It's time to go

“Do you need anything?” Alexander asks me as we walked into his apartment. We just got back from the house, from telling my grandpa that Irene was murdered. The look on his face was haunting, something that will bury deep in my mind forever. The furrow of his brow, drop of his face and the tightening of his fist. Trying to contain the anger and pain inside of him.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you. . .for being so caring for me.” I pat him on the shoulder, I didn’t have the energy to wrap my arms around him, but he did. Those strong arms pull me into a bear hug. He knew that I was still hurting from what happened with Irene, myself feeling guilty for what happened to her. She was innocent in all of this. “Alexander?”

“Mhm.”

“You're squeezing me a little too tight.” His grip on me releases.

“Sorry. But seriously. . .do you need anything. We have left over from two nights ago.” I am feeling rather hungry now that I think about it. It’s around 3 in the afternoon, and my stomach is currently growling at me. “I’ll take that as a yes. Sit down.” I do what he says and sits down at the island.

I watch him as he pulls out the old ratatouille from the fridge and puts some of it on a saucer plate. Even if it’s cold, the smell still lingers through the kitchen. He really can cook; I hope in the future he does all the cooking. I can make basic stuff, but not as much as he can.

“So, do you want to know what me and your grandpa talked about?” Putting the ratatouille in the microwave, he turns around to me. He knows that I always want to know about the secret conversations he has with him. The last time he talked to him was when Grandpa found him in the house. I thought he was going to kill him and then kill me. I woke him up in the middle of the night to know, I couldn’t go to sleep without knowing.

“I actually don’t want to know. BUT since you brought it up, tell me.” My elbows stand tall on the island counter as I give him my undivided attention.

“Ok. Uh. . .I told him not to panic, or looked alarmed, but that did happen and I know you saw it. He thought I joshing him, the way he looked at me it was haunting. I.. . I’ve never had to deliver bad news before, and I never want to do it again.”

“I’m sorry I made you do it.”

He grabbed my hands, “You didn’t make me do anything. I know that it would have been hard for you to tell him about Irene, I was ok to do it.” The microwave behind him beeps, he grabs the food and hands it to me along with a fork.

“Thank you, it smells great.” I take a bite out of the food, God it tastes as good as it did when I first tried it.

“I’ll leave you to eat, I’m going off to bed.”

"Wait." He turns around to me. I pull him by his shirt and give him a deep kiss. When I let go he stares at me weirdly.

"What's that for?" He look bewildered.

"Just. . .because." He kisses me on top of my forehead and walks out the kitchen into the room.

Sitting alone in the kitchen, it’s just me and my thoughts. My mouth focuses on chewing the food, while my mind thinks of what has occurred in the last few days. The death of Irene, and the fact that I never even got the necklace.

Tomorrow will end up creeping up on me. That is the day that I go and wake up the first power. No one knows except for Lyra, and no one will stop me. Yount is clearly like his daughter, ruthless. They don’t care about people except themselves. They want to make sure what they have is taken care of, no matter who suffers in the mix.

My head turns towards the bedroom, Alexander’s lays peacefully in the bed. The cover is half on his body, his stronger upper body is shown. The bit of light that creeps through the black curtains shine on his upper body. He looks so. . .beautiful as tiny breaths escape from his mouth past his teeth.

“I’ll miss you the most.” I whisper to myself towards Alexander. I’ll not only miss him, but my grandpa, Lyra, Khadijah, Kate and Mary. Also, The Blondes. I may hate them, but I’ll miss them hating me and vice versa.

This has to be done, NO it needs to be done.

Creeping through Lyra’s backyard, my body treads slowly through the many flowers her mother has planted. I didn’t want to step on any of them, their very beautiful and you can tell it took her a while.

Lyra’s stays on the second floor of her house. Her room doesn’t have a balcony, like mines, but she has a big bay window that is easily open from the inside. Her parents had the house built before Lyra and her brother was born.

It’s a two-story brick house. Their living room alone is as big as me and grandpa’s whole first floor. Lyra doesn’t like to brag about her family's wealth, which I'm surprised about because she literally brags about everything.

In front of her bay window is a tall, oak tree. When I was younger, and my parents had just died, I would ride over to her house on my bike and lay with her. We would watch movies with each other and pig out on candy. Lyra always made it feel better. I remember my grandpa would have a heart attack when he wouldn’t find me in my bed. Now, he’ll have a heart attack when he finds out what I'm doing tomorrow.

I climb up the tree, it’s been years since I’ve done this so I’m a little rusty. Reaching her bay window, I push it open, it’s creaks as it opens slowly. From the sound, Lyra starts to stir in her bed. Turning towards the window, she begins to let out a scream but I clasp my hand over her mouth. It’s currently dark, so she probably thinks I’m a murder or something.

How do I know? She grabbed onto the hand that clasp over her mouth and slung me on my back. The ground floor collides with my back, making a shock wave rise through my body.

“Oh god.” I groan out.

“Quinneth?” She reaches up from her bed and turn the light on. She’s now standing over me, her hands rest angrily on her hips. “What the hell are you doing? You haven’t come through my window since we were nine!” I can hear her voice rising.

“Shhhh Ly. I don’t want your parents to know I’m here.”

“Well, by the way you came through the window they may already know.” All her weights shift to her right hip. Her red, wavy hair is currently in front of her face.

“I wanted to tell you that I was leaving tonight.” Her facial expression changes.

“Oh.” Was all she said.

“I needed to say goodbye to you.” She pulls me into a hug. “I don’t know if I’ll come back.”

“DON’T talk like that. You’ll come back.” She sounded so sure.

“I.. . don’t really know. Yount said that it was a big spell, if it doesn't kill me, it will weaken me.”

“Well, you have to stay alive Quinn, you have to.” I can see her eyes starting to water up.

“Ly, don’t cry you’ll make me cry.” All I do is hold onto her. It seemed like forever when he held each other. “I- I got to go, it’s almost time.”

“Guess this is it. Bye Quinn.”

“Bye Ly.” I leave the same way I came in.

“God, where is that necklace.” I mumble to myself. I’m now at the house, looking around for the black lotus necklace. I turn around to spot it in the cup of my painting easel. Scooping the necklace up I put in the front pocket of my jeans. Now, I just need to get out of here, but before I leave, I need to do something.

Tip-toeing across the hall I walk into my grandpa’s room. He’s sleeping soundly, his chest rises up and down. A light snore comes from his nasal, he always was a snorer.

My lips gently kiss on his forehead, I know I said that I would miss Alexander the most, but I change my mind it’s going to be my grandpa. He took care of me when I had no one. He was there for everything, when I had my first period, he bought me my first car and listened to me and all my crazy stories.

He’s the best grandfather a girl could ever have.

Outside the window I hear movement. Looking out the window I see Piper standing in the backyard, waiting for me. I guess it’s time for me to go. Coming out the backdoor, I walk towards her.

“You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”