Young Alan

Our minds are the most mysterious things about us.

-Elsa Barker

XI

Alysha pulled Cordellia inside and shut the door.

Alysha sat the dazed Cordellia on the bed. She didn't know what else to do but hope everything would be okay.

Cordellia's eyes were still, her body didn't move.

Her eyes were slowly turning white as she got pulled back into her memories.

One where Leslie had come back to her senses after Cordellia had come back home from her captivity.

She had just come home from work,

She hated that place. They always gave her dirty stares and always tried to pick on her(keyword 'tried') .

She sighed and entered the house, the smell of native food wafting to her nostrils.

Mama was cooking. Cordellia missed her food so much, she was happy she left work early.

After the finger licking meal, Leslie called the children to the living room.

Cordellia sat on the floor as usual.

"Delli, Cassy, Cody" she called with an unfamiliar solemn voice

"I'm sorry" she sighed out.

Cordellia blinked, and started blinking continuously. She was surprised.

"I'm sorry I wasnt there for you all those times. It was selfish of me to have left you to fend for yourselves. I forgot all about my little boy and left. I was stupid" she cried out, she had started crying "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" she kept on repeating as she cried.

A single tear ran down Cordellia's cheek and Cody went to comfort her, hurt obvious on his face as he also couldn't stand seeing Mama cry.

"Mama" Cassy croaked out, she was starting to cry too.

"No need for that, it was in the past"

she spoke in their native language to further comfort her because mum found warmth in their language

"You're back to normal now. You said those times and indeed it was those times. We are complete and that is all that is there to matter" By now Cody had joined in the crying, uncomfortable about the tears and the topic. Cordellia just stared, frozen.

"But" Leslie started, still in their language

"we arent complete without your father. I wanted you to have a father. We could have been complete again with a fatherly figure in your lives. I just..."

That was enough to unfreeze Cordellia so she could talk some sense into the woman

"Mama stop!" She screamed, she had to speak the language too,after all,she was taught to use it.

Leslie looked surprised. Cordellia was normally quiet even if she said nonsense, Cordellia wouldn't comment, she'll just stare.

It was surprising for her to talk, now think of her raising her very quiet voice.

"That man wouldnt make us complete, no man can. Only you would do that. And we all have agreed we are satisfied with just you, just you Mama. We forgave you all those times because we understood. There's no need for apology because we don't want it" her face fell

"we want you. You weren't there all those times but now you are here. We love you mama, I love you"

Leslie had stared at her, not reacting until Cody had repeated that same line.

That evening had been concluded with tears of joy and laughs filled with happiness. We were peaceful, complete.

Cordellia couldn't believe she didn't notice some things. She was always made to stay quiet and always the one working extra.

The signs that Leslie treated them differently. Every single detail, it was all coming to her now.

Cordellia chuckled to herself. It wasn't one of amusement but one of pain.

The worst thing was that the woman in question, who had answers to all of her questions was dead.

"Delli? Are you okay?" Alysha's soft voice brought Cordellia back from the deep clutches of her mind.

"I don't know, I just got lost in thought and remembered my family, when we were complete. But now?"

Her face contorted into one of pity, Cordellia hated that.

She hugged her.

"Oh, Delli. I'm so sorry" Cordellia knew she wasn't just sympathizing. Alysha also was sorry, she meant it, Cordellia could feel it, but she didn't know what for. Alysha was one of the few people Cordellia couldn't hear or see their thoughts.

Cordellia stood up and walked out of the room, headed towards the room Lela was currently staying in.

Alysha wanted to protest but when she saw Cordellia wasn't stomping out, she stopped.

Cordellia opened the door straight up without knocking and announced.

"Aunt Lela, you have a lot to explain!"

•••

Cordellia's mouth dropped open when Lela was done and Alysha snored lightly. She had fallen asleep halfway through the story.

Lela had revealed that She was a dark witch(a black witch, not relevant to skin colour) but she wanted to be good. Which explained the bedtime stories Lela always told. She was telling her of her world.

"Which means Cassandra and Cody..." Cordellia trailed off as she whispered to herself.

Aunt Lela shifted uncomfortably, clearly not wanting to touch that topic yet.

"I will teach you how to defend yourself even more as evil lurks everywhere these days, but for this week, you rest! " she said to divert Cordellia's attention and it worked.

Cordellia sighed and picked up Alysha, she carried her back into the guest room and placed her on the bed.

Cordellia didn't go to sleep. It sure was late as Lela had spent enough time talking but she didn't feel drowsy.

She looked out the window and saw the guardsmen below. She didn't jump down as she knew it would cause a commotion. Some of the memories of that dungeon guard were still fresh in her mind.

She decided to do something she had never done before.

She climbed out and down the high castle walls.

It was quite an easy task because of the rough texture of the wall.

And she wasn't easily spotted because she was wearing black. It would have been a different case if there were surveillance cameras and huge lights but this part of the universe still lived in the Georgian era.

One of the guardsmen-an elf, who was stationed near the gate, squinted when he saw what looked like a person crawling down the castle. The only problem was that it crawled like a reptile, it's body was twisted and it was moving at an insanely fast speed.

"Look, over there! Is that a reptile I see?" He asked but the other guards took him to be hammered and made jokes of it while they sipped on their beer instead of standing guard.

"Young Alan. You must be new with the ways of the good ol ale" an elf guard with a red beard slurred and Alan felt disgusted.

He shrugged the guard's meaty arm off his shoulder and spat out "I'm going to take a look"

By the time he reached the castle wall, they was no creature there.

"You find your reptile eh?" The man slurred and the other drunken guards roared with laughter.

Alan rolled his eyes and ignored them

"You have good eyes." Someone whispered beside him and he turned but no one was there.

" Who goes there? "He asked but was met with the darkness instead.

He grabbed a torch and looked around.

He walked until he reached the back of the castle but they was no one there.

"Strange" he muttered.

"Hello Alan" a female voice called out and Alan turned around.

" Show yourself! "He barked, like a true guardsman.

He swung the torch around and the light revealed his face. He was a bit too pretty to be a guardsman for the gate.

His heterochromia making his eyes more beautiful. One was amber colored and the other grass green.

Freckles dotted his oval face and he shouted again

"Come out from hiding and show yourself!"

He didn't expect a verbal agreement.

"Okay!" Cordellia walked out from where she was hiding and the only thing that came to Alan's mind was.

"Tall"

"Why thank you" Cordellia replied and Alan frowned wondering if he had said it aloud.

"Wait, how old are you?" Cordellia's question made Alan frown. He hated when people asked that question.

His young face didn't mean he couldn't work in the castle.

"I'm Seventeen" Cordellia stared and nodded.

"Well I'm bored and I don't want to sit down and think. I also noticed you didn't like the other guards for company so why don't we accompany each other?"

Alan stared at Cordellia in wonder.

She had clearly seen his face but didn't question his eyes. He dismissed it as because of the darkness.

She'd avoid him when the next day came, he was sure of it.

Cordellia on the other hand, wondered why she said what she had just said. She normally wouldn't even take the initiative to start a conversation, talk less of making a friend.

She wondered why she changed all of a sudden.

She prepared herself for a rejection but Alan replied her with an Okay.

All through the night, Cordellia and Alan sat at the back of the Castle getting to know each other till they both fell asleep.

The two didn't know that at that moment, destiny had sealed their fate.