EIGHT YEARS LATER…


A sunny Saturday afternoon found Andromeda seated on the couch, relaxing after a stressful day at the bank, a novel propped up in her hands. She smiled as she heard the familiar scurrying on the floor above her as her daughter came rushing down the stairs to greet her.


‘Had a good rest, Adelaide?,’ she asked, marking the page and setting it aside, giving her daughter the smile that was reserved for her alone. ‘Yes, mama,’ said the little seven year old, smiling. ‘Come here, my little angel,’ said Dromy, beckoning her with her hand.


The girl came forward obediently and gave her mother a warm hug. Dromy sniffed at her, as a proud mother cat would sniff at her offspring, taking in the sweet, natural, baby scent of her and felt the long, wavy hair on her head.


She held her at arm’s length and looked at her, taking in her thin, delicate features, the elaborate curls at waist-length and the eyes, the same shade of green as her own.


It was no secret that her daughter looked exactly like she did; in fact, everyone in Ocean Glade commented on the similarity between mother and daughter, and how Adelaide Rhodes was on the way to becoming another beauty, like her mother.

‘Mama?,’ said the little girl? ‘Yes, dear?,’ said Andromeda, startled. These days, she usually got so caught up in her thoughts that she forgot the world around her. ‘Homework?,’ said the girl with a little resentment in her voice.

Andromeda laughed. ‘Yes, I had quite forgotten about that. Run along now, and I’ll join you at the table alright?’ ‘Do we HAVE to?,’ asked the little girl in frustration. ‘Yes, Adelaide, now go to the table, I’ll join you in a second.’


She returned to her book, intent on finishing one last page before she joined her daughter. But once again, she was interrupted, but by a very different sound. She heard a steady, determined trodding down the stairs and she looked up from her book to greet the second arrival.


Adler Rhodes walked down with a slow, measured pace, surveying everything around him with cool interest, ruffling his hair as he walked. His eyes showed signs of a maturity and understanding well beyond his seven years, and the smile came slowly to his lips, reaching his deep red eyes, making them dance with merriment and mirth.


As usual, Dromy felt her heart skip a beat as she set her eyes upon her son, the very image and likeness of his father. Finally resigning herself, and abandoning her book for a spot of night time reading, she set it aside and smiled at Adler.

‘Slept well, little one? What do you plan on doing now?,’ she asked him. ‘Well, for starters,' he said, grinning devilishly, 'Hounding my sister.’ They laughed aloud at that, while Adelaide stalked gracefully past them.


‘You won’t bother me now, Addle,’ she said triumphantly. ‘I’m going to do my homework, and you’d better get started, too, those math sums looked pretty hard.’ ‘I’d already finished, while you were busy snoring in the next room ,’ he said, matching up to her wit. ‘I’m going to watch a movie while you slog!’

‘Will not!,’ said Adelaide, slipping into the easy tears of the baby of the family. ‘Mama, tell him!’ ‘Now, Addy, if you had finished your work before, you could’ve watched the movie, too. Tell you what, guys, let’s make a compromise- You both get to stay up late at night and watch the movie together. Alright?’

‘Fine,’ chorused both her children, appeased once more. ‘I’m off to play THE HUMAN BEINGS 3, till then, amazing game, that one.’ Adelaide watched him with a look of mingled fury and disgust on her face, then as he walked away, ignoring her completely, she tutted before she muttered, ‘men,’ as she slipped away.


Andromeda sighed as she leaned back against the cushions and smiled. She couldn’t help but be a doting parent to two such adorable children, who could resist? Looking at them now, she never thought that when she had conceived, she was pregnant for twins.

Her two children looked and behaved as differently as chalk and cheese, as one took up after her mother, and the other, after his father. Adelaide, the older one, was just like she had been at that age; light, cheery, graceful, easily impressed, and contented with the world around her.

Adler, on the other hand, was exactly like his father; serious and thoughtful, quiet and quick witted. She loved them both equally, and through them, she had finally answered many of the questions she had put to herself almost eight years ago.


Could the creatures of the night truly love? Though she herself had been intimately part of the process of discovering the solution to that question, she still found that she had no answer. Warren had loved her, it was true, he probably loved her with all that he had, and all that he could. But was the selfishness and self-centered nature that he exhibited classified as love?


Probably not, she thought, as she stared across the vast ocean before her, which she visited more and more frequently these days before she had to get to work. At the same time, his greatest wish, like many other people, was simply to love, and not have anything get in the way of that love. He had taken it too far, crossed all boundaries that most people would, but that was because of what he was, and maybe it wasn’t right to judge him so harshly…

She had lost a lot in those days, and each of those losses she had incurred as a martyr to love. A time came when she refused to believe in it any longer, a time when everything seemed dark, and she no longer felt the desire to live. But soon after, she realized that one could overcome these things and leave them behind, becoming a better person because of the sorrows that they had endured.


As she looked at the rising sun before her, settling a deep, pink hue on everything it cast it’s pale light upon, she smiled. She felt confident that she had emerged from the depths of sorrows into the greatest of joys, simply because of something that she had once lost complete faith in: Love.

Love, she knew today, did exist, she believed in it with all her heart now, for she felt it light up her whole body when she held her children close to her, she remembered how she doted on her father, loved her sister and smiled at the thought of her aunt. She saw it in the parks, between young couples, so steeped in it that they probably didn’t even know where they were, and who was around them.


She knew now that love existed, , and she was happy to continue living a life dedicated to the lvoe of her children till the day she took her last breath, and she knew that finally, she had achieved exactly what she had always wanted to achieve, and she realized that now, in all truth and honesty, she was happy.


A tear trickled down her cheek as she smiled for joy. Andromeda knew that now, she was finally…..at peace……




Hey guys,

Thanks for all the support that everyone's given me while I wrote this story. I lovered writing this: my first story, and bringing my characters to life, and I learnt to love all of them along the way. The huge view count gave me great support, though the lack of replies were a bit disheartening. I still hope my next story will come out with greater reports and likes! I hope you enjoyed reading this story with me. Thanks for sticking by me and reading till the end. :D

The Observant Lefty.