Crimson Angel

by Yume

  Epilogue

  The Afterlife

  A week off

  “You can’t be so irresponsible, Winnie.” I complained, walking down the stairs.

  “I can’t help it!” Winnie said enthusiastically. “As soon as he got a week off, he bought two tickets to Egypt.”

  “You don’t even have to take a flight.” I rolled my eyes. “We can fly you to that place right now.”

  “We have to behave normally, Alice.” Winnie smiled and blew me a kiss. “Just help me a bit with this house.”

  I raised my brows as I scanned through the untidy, messy living room and I groaned.

  “Bye, honey. Greet Len on my behalf.” Winnie said, closing the door behind.

  Seconds later, Len walked down the stairs in his pajamas.

  “What’s the fuss about?” Len yawned. “I was so tired.”

  “Oh, you won’t believe this.” I said, throwing myself onto the sofa.

  We had spent the last twenty days in thirty countries of the world, without rest. We were so relieved to get to sleep after our trip last night but this morning, with quite a bad luck, woken by Winnie.

  “Not again.” He sat beside me. “Is Winnie out?”

  “Yes!” I said, hitting him. “For heaven’s sake, why did you give George a holiday?”

  “Well, because I thought we could sleep for a week.” Len smiled.

  “Great.” I said. “Now, we have to take care of this house for a week.”

  “Two houses precisely. Isn’t that marvelous? We have just got each other to spend these few days.” Len laughed, as optimistic as always.

  “We have just spent the past twenty days together, just the two of us.” I reminded him, sighing.

  “It won’t take long.” Len stood up. “I’ll do it.”

  Within a minute, the entire room was tidy and clean again. The floor was polished and shone under sunlight.

  Len returned to my side, so much for a responsible son.

  “I won’t thank you for that.” I teased.

  “Really?” Len smirked. “Your heart is full of gratitude.”

  I snorted and walked back upstairs. “I am going to bed. Again!”

  “Hey, wait up.” Len chased after me.

  The new member

  “Excuse me?” I thought I had heard the wrong thing. “What did you say, Winnie?”

  “Oh, sweetheart, didn’t you hear it?” Winnie smiled. I had never seen her so lighthearted before. “You are going to have a sibling!”

  “Are you going to adopt another child?” I asked, knowing it wasn’t truth.

  “Alice! You know what I am saying.” Winnie groaned. “Don’t act so ignorant.”

  “I can’t believe this.” I shook my head as I turned to Len. “She did it with George!”

  “Take it easy.” Len laughed. “I think it is quite exciting.”

  I snarled.

  “Why are you so angry, honey?” Winnie looked sad.

  “Well, she doesn’t like it because she thinks George has snatched you away from her.” Len answered for me and I shot him a stare.

  “Oh, so, you are jealous?” Winnie smirked. “Of George and of this baby?”

  “Alright.” I put up my hand to hint a stop on this subject. “Leave me alone for a moment.”

  I walked back to my room and threw myself onto bed. I could not believe this- Winnie was expecting a child! An unusual child!

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Leave me alone.” I mumbled, getting ready to lie down.

  Len opened the door despite my words.

  “Hey.” He settled down at the edge of the bed. “I know what you are thinking.”

  “Then, why do you have to come in and check on me?” I pointed out.

  “Because I want to say something.”

  “Go on.”

  “It isn’t that bad, is it?” Len said with his never-growing childish face. “I mean, I have always had siblings older than me but never one younger than me.”

  “Right.” I sat up. “One that is younger than us by sixteen years!”

  “Isn’t that fantastic?” Len smiled and I rolled my eyes. “I like children. They are cute.”

  “You are one of them yourself.” I reminded.

  “Fine.” Len sighed. “Look, what is bothering you is just an unprepared, thrilled feeling. It isn’t a big deal.”

  “You don’t understand.” I said.

  “I do.” Len argued. “You feel queer because you have never had a sibling and you feel disappointed because you are going to have one.”

  “What exactly am I disappointed about?” I asked.

  “Your disappointment is that,” Len paused for a moment. “Winnie cannot be with you all the time if she has a child of her own.”

  “Nice try.” I said. “You read my mind.”

  “And there is fright in you.”

  “Oh?”

  “You are afraid she won’t focus on you as much as she does now and has always done.”

  “So what?” I said. “That’s a normal thing to worry about. If you want to continue this talk, you have got to come up of some solutions for me.”

  “Let me see.” Len said. “As I said, it isn’t a bad thing at all. George must be terribly happy and so is Winnie. Your reaction will only add up to her stress. You don’t want her to be sad even when she is expecting a child, do you?”

  I did not but I could not help it. It just, felt all wrong for me.

  “Why don’t you give it a try?” Len said.

  “Try what?”

  “Show some understanding and acceptance.”

  “This is all you have to say to reassure me?”

  “Alice,” Len said in a serious voice. “You know well Winnie cannot stay with you forever. You know she is a human. She’s been looking after you for the last decade and now she has to enjoy her life a bit. Don’t you agree? She doesn’t have much time spent with George, only about forty or fifty years more or so. You can’t expect her to spend each second with you, can you?”

  I bet he was right after all.

  “I am.”

  “You are always right.” I said. “It’s just…rather hard to accept the truth right now. I am not…”

  “Confident that you can get on well with this brother or sister?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, I have lots of siblings myself.” Len said. “What have I experienced? All kinds of bond and hatred and even conflicts between us. But, they were all preventable. I just wish I had a second chance to start all over again, with my family.”

  “I guess…I know what you mean.”

  “You have never had one before.” Len said. “And I know things will be just fine in this family.”

  “Okay.” I surrendered. There was no one that could talk more sense into me than Len. “I’ll try.”