Family of 102

Chapter 17: End of the War

I slowly trudged upwards until the first drops of rain landed on me. The night sky was shrouded in black clouds as a cold wind blew against me. The only sound that broke the silence was the rainfall hitting the floor of the roof under me as I silently stared ahead, seeing the one person I never thought I'd ever see again. Like me, he was slowly getting drenched in the falling rain when he slowly turned to face me, a look of nothing but rage and hatred in his eyes as we both stared at each other without a word until he finally spoke.

"You could've just made this easy. You could've just given up and died eleven years ago when I had you! But NO, you just had to continue to keep living with such a happy life while I'm left to rot in some stone cold shithole of a cell!"

"YOU'RE the one who tried to murder me! If you found out I was still alive, why didn't you just leave me alone if I wasn't your problem anymore?! In fact, I have a better question for you!" I yelled back, exhaling before asking what I had wanted to ask him for a long time.

"Why do you think it's MY fault that my birth mum died?!" My dad- No, Kevin snarled at me as I mentioned her.

"You want to know why you're the reason Maria's dead?! FINE!" He growled before finally giving me the answer I longed for.

"She was always so tired and even sometimes stressed, all because she had to take care of you! She used all of her energy she had just so she could you happy! THAT'S WHY SHE ENDED UP DYING IN A CAR CRASH, BECAUSE SHE WAS TOO TIRED TO SEE WHERE SHE WAS GOING! AND YOU CAUSED THIS! YOU'RE A FUCKING MURDERER AND YOU ALWAYS WILL BE!"

I stepped back a little as he screamed all of this at me. Suddenly, all my rage started to become overwhelmed by remorse as I shivered. I was starting to think that... maybe mum's death really was all my fault. She was so responsible for me and that responsibility caused her death.

"Don't listen to him, Cody."

A voice suddenly called out to me, stopping me from suffering an emotional breakdown as I quickly darted around for the source of the voice but saw nobody but Kevin within my vicinity.

"Your father may blame you for Maria's death, son... But she doesn't."

Another voice rang out, this one sounding more masculine. I kept looking around but still couldn't see anyone else near me. Suddenly, everything around me darkened to nothing, leaving me in complete darkness as two transparent white forms slowly materialised before me, their shapes slowly forming into the likeness of...

"...Great Grandpa and Grandma, Pongo and Perdita."

The two adult Dalmatians smiled at me as they came closer to me, Perdita giving me a gentle hug. But just like when I met the spirit of Cadpig, I felt nothing but a cool chill around my body.

"Oh goodness, how you've grown, sweetie." Perdita cooed motherly. It really had been a long time since I last saw these two.

"Son, don't let what Kevin says get to you. Don't you remember when you said goodbye to Maria?" Pongo reminded me as I thought back to eleven years ago when I was being hospitalised, where I saw and talked with my birth mum one last time and how she said she would always be proud of me and to always keep living for the Dalmatians' sake. My eyes closed as I slowly nodded as Pongo said one last thing to me.

"Remember... Maria will always love you no matter what. She could never hate you even if she died."

I slowly opened my eyes to find myself back on the roof with Kevin still glaring at me, Pongo and Perdita had vanished as I took those words to heart and slowly glared back at the man before me.