The morning of Katy’s twelfth birthday she awoke and felt a presence just outside the house. It was not dark, but it was confused. Katy did not know how she knew who it was, or how she knew he was there, but she did, and she went down the stairs and outside. She stood on the sidewalk for a few minutes then turned and walked to a tree and stopped in front of it. She felt her face break into a smile as she reached up and pulled off the hat, she knew Riley wore. She just held the hat to her as she smiled up at him; she waited for him to make the first move.
Riley had a tear in his eye, and then he grabbed Katy into a hug. “I am sorry, so sorry… I am so sorry… forgive me… forgive me… I never thought they were lying to me… I almost killed you… my blood… I didn’t want to… really…” He stopped he did not know how to go on. But his walls were down so Katy heard the confusion in his head. He did not want to destroy the only other person that was truly his sibling. He loved his little brothers, but a sister was a treat to find out about. Then to be told he had to help kill her, it had nearly destroyed him. He acted cold but he was not, he was not like his uncle and father.
Katy hugged him back. “It was not your fault you thought you were protecting your family; they just didn’t tell you the truth. You are not like them Riley. You have a lot of light in you. Enough to drown out the darkness. We both have darkness in us; we just have more light to fight it.”
“I hurt you, I almost killed your friends, I almost killed you…” Riley did not care that the tears started to stream down his face.
“I forgive you. Come on,” Katy said and took his hand. “Let me introduce you to my family, brother.” With that Katy walked up the sidewalk, hand in hand with her brother that she now knew would forever be by her side. And for once everything felt right with the world. She knew no matter what was to come, she could face it, for she had her family, she was loved, and she was, for the first time she could remember, truly happy and whole.
Kris Charles - Author 