The World's End | ONC 2024 ✔

ੈ✩‧₊˚ |𝟭𝟯| 𝗔𝘅𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲'𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁

If my assumption was correct, there had to be at least one journal for every year ever since she turned ten.

I felt my hands shake as I rooted through her journals looking for the timespan that I needed. I skimmed through some of them and saw Mama's time in college, how she made friends, her life and how she met Papa. It wasn't until ten years ago that her journals began looking sincere and serious. My eyes scanned the suddenly elegant handwriting that filled its pages.

There was something sinister about her newer journals. The earlier ones were messy. They were chaotic. Almost like they were written with emotion and Mama's real inner thoughts.

・・・・・・

Cyprus told me today that he thought that foxes were native to Veridonia. I couldn't help but laugh at him. Just because they existed, didn't mean they existed in Veridonia. The books didn't say so! He said that the books didn't tell us everything. But I think he's trying to attract attention to himself because he knows that people like his weird facts.

And...look at this! This is the picture that Caity took of me and her together on the park trip. She made me look ridiculous but I took nice pictures of her. She said it was a memory but I was not amused. Look at this picture! I look like a wombat.

・・・・・・

Even her recount of my birth was cheerful. I wanted to figure out when she gave up on her happiness. When did she decide that it wasn't worth it to love her family? I kept skimming through them, occasionally finding ones that I wanted to read more and more.  

・・・・・・

She had Kaz's hair and my eyes, well...they seem the same shade as my eyes. Kaz wanted to name her Millie after his sister but I said no. Millie's ego would go above the roof if she heard that. I wanted to call her Anne or something sensible and we decided on Axelle.

It means peace, or a person who brings peace. Axelle hasn't cried for days now and she just smiles at everyone. It's a miracle that she even lived. The doctors said that she needed special conditions of air to survive and that she needed to be in a protective environment. I don't know what they meant but Kaz said that he'd find out.

・・・・・・

I skipped past the journal again, only to find her writings get more cryptic and more...emotionless. They became shorter, more sinister and looked the way Mama was now. All the love and attachment left her.

・・・・・・

The Council states that we need to ensure that the citizens are protected against adversaries. The Verids were my idea, but Councilman Drake told the Council that it was unadvised and impossible to pull off.

・・・・・・

That day's diary entry ended there. Nothing more happened that day, or Mama decided that it wasn't worth her time. Or that was the only thing important that she wanted to remember. 

Every entry afterwards was just as short, and just as cryptic. Her journal for this year was gone and it was probably with her right now. I closed her journal and set it aside, my mind reeling from the implications of what I had just seen. Mama's journals held the key to understanding a bit more about what might have happened here. Maybe an inkling. I looked around Mama's room, the room just as lonely as we were. I missed her more than ever in that moment, missed the warmth of her embrace, the sound of her laughter, the reassurance of her presence.

That all died with the Death.

Questions swirled in my mind, echoing never-ending curiosity that drove me to the brink of despair. It suddenly felt so painful to think that he loved me after all, and he didn't leave me and Mama for selfish reasons but because Mama got rid of him.

I thought that her story was more ambiguous than I expected. Mama had always been secretive and introverted; nothing like how she was portrayed by the TV people and the world itself.

I packed the trunk back with all the journals again in the order that Mama had them in so that she wouldn't be too suspicious. I didn't know whether Mama would be back tomorrow, but she entrusted me with the house and I had to make sure that she never found out what I was doing.

There had to be more to Mama's story.

I picked up the small note that had fallen out of the black-red leather-bound journal.

・・・・・・

Mel.

Don't do this. I know why you are doing this, but it's not fair to Kaz or me. I told you multiple times that this was a bad idea and this would one day come back at you. Karma always does. You might never want to see me again, and you definitely don't want to hear from me again. But remember, what you're doing is wrong. Even if you're doing it for yourself.

Of course you're doing it for yourself. You always do everything for yourself.

Don't drag Kaz into it, and don't drag me into it. Otherwise, I'll tell Kaz everything.

- Caity.

・・・・・・

Behind it was a picture of a tall building, one that surpassed Veridonia's. The tall structure rose above everything else around it and the surroundings were more scenic than anything I had ever seen in my life. he glass exterior was unlike anything seen in Veridonian architecture. It looked precisely like a glass spire. Beneath was a name of a person or a thing or something like that.

Vancouver, Canada.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳 𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙽𝚃: 𝟷𝟻𝟼𝟽 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳𝚂

𝚃𝙾𝚃𝙰𝙻 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳 𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙽𝚃: 𝟸𝟺𝟼𝟶𝟿 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳𝚂