~~~Ali
'Is that how you survived Grandpa?' I hear my grandson ask. "Yes," I sit in the nursing home, surprised that I was even still alive. From that day, it was still surprising how Apollos managed to save us, and how he managed to stop the assault in the church. It's then that I begin to reflect on that moment as I tell that story in a trance. I tell my two grandsons, "I guess I can tell you the full story," as I look down at my right arm. Sometimes, it doesn't even feel real that I got this. As I take a deep breath, I begin, "Well once Dottie got adopted, everyone was depressed. She even sent us out some mental images of her being happy with her family and after the mental images were sent out, they simply stopped. Then Apollos' friend told us that she was no longer a vampire, that was the biggest surprise to me. Apollos managed to conquer the thing that afflicted us for a long time,"
'The hunger?' my granddaughter said. I smile and say, "Yes. It was something that I didn't think was possible. Once you were turned into one of the vampires, it was over but he found a way to refer to the effects on all of us. He set us all free," 'But you can never see your brothers or sisters again?' "Yeah, that was the deal and he helped us. I didn't think we would live long enough to see that help. I don't think I told you about this part, but I'll tell you what else happened. Before me, Claire, and Marcus split up, we talked and we said our goodbyes. When Dottie was gone, we looked at Claire and we all talked. I was still inconsolable. Even though Claire and Dottie were close, she was still my friend. We still had ourselves and we still were close. Just because we all paired up with the same gender didn't mean that we didn't love each other. It just meant that we could relate to the other one more,"
"Looking at how this went, I knew what I had to do. I had to volunteer next. I wanted Marcus to see that there was nothing to be afraid of and for a moment there, Claire wanted to stop me but she didn't. She instead looked at me and said, 'I want you to live your best life. I want you to be happy as you can be, brother,' Was I going to be able to do this? I think to myself, Maybe. I'm going to do it, I don't know what I'm going to do but I know I'm going to do my best and live my best life. I'm going to do it because I know this is what is going to help the whole world and I get to be a part of it.
'I'm going to miss you,' I hear Marcus' soft voice. I smile with a teary face as I say, "So am I. I'm going to miss you every day of the week because I had a brother and sister that died, too and now I'm going to lose another brother," As all three of us, we all say 'For Dottie. Yes because if she can do it, so can we,' As Jeane comes back into the room, I can see her visibly shaken up, something must be on her mind. Apollos' friend was a very pretty girl and she had an extremely kind heart but she's been misguided for a lot of her life. I wonder where she is now? As she meets me and she realizes I'm volunteering, she smiles and says, 'I'm brave to even do this,' I say, "I'm not brave, I just want my life to be normal, too and now, I can do that" I take time to enjoy the freedom I've been given, "Thank you," I say to her with a smile.
It's then that she chokes up for a minute and she says, 'The pleasure is all mine, little one,' I see a blood tear come down her face as she says it. As Apollos and I are talking, he tells me of all the things I'll get experience as an adult, telling me to stay away from all the girls and that I'm going to love it where I'm going. 'I heard England is pretty rainy though,' He says to me, 'So make sure you wear a hood and make sure you eat well,' "Is that where Dottie is?" He smiles and says, 'You know I can't tell you that, but I can tell you something about her. She sent you a letter,'
"Really?" 'Yes, but you have to read it when you get older.' "How much older?" 'Probably when you're a little bit bigger than you are now,' He says with a smile, 'How about 15?' "Really? I'm already 15 if we count how long I've been a vampire. I'm actually older than 15," 'Unfortunately, that's the promise,' "What did the letter say? What did the letter say?" I reach in my pocket as my grandchildren keep interrupting the story but I love it because they get it from their father and he gets it from me. Sometimes we have to be chatterboxes.
As I pull it out, I say to her: "And we each got one so you know," 'Really, granddaddy?' "Yes. It says to live your life in the most meaningful way possible. Be happy and experience everything you can in life, the good and the bad. Ali, you were always there when I lost my temper and I'm glad that we're free now. I hope you're happy and living your life as meaningfully as I am. I promise to name one of my grandchildren after you and I decided to name my granddaughter after him." 'Yes, isn't our mom and aunt named Dorothy and Claire?' "And your father's name is Gabriel," I say with a smile.
~~~Apollos
As I sit there, thinking about the conversation, I think about the last thing the kids said to me and I try to push everything out of my mind. Ali said something that I didn't think was possible, he said something that completely shook me. He said, 'I know it's a lie. I know what you have to do. I hope you find peace in whatever you do," At that moment, my heart began to break. My anger began to break because I knew the lie was true but then he said to me, 'Can you give me the same thing you gave Dottie?' "You know," 'I know but I want you to do this. If you keep pushing this off like you've been doing, it'll only get worse. They will only keep attacking you, they will hunt you down and they will keep coming. Apollos, I've never seen too much good in people but I believe you're a good man. I also believe your good heart is going to get you hurt,'
Hearing a child tell me this, was baffling, to say the least, but then he continued, 'I've seen so many get hurt. I've seen so many innocents get lost. I just ask that you remind a man at the end of this,' After I heard what he said, I said, "Thank you, son," It was at that moment that I understood more, though. I wasn't just eliminating these children, these children were protecting me from greater forces. They may have even known more than I did, something that I didn't think about until now. They defended me when no one else could, Zamiel and her constant onslaught of behaviors were always horrible.
On top of that, my son would have been around their age and my other two children would have been a little bit younger. I think about it as I realize how much has happened to me. I think about that and it saddened me. "I understand," I say to him. As we get ready to leave, Priscilla had done me one favor before she left, she brought her famous blood cotton candy to the area. I found myself, enjoying it though it was a bit of expensive food to make, I still enjoyed it. I kept going until I heard a noise, an attack, and I turned. It was too late though, the reaction was too slow.
They weren't attacking me, no, they were attacking someone else. It was him. It's then that he was impaled in the heart so swiftly so quickly, I grabbed the vampire by the back of his head, and with one swift motion, I break his skull. My hand went into his head so quickly and deeply that it punched through the other side but it was still too late. It's then that I saw it, we were surrounded, the damned zealots coming closer to us. I knew exactly how this was going to go and Richard was already grabbing the boy. It was too late, they still found a way to get to him before me. I wish I had it in me to be a brutal murderer, I've never had that in me, I never have.
The most brutal I could be was towards my enemies but when it came to children, I fell apart. I never had the strength to do it. Even as Gabriel, it was hard. As I keep going, I knew what my choice was. I see his eyes were closing and I said, "Jeane, do it now," 'But Apollos, I need time,' "The World" I say before she could even think of the next words. Her eyes widen as she says, 'You're using your abilities again?' "Yes," 'But so many people, how long can you keep it going?' "An hour?' I think to myself, No maybe 45 minutes if I do my best to focus on them but the problem is not keeping time frozen. The problem is how long can Jeane keep him alive before she moves him.
As I get ready, I knew what was more important than anything. I then said, "I don't need to freeze everybody, I just need to freeze them. I have to keep them from getting in the bubble while at the same time, moving the bubble" I look around and I send a mental message about to Kaoru. He then says, 'The city is still evacuated. The only people here are vampires who are willing to fight and whoever worshipping that damned Lucifer,' It's then that I say, "Kaoru, do me one favor," He says, 'What?' "Protect Jeane and Ali," It's in that moment that I hear a small, faint voice in my head, it's Marcus. In his small voice, he says, 'Kick their ass,'
Such a brave soul, he doesn't even understand how brave he is. A lot of men begged for their moms, but I never thought about Lilith in the moments of my death, I always thought about someone saving me but it didn't matter who. It's at that moment that I feel enlightened, I find my will and I begin to attack. "Of course, kiddo," I say with a smile. As I minimize my time bubble to just those two, I walk away and begin to attack all of the assailants. 'We've already killed the boy, you can't,' With one vicious bite, I tear one of their throats. "I don't think you all understand," I say in a telepathic voice, "You all just signed your death warrant and Lucifer will be the one to witness it,"
'What?" At that moment, I began to attack them all, tearing through their bodies and throwing their bodies into various objects. I wanted them to know that they just wasted what was left of their pathetic lives. I was trying to avoid this, I was trying to avoid their interference but they made it obvious this is the only thing they want and I'll give it to them. If this is what they want, I'll give it to them all. I'll rip them all in half, I'll shoot them all, I'll torture them all until they've all been eradicated. When their bodies are all lying dead at my feet is when I'll be done, not a second sooner.
As I keep tearing through them all, I think about him and I say, "Jeane, link his thoughts up with mine. Let him be a hero," As I begin to fight and tear through them all, I felt myself getting confused. The anger I felt was something I couldn't understand, they keep coming, and they keep attacking. They don't have to do this, they don't have to kill anybody. They're doing this because they want to, they're doing this because they know not many people can stop them. They're doing this because they're beneath everyone's attention but mine.
~~~Ali
Watching him fight all of those people made me happy because it was somebody who actually cared about us. 'And that's what makes you care about family?' "I care so much about my family, it's freeing to me. You see kids, the truth of the matter is I love you all and I love Apollos for what he's given me. He's given me the gift that not many people can give me," 'But Grandpa, can you finish the story?' "I've told you the story before, I've even lived through it but today, I want to spend the rest of the day, listening to you all talk about your day,"
'Well Grandpa, me and Jamie got to enjoy the movies. On top of us going to the movies, we also begged mom and dad to bring us here,' "Oh really? You should stop doing this," I knew how much this hurt him, and I knew how much this fake world he put together hurt him yet I also knew he did all of this because he knew what they were going to do. He knew they were going to hunt us all down, he had to bear that sin, that sin of being a murderer. Once again, Apollos is saving the world in a way that no one else could understand.
I smile as I say, "Your kids are so good and your parents were good to me too,' It's then that Mr. Poe, my favorite orderly walks in. He had been visiting the room back-and-forth, checking on us and making sure the kids were okay. As he walked in, he said, 'Come on kids, your parents are here,' 'But we wanted to stay a little longer,' "It's okay, it's about time you all got ready to go anyway," "So, when did I die?" I ask him, candidly. 'You died off of the church's premises' "Really? You managed to save them all?" 'Yes. They managed to get you off the church premise but the problem is I didn't expect you all to be this self-aware,' he says ot me, candidly.
"Apollos, we have knowledge of the unknown and are cut from the same cloth as Lucifer," 'You may be cut from the same cloth but you're much different,' Poe says with a gentle voice. 'Are you ready to see the sun, my friend?' "Of course, I haven't seen it in years,' 'Good. Let me show you the sun, my friend,' As we walk outside and see the kids off, I ask him, "How did you craft them?" 'I crafted them like you,' "The path you walk, Apollos is settled in blood, you know that, don't you?" 'I'm the only one who can walk it. I like it that way, no one else has to suffer. No one has to be in pain, no more malice, no more pain,' he says to me, calmly.
"Then thank you for setting me free," It's at that moment I begin to feel the warmth of the sun rays on my skin as I let out a final breath. So, this is what death feels like? It's quite peaceful.
End of Chapter: Pretty Little Lies