Enders

Enders (32)

When I opened my eyes and saw that I was surrounded white once again, I knew this time I was dead.

The dread I felt was unimaginable. I had failed, after I'd promised so many people that I would succeed. But once I had finally been face-to-face with the threat, there was no way I stood a chance. One touch, and it was all over.

As my vision became to clear and I became more aware of my surroundings, I could feel the hand soothing my hair back, brushing my hair out of my face. I felt the person shift slightly, just enough to move my head that was laying in their lap. And once I could finally make sense of what was going on and who I was with, all I could do was stare at her for a moment before I finally found my voice.

"Mom..."

She was looking at me with sad eyes, saying nothing to me. But I didn't need her to confirm that she was in fact my mother, as she looked so much like me it was almost as if I was looking in a mirror.

"I'm dead, aren't I?"

My mother shook her head. "Not yet."

Forcing myself to sit up, I rubbed at my eyes, almost afraid to stop because I was scared she would disappear if I did. But when she was still there once I opened my eyes again, I knew this wasn't just a figment of my imagination.

I was overcome by emotion then, my throat tightening and my eyes filling with tears when I fully realized just who was sitting in front of me, so close and within arm's reach.

"What am I doing here?" I had to ask. "Where... is here?"

"It's... the place between life and death," she explained rather slowly, as if she was trying to think of the right way of speaking to me. "It's where you decide to move on with me or go back to your life."

It took me a moment to process what she had said, but soon my tears were overflowing and rolling down my cheeks. I could finally be with her, after all of these years of wanting and wishing?

My mother smiled at me, bringing me into her arms. I clung to her, just like a child would cling to their mother, never wanting her to let go of me. Finally, after years and years of suffering and wanting nothing more than to just be with her, I finally had my chance.

"You have more than just a mother, you know," someone new suddenly cut in with a clear of their throat, causing me to push away from my mother to look at who I thought it was.

Staring up at the same eyes I saw in the mirror every single day, my father grinned down at me with the same grin I was told I had myself. Not even knowing what to do with myself, I scrambled to get up off the ground and ran at him, slamming into his chest as we wrapped our arms around each other.

He kissed the top of my head as my mother came up behind me, joining the hug as she wrapped her arms around me again. I had no idea how long we stood there for, but it felt like forever while at the same time feeling like no time at all. I never wanted to move from that spot, but we all knew that wasn't possible.

I was the one to break the hug, knowing that neither of them would be the ones to do it since it was obvious that they knew how long I had been waiting for this moment. But we all knew we couldn't just stand like that forever, no matter how much I wished we could.

I took this moment to study them. They were young, the same age they had been when they had died, which wasn't even ten years older than me. It wasn't like I had expected them to age, but seeing them this young in real life rather than pictures, it was like a punch in the gut as a reminder of how much of their lives they had lost because of Damien Black.

I really did look most like my mother, with the same hair and face shape. But while she had brown eyes, I had the same blue eyes that my father had.8