The Forgotten Child-Twilight

Chapter 22 - Part 2

I had finally found Christopher... but I wondered if he were lost to me due to the evilness that I had done.

Christopher hobbled to his cot and sat next to me, then he said, "Father, I know that Mother died," he gently placed a hand to my cheek, "I knew it five days after you left me," he continued.

I stared at Christopher amazed, "How could you possibly know something like that?" I asked him curiously.

"Because Mother came to me the night she died," admitted Christopher.

"That's utterly impossible!" I declared, "Are you trying to tell me that you actually saw your mother here AFTER her death?"

My poor son had gone insane.

"Five days after you left me," Christopher said softly, "Mother's soul came upon me and awakened me to say goodbye."

Christopher's eyes seemed to gaze into a cherished memory from long ago.

"It was the most amazing and beautiful thing that I've ever seen, Father," Christopher said as tears slowly etched their way down his cheeks, "I wish you could have seen it," he finished.

I looked upon my son's face worriedly as I asked, "Did it look like your mother, my love?" I said unbelievingly.

"No Father, it was the most beautiful light...then it circled up above and shot up into the stars," my poor son told me.

My child was insane. Christopher had been so mistreated and abused that he had become addle-minded.

Again, I could feel the mercury climbing higher up my thermometer of rage.

Christopher studied me carefully and looked lost in thought.

He finally said, "Father, I bet your kind can't see souls...just like most humans can't see them!"

I no longer wanted to speak of souls. Even speaking of Helena was beginning to break my heart. I just wanted to take Christopher and leave this vile place.

The money I had left for Christopher was only a small share of my true wealth. I had much more and I wanted to pamper Christopher and make every wish of his come true.

"Christopher," I said, "take anything you want from here because we will be leaving soon. Never to return."

But Christopher just sat there as if he didn't hear my request.

Finally his dark blue human eyes looked into my own with sadness while he said, "Father, are you sure you want to take me. I'll probably wind up being more a burden."

I literally gasped at my son's words. Nothing he could say would force me to leave him here.

"All I'll do is slow you down, Father. Nobody even knows that I'm here most of the time. I've inherited Mother's gift Father, I can make people forget things. That's why the Shaws have not given me a thought for the last few years."

"Clara still remembers you," I told my son.

"Clara," Christopher chuckled, "Clara that old voodoo priestess?" he asked. "Well, Clara's an exception, I don't think anybody could pull the wool over her eyes."

"Clara's not sure what I am," Christopher laughed, "but she definitely knows I'm different. She realizes that I haven't hardly aged in twenty years. My powers of forgetfulness never could work on her."

"How did you survive, Christopher?" I asked my son.

Christopher gave me a coy look and said, "You know... It actually wasn't that difficult. After the Shaws sent me here.. I discovered that I could 'send' my thoughts to the animals, almost like how Mother and I used to 'talk'. They don't have the capacity to 'talk' back, but they usually understood enough of what I 'said' to help me."