his arms encircle her body in a tight hug. Before long, she could feel three more bodies join into the hug, and she relaxed in this circle of warmth and love. After a few moments, the bodies pulled away, and she looked into Caleb's eyes, glistening with unshed tears. She nearly broke into tears again, knowing that Caleb was refusing to cry for his uncle, because he had to be strong for her. Looking into the faces of the other three boys, she knew that that same thought was running through their minds. Glancing over at her mother, Emily felt a sensation of anger at the sight. Marissa had been like this for days, not being able to care for herself, let alone a child and the mother and daughter had been forced to temporarily move into the Danver's home to be cared for. Emily knew that her mother was grieving, but it seemed as if Marissa had even forgotten she had a daughter.

Emily felt a tug on one of her braids and looked over her shoulder to see her friends looking at her. Caleb had been the one to pull on her hair, and his voice was strewn with sadness as he talked to the younger girl.

"C'mon Baby girl, let's go home," he grabbed one of her hands and slowly led her away from the funeral scene, the other boy's following close behind. He led the group towards one of the cars idling at the edge of the graveyard. William Danvers was waiting for the five children at the car, and smiled sadly at the young girl, before pulling his niece in for a hug. The six of them climbed into the car and it began its way back to the Danver's mansion. Emily stared out the window, letting her finger trace the path of a raindrop sliding down the glass. She felt a warm hand grab her cold one and looked over in surprise at Reid. He pulled her in close to his body, feeling how cold she was. He wrapped the girl in his jacket, before whispering hoarsely into her ear.

"I'm sorry," Emily stared at the older boy in surprise. What on earth had he done to be sorry for? She didn't have a chance to ask, as the car pulled into the Danver's driveway, and she felt herself being pulled out of the car by William. She looked over her shoulder at the boy who was standing in the driveway, his blond hair slicked down by the rain. She pulled herself out of her uncle's grasp and ran towards Reid.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything wrong," Emily looked into his blue eyes and saw them shimmering in tears, before one slipped down his face. She was horrified; she had never seen Reid Garwin cry before. He was always the tough one.

"It's my fault your dad died," Emily took a step back hearing those words come from his mouth. Her emotions went into overdrive. The sadness of her father's death, the anger at her mother and now the confusion of Reid's confession was too much for the seven-year-old to handle. Her vision wavered and time seemed to slow down as her body fell to the pavement before fainting.

When she woke up the next morning, Emily remembered nothing of Reid's strange confession, and the boy intended to leave it that way. He didn't want the young girl to hate him; she was his best friend, next to Tyler. So he left the issue alone, never once repeating it again, until he too had forgotten.

Over the next few months, life slowly returned to normal for the families. Marissa and Emily moved back into their house, and by the next summer, Marissa had begun to date. Wayne Saunders was one of her oldest friends, and in her grief she turned to him for comfort. This only caused Emily to further dislike her mother for seeming to forget her father so soon. It had not even been a year since his death. Emily became more and more distant from her mother, until soon she began to see Evelyn as a substitute mother. Marissa was far too caught up in her own little world to worry about her daughter.

May 17, 1998

A far cry from the funeral at which these same people had congregated at before, the church was now the subject of a wedding. Wayne Saunders had proposed to Marissa only 2 months before, and she had accepted, much to Emily's disbelief. And yet here she was; sitting in a pew, waiting for the ceremony to begin. She had refused to be in the wedding. But seeming to be in the same position as before, she was sitting in between Caleb and Reid, both holding her hands, for comfort and for restraint. The two nine-year-olds knew Emily was not in favour of the wedding, and so they comforted her as best they could, well at the same time, tried to warm her up to the idea of having Wayne as a stepfather.

Actually, it was not the idea of having Wayne as a stepfather that really bothered the eight-year-old. In fact, she liked the guy. It was her mother that Emily had a problem with. To her small mind, her mother was trying to replace the man that Emily had loved so dearly. She couldn't understand how her mom could find a replacement for her father so quickly. As soon as Marissa had begun to see Wayne as more than a friend, Paul had seemed all but forgotten.

And now, as she stood and watched her mother walk down the aisle, she couldn't help but wonder what it was that Marissa saw in Wayne. Sure, he was nice enough, but he was nothing like Paul. Of course, to Emily's eyes, Paul had been her whole world, and while she had come to terms with his death, a day didn't go by where Emily didn't miss her father.

She didn't notice she had begun to cry until she felt Caleb move aside her curtain of black hair to wipe away a tear. Leaning her head against her shoulder, his arms encircled her, pulling her close to his body and she felt Reid rubbing her back. Emily didn't really know the reason for her tears; only that no matter how hard she tried, she could not stop. She accidentally let out a sob, and her mother turned from the alter to glare at her. Not being able to take the suffering any longer, the young girl stood up and ran from the church.

Stepping foot outside, she winced and her eyes automatically closed from the glaring of the sun. It was a beautiful, sunny day out, not a cloud in the sky, and Emily felt as if the weather was mocking her. Trying to tell her to forget her father and be happy that her mother is moving on with her life. That it was time to move on in her life as well. She sat on the steps in front of the church, wincing as the stones dug into her legs, but she was glad for the pain as it distracted her from the pain her mother was producing. Alone in her thoughts, she didn't hear the church doors open and close behind her.

"You know, it's alright to cry," a voice suddenly sounded from behind her, and she spun around to meet the intruder, only to slip off the step and fall down the rest of the stairs, "Emily!"

Reid watched, stunned, as the girl fell down the remaining steps. When she landed in a heap at the bottom, he pulled from his stupor and rushed down to help her. He gingerly helped Emily sit up, taking in the various cuts and scrapes that were now littering her arms and legs. He brushed dirt off the girl's pants, before sitting down beside here and taking one of her hands in his. She laid her head down on his shoulder, before mumbling something that Reid didn't quite hear.

"Say again?" he gently lifted her jaw so his blue eyes could see into her green ones.

"Why is it alright to cry? Shouldn't I be happy I'm getting a new dad?" Reid watched as another couple of tears escaped her quivering eyes, and he lifted one hand, gently wiping them off her face. He allowed her head to rest on his shoulder and sighed, wrapping one arm around her.

"Oh Baby girl. Wayne isn't gonna replace your dad, and you don't have to be happy. Your mom is marrying him because she's selfish and I'll tell you a secret. No one wants your mom to marry him. Everyone is just trying to be nice," Reid looked down at the girl to see her reaction. Emily lifted her head and stared at the older boy.

"But your mom told my mom she thinks it's a good idea..."

"She lied. No one wants to tell your mom what she thinks, because everyone is scared that she'll get mad and want to move away...but she's not going to," Reid quickly added, noticing the stricken expression on Emily's face appear, " You love your dad, and you miss him a lot. We all do and that's why we're not happy either."

"So my mom doesn't love my dad?" Emily was confused by this. Her mom had been so sad when Paul had died, but now it appeared as if she had never loved him.

"No. I think your mom does love your dad. Too much. Which is why she is getting married again, I think. She loved him so much, that she needs to find someone else to dull the pain of her missing him," Reid tried to explain his logic, but if the confused look on the young girl's face was any indication, he wasn't doing a very good job at it. Emily sighed and laid her head back down on Reid's shoulder.

"Thanks Reid," she murmured quietly, confused at his logic but still grateful for him at least trying. It was more than her mother ever did.

The next few years seemed to fly by for Emily. She spent most of her days avoiding home, and many times spent the night at the Danvers house. Occasionally, she would come to school with bruises on her face, or walking with a slight limp, but always had a reason for the injury. And everyone believed her, as she was known to be accident-prone. Well, everyone except her four best friends. Caleb, Pogue, Reid, and Tyler never had enough evidence to be able to confront the girl. So they left it alone, only able to patch up her bruises and they never pushed the issue of why she avoided her house whenever she could.

June 14, 2001

Emily Cochrane stared at her four best friends with tears in her eyes. Behind her, a moving truck was idling at the curb, nearly ready to leave. Her mother, Marissa and stepfather, Wayne were each saying good-bye's to their friends in the now empty house. But Emily couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. Letting her hair fall in front of her face, she stumbled forward to Pogue bringing her arms around the older boy. He wrapped her in his arms and she could feel him bury his face in her hair. After a few moments, he reluctantly pulled away and looked at the girl in the eyes.

"I'm gonna miss you Emmy-Bear," Emily gave him a small smile at his nickname for her, "See ya in a few years." Pogue was trying not to show his tears, but Emily saw them sliding down his cheeks.

Next was Tyler. She slowly walked over to the boy who was openly crying. Everyone knew the two of them were close, both of them being the youngest of the group. Grabbing the still-shorter boy in a hug, she whispered to him that everything was going to be alright. Tyler looked at her with a smile.

"Aren't I supposed to be the one telling you that Baby Girl? You are the one who's leaving," his eyes sparkled with tears and laughter as he gazed at his childhood friend.

"I think you're taking it worse than me. And don't call me that name, Baby boy," she laughed as she gave him one last hug.

Turning to Caleb, she saw that the sprinkling rain had caused his hair to stick up in unnatural ways. She attempted to smooth down his hair, frowning slightly when it didn't do what she wanted. The nearly 13-year-old boy reached up and grabbed her hand in his larger one. She gazed up at her cousin, before nearly knocking him over in a hug. He grabbed her tightly and whispered in her ear.

"Try not to get into too much trouble. I'm not gonna be there to bail you out next time," Emily smiled through her tears.

"I wish I could be here for your birthday," she choked out, knowing how much the idea of getting his powers scared Caleb. But the brown haired boy only smiled.

"I wish you could be here too. But you can't and I promise I'll call as soon as I can after I get them," Emily grabbed her cousin around the waist once more, before giving him a kiss on the cheek. When she turned towards Reid, all she could see was his back. She approached him slowly, going around him so she could see his face. She was shocked to see tears rolling down his face. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him cry.

"Reid...I'll miss you," Emily said, tears rolling down her own cheeks. She reached forward to give him a quick hug, knowing how much he didn't like it. So when he reached around her to pull her in closer to his body, she was surprised, but didn't say anything, only hugged him tighter.

"I'm gonna miss you too. I don't know what I'm going to do without you Emily. You're the only person that understands me," Reid didn't let go of her for several minutes. When he eventually pulled back, Emily pulled a package out of her book bag, which was sitting on the ground. It was a wrapped present. When she held it out for Reid to take, he looked at the package confused.

"Consider it an early birthday present. Caleb helped me get it, but I saw how much you wanted them the other day," opening the gift, Reid saw the pair of black fingerless gloves he had been admiring at the store the other day. He immediately pulled them on his hands, before grabbing Emily in another giant hug.

"I love them," he whispered. Emily pulled back when she heard the door to the house close. Looking back, she saw her mom and stepdad coming onto the driveway and going towards the car.

"C'mon Emily, it's time to go," she heard her mom yell. Turning back to the boy's one last time, she gave them a quick, fleeting smile before running towards the car, not wanting the boys to see she was crying again.

"Emily, wait!" She heard Reid and slowed down, turning around to face him, "Umm....I wanted to tell you that I...I lo...I love you!" He reached forward and grabbed her face, before placing his lips softly on hers. Emily's mind was spinning. His lips tasted like cinnamon and chocolate, but before long it was over and he was pulling back. Reid smiled before saying good bye and running back towards the group of cheering boys.

Emily stumbled as she turned around, before slowly walking towards the car that was going to take her away from the boy she now knew she loved.