Chaos

Patience

I run. Somebody tries to grab my hand and I backhand him and keep running to my family with tears in my eyes. Emily slams into me and I end up on my back with her on top of me. She's still the same. Anthony comes to check if I am alright. My beautiful boy. And Neil stands there looking at us with tears in his eyes. I can't believe it. We're all here together! Now we can live the way we always wanted to, always together. We can watch kids grow up without the fear of poverty and the pressure of society. This is a perfect place for us. The joy I feel while hugging my children dies out as I see everyone's concerned faces. "What's wrong now? My family is here." I ask. Nikolai just shakes his head with pity. I turn to Neil "Honey please tell me what is going on. We found each other, now we can all be together forever. Why are you looking at me like that?" His answer leaves me cold "We're not staying here. Do you know where you are? We belong to the Skylands, I don't know what happened to make you end up here but we came to give you a choice. Come home with us. Wings will fix themselves as soon as you come home." I am speechless. Leave this island? But this is my home, my soul came to this place. It was suposed to be their home too. What went wrong? "No. We're all staying here. You have no buisness going up there." As soon as those words leave my mouth, kids let go of me and go to Neil. " How could you choose this place over Skies for your children?!" Neil yells. I'm speechless again because Neil never yells. This is not the man I wanted to spend my life with. This is someone else. Nik puts his hand on my shoulder "Let them go. You can't make them stay", but Emily cries "Mommy aren't you coming home with us? We miss you." That breaks my heart into a million pieces. "Baby I love you. You know how much I love you and your brother, but we can't go there. This is our home." She walks to me again and hugs me " Then I hope I'll visit you again. We're going back because it's beautiful there and we are angels." My five year old princess says that with a serious face. " If you ever change your mind you'll know how to call us, but we can't be here anymore" says Neil and at those words he turns and flies away. Kids give me another hug, Anthony a little tighter than Emily, and they turn and leave after their father. I try to go after them but Nik stops me. "Let them go now. The Skylanders messed with their heads, there's nothing you can do now except make them hate you. We will find a way but it will take time. Be patient. They are with their father so they will be safe." At those words I fall to my knees and weep. My children just left to another world. My beautiful children. Pain tears through me. I can't see, I can't hear, I can't think. I lost them again.

Trees pass by me. I guess I'm walking. Emily's and Anthony's faces are all I see. Someone's talking to me but the voice is lost. "I'll visit you again" she said. "We're going back because it's beautiful there and we are angels". Ok, they're happy. I can live with that. The sea appears to my right, the blue waves reminding me of Anthony's eyes. He was always such a beautiful boy, with those eyes and light brown hair. And Emily's chocolate eyes, beautiful and warm like the soil here when the sun hits it. Full of life. I can't stop thinking about them, I can't believe I just let them go. Nik snaps me out of my trans. We're standing in front of a huge castle. Something about it feels familiar. "Welcome home" he says with a smile. I just nod. There is no home without my family. We walk inside, ma heart and mind still far away with my children.

The lobby is the size of a football stadium. It didn't seem that big from the outside. To my left there are double doors, kitchen is inside. I don't know how I knew that. In front of me is a huge staircase with black carpet nailed to it. It branches left and right to the bedrooms. To my right is a table from hard wood that seems a mile long, ornamented chairs lined neatly alongside. Past the table is the fireplace made of black marble. Cameron flicks his wrist and fireplace lights up. In front of it are arranged two armchairs,a sofa and a black coffee table, all oversized. Guess it makes sense when giants live here. Nik takes the armchair on the right, Cam takes the one across from it and twins, Andrej and Alexei, take the sofa. Trevor stays standing behing like a true soldier. Twins are quiet this whole time which is strange considering I can see their souls. Neither of them is the quiet type.

"We need to call a meeting with Dimitri" Nikolai says. That makes everyone turn to him in disbelief. "We're at war Nikolai, or have you forgotten?" Cam says. "It's time to leave behind us this childish behaviour. I am sure when my brother learns what is happening he will come around." I didn't know Nik had a brother. Why don't I know? "How come I don't see your brother?" I ask. "He's on a different island. You cannot know what is not yours to know." That offended me a little, I thought I knew everything. "Right. So we're meeting with him soon." I say. "Let's hope Nikolai knows his brother better than we do." says Trevor.