"Hey! Look!” Casey pointed at the amulet Morgan had extracted from his pocket.
“That’s kind of looks like May…Isn’t it?" She asked intrigued and really, if you looked closely you could see that the missing features of the angel engraved on the amulet were filled now with May's young face.
"You think her soul is in there?" Casey asked when Morgan tried to crack the amulet open. “I don’t know.” Morgan admitted. “Maybe we will find out some day." He said after he failed to open the silver lock, putting the round garment back into his pocket, swearing to never throw it away.
"Mmm…Guys…." Din whispered. ”Stop talking about souls….We are not alone anymore." Morgan looked up and saw that indeed Din was right as the crowd that fled the school finally reached them, Colin's father being the lead of the confused mob.
the grownups and the kids that remained on the grounds of the school after Morgan's near death experience stopped in front of the gang as Colin’s dad stared at them blankly with the twin's mom and Greg shakily standing behind him, too traumatized to speak.
Colin's dad frowned.
First his eyes rested on May's body and then on Morgan’s vibrant features.
“What the hell is going on here?!” He managed, his jaw dropping in disbelieve at the sight of the supposedly dead boy standing quite alive before him.
The teens exchanged amused glances, all sharing one extraordinary story.
"You won't believe us if we tell you, dad." Colin smiled, happy to be at least alive; dealing with his father suddenly seemed secondary.
His dad crossed his arms on his chest, glaring at him.
"Try me." He demanded.
"You're not going to like it." Colin warned him.
“We will see about that, start talking.” His father insisted any way.
---
It took the teens about an hour to explain how they came to be in the winter cellar, fighting the creatures.
They didn't mention the prophecy or the fact that Jon was there with them but stuck to the tale about them falling into the situation by clear chance.
They showed the grownups of what had remained of the eggs and Utopia but it still wasn't enough to truly convince them about the truth of their story and about what really happened that day.
Eventually, tired from all the annoying questions Casey decided that she wasn't talking anymore to ‘these stupid people' and simply walked away.
After her departure the boy's whining argument was:
"Didn't you just fucking see a huge motherfucking cockroach crush through the building?" And no one could argue with that.
Colin's dad decided to cover up the story. It was crazy to tell the authorities and ultimately dangerous in fear of those individuals who would want to misuse the power of the apocalypse and foolishly try to bring them back.
No one outside the school ever knew what really went down on its grounds that day.
The reporters that swept over the area, feeling the earth quake in the small town just outside the grounds of the mansion got their scoop about a brave group of kids who found a bomb while playing in the basement of the summer school and got it away from the other innocent people and into the winter cellar before it detonated and killed one of them.
Morgan was taken back to the hospital to make sure he was ok but this time Casey didn't come with him.
She didn't want to face their parents just then, still mad about everything that they had covered up and let happen in the last couple of days.
Needless to say that Morgan wasn't too happy with them ether, especially not after he found out what really happened to Casey's face and who was responsible for hurting his twin.
Both Casey and Morgan completely ignored Greg a full month after but eventually they had to forgive him, what else could they do? he was the closest thing that they had ever knew to a father and they still had to live with him but as a little personal vendetta the twins decided not to tell their parents about Jon’s involvement.
Years would pass until their parents find out about that.
Later that week the school board held a memorial service for May among the ruins of the crumbled mansion.
They honored her courage and sacrifice for her friend’s lives and with the mayors of that town’s permission she was buried in the crypt of the previous mansion owner.
After the memorial service was over Casey and Morgan finally got to come home with the other teens.
The summer school was closed indefinitely and the exams pushed to the end of the summer to be done externally.
That night, as the twins settled back in their home they couldn't seem to find their sleep so they remained awake, sitting in their once again shared bed room; talking to Toby, Colin and Din who staid by their side since they left the cursed summer hell.
A little past midnight, as they were all trying to decide if they should head to try and get some sleep or order more pizza when an unexpected visitor dropped at their door.
"Jon!" Casey jumped to her feet to hug her brother as he suddenly just appeared in their bed room.
"Where were you?” Morgan asked, getting up as well to properly greet his brother. Jon smiled.
"I was escorting the lost souls of the children to their final resting place and now I just came to tell you a few things before I leave too..."
He looked at Casey, seeing the sorrow that had spread on her beautiful features. “Casey…It’s not forever but before I get to that…you have to keep a low profile in the next couple of days. The police will probably find the bodies of the lost children very soon now that the mansion is in ruins and there will be a lot of questions and things they won’t know how to explain about the bodies so I don’t want you getting caught in the cross fire of it, you had enough."
Casey looked scared.
“Can we get blamed for this?” Jon shook his head, smiling at Casey’s undying innocence. "Some of the bodies are too old to pin the crime on anyone alive today. “Jon assured them. "So is it really over?" Casey asked hopefully. Jon smiled.
"For this year, yes." Casey laughed nervously.
“And for the next?" Jon shrugged.
"I don’t know. Most of the apocalypses were destroyed with Utopia, the ones that remained are nothing more than insects but there are people in on the secret as well so they might come back…"
He looked at his siblings with a gaze full of meaning.
“And that brings me to another thing you should know." Casey sat down.
“What is it?"
"My body is still alive.” Jon announced. Casey looked at him with eyes filled with hope and excitement.
“Really?! Where is it?! How do you know?!"
Jon laughed at the rain of the questions.
“You were always the curious type.” He said. "I can feel it, my heart is still beating. But I don’t know where it is, too far away, hidden. Shielded from my radar.” His gaze became distant.
“But I will find it and I am counting on you to be prepared when I do, I feel that I will need your help to get it back to Me.” he said, looking at Casey.
Colin smiled.
“So we are going to do it all again someday?” Jon nodded.
“Most likely." Toby laughed.
“Then we better start taking fighting lessons, especially Casey-'boy' over here.”
He yelped as a pillow hit him straight in the face.
“I think you hit a sore spot.” Din whispered to Toby a little too loudly but Casey wasn't paying attention to them anymore.
“Do you really have to go?” Casey asked Jon, getting up from her sit and coming to stand beside him.
Jon nodded sadness evident in his features.
"I don’t belong here, not right now, this is not my reality."
"So now…"Casey began.
“So now…I am drawn to my body. I have to try and find it, and I must do it alone…you can’t come with me.” Jon explained.
“Will we ever see you again?” Casey asked,
almost grieved, she was losing Jon again. Jon smiled and hugged her.
“I’m sure you will." He released Casey, giving Morgan a quick hug as well and then he vanished, his final "goodbye" Lingers in the air.
“I will never be far again.”
---
The bodies that Jon was talking about were uncovered a few hours later when the police was looking for any one that might have been buried after the ‘bombing’ at the former summer school.
They found the bodies rotten and corrupted, all of them of children, some of them declared missing for decades and pretty soon the detectives had pinned the murders on the last mansion owner’s family with cause of death: unknown.
It was all over the news the next morning and the teens had sat in the twin’s bedroom, watching as the Red Cross was carrying out the gurneys with the covered bodies one by one.
There were so many, too many to count.
Casey tried really hard not to cry.
It wasn't the justice she would have wanted for these poor children but she at least found comfort in the fact that the truth, at least some of it was out there and from honored and respected pillars of the community the old corrupted money craving greedy family were now considered monsters, fitting as they had become such themselves.
Casey turned off the TV, she couldn't watch anymore as the flood of the dead bodies had become just too great for her to handle. So many years of suffering, at least they were free now.
The room was silent for a few moments and then Colin spoke, trying to lighten up the dark atmosphere that had been lingering amongst them since Jon left.
“So you never told us.” He turned to face Morgan.
"What?" Morgan asked and Colin smirked.
"What got you into this whole mess in the first place?"
"What?” Morgan looked at him confused. Colin puffed.
"I was almost pan caked by a giant cockroach Morgan! So I at least demand to know what the hags', Kafka's age is! Din said that you went to investigate!"
Morgan blinked and then burst out laughing.
"You're an idiot.”
"A complete moron." Casey added. Colin frowned at them.
"So you're not going to tell us?" Morgan looked at Din who smiled back at him.
"What do you say, mate? Should we put him out of his misery?" He asked, leaning back against his bed.
"Next time…" Din smiled mischievously. “Next time I will go ‘investigate’ something that will put us in handful of trouble and mortal danger, I will take Colin with me and then he will be able to find out any valuable world changing information on his own."
Colin gulped.
The mere prospect of ever repeating this years' experience had sent goose bumps down his spine.
"On second thought,” He mumbled. “Don’t tell me! I am not going through this again! Ever! No even if you pay me! No way!"
The room was filled with laughter and none of them suspected about the little cockroach that crawled from under the wreckage, readying itself for its revenge.
Winds Of The Apocalypse Page 29