Gen 1.6 History Repeats Itself

This chapter serves as an interlude of sorts to provide some answers, but also pose more questions. Since it's been a while, I'll give a recap. 

Andi Banks felt like her life was spiraling out of control after the death of her father and long term boyfriend. She was in a toxic relationship, and her oldest brother as well as her mother turned on her. Just as Andi was making amends with her brother, she slid on some rocks and died. The Grim Reaper bartered with the Fates to save Andi's life, and reset the timeline she was living in to give her a second chance. 

Resetting the timeline did have some effects. There Andi met Silas, a vampire, and the two became friends as well as developed feelings for each other. Silas wanted to hide their relationship as other vampires did not take to kindly to humans. Silas was also able to remember past lives with Andi, while Andi just felt inexplicably drawn to him. Andi was killed by an extremist vampire. Silas arrived at her house in time to beg for her life. 

They were then sent to another timeline where Andi was a the daughter of two wealthy nobles, and Silas was the son of one of their security guards. As Andi's mother did not approve of the marriage, the two ran away to begin a new life. They were married, and Andi soon became pregnant. During her pregnancy, Silas had re-accruing nightmares of her death. He visited Glimmerbrook in hopes of finding a potion to cure his nightmares. Instead he met the sage Morgyn who give him cryptic information about his powers and that his father might not be who he believed. Andi almost passed away during child birth but was thankfully saved. However, she fell very ill and missed out on her their daughter, Yelena's baby years. Once Yelena grew up however, she loved Andi unconditionally, and the little family of three finally had a moment of peace.

Warnings: Child abandonment, emotional manipulation, death, and other sensitive topics

About twenty-five years in the past...

"I can't believe you gave birth to our child without letting me know about it Rowena. If I had known the due date was so close, I never would have left."

"Well you did, and it happened, so there is no use getting upset about it now. Besides, I wasn't going to bother your business trip with something as insignificant as the birth of a child."

"Insignificant. I'd hardly call our child being born insignificant, especially after all we have been through."

"Yes, yes, I suppose you are right. I just had to have her checked. I had to make sure she was alright unlike the other ones. I couldn't risk giving birth to another disaster. Now that I know she is fine we can announce the news that we finally have a child."                                                                                                                                   

 "She?"

"Yes, we had a girl this time. I was rather disappointed to be honest. I was hoping for another son. I suppose she will do though. Maybe it's better this way. We can marry her off to someone of a higher station, and improve our standing as well."

"Is that all you care about? What about her well being? Her happiness?"

"Well as I told you, she is perfectly alright. No sign of whatever demonic afflictions that affected our previous children."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. What would you have done if she did show signs?"

"I would have cast her out as I did our other children and let our people know that we lost another child. I am glad I don't have to that this time. I am getting well beyond my child bearing years. You know as well as I do it is for the best. We cannot have an heir that the priest deems demonic. We would be accused of witchcraft and be run out of house and home."

"It makes me sick to think of what you did to our sons. Do you ever wonder if they are still alive? If they are well cared for?"

"For all purposes, those children are dead to me."

"I am going to make sure she has a happy life. I will not let you get rid of another child. I will not let you drive her away."

"You are being too sentimental Thomas."

"Does she have a name?"

"Yes, Amanda."

 Amanda grew up to be a well behaved, yet curious child. She spent much of her free time reading. She didn't get to leave her home much, so her books were her escape into another world.

Amanda was taught all of the proper skills she needed to know to become a wife and to contribute to the estate, though she didn't know this yet. She found most of the lessons boring, but she attended them anyway. She had tried sneaking out and faced the wrath of her mother. Amanda did everything she could to avoid making her mother angry. Her father was much kinder to her, but he could only protect her so much.

 Amanda was unfortunately also a very sickly child. There were many days she spent bed ridden. For a while, this seemed to cause her mother to get upset too, not with motherly concern but with anger. Soon though, she no longer seemed angry. Amanda was grateful but wondered why.

Unbeknownst to her, Rowena had cemented her plan for her daughter. She was not the strong, clever young woman she had been hoping for. She was too weak to handle their estate. However, she decided she could use this to her advantage. She just needed to train her daughter to be attractive to potential suitors. Once she found one Rowena deemed worthy, she would be quickly married off. All that would matter then was the matter of Amanda living long enough to give birth to a child to inherit their estate. Then, Rowena planned on raising and grooming that child to take over. Hopefully, they would not be a disappointment.

 "Amanda you need to be on your best behavior today. We are having visitors."

"My name is Andi now, remember? Father started calling me that."

"That's all well and good, but that is just a nickname. You will go by your full name today."

"Are these people important?"

"Very important. One of them could be your future husband."

  "Husband? But I'm too little to get married. Marriage is for grown ups!"

"It is never too early to start securing a marriage."

"I don't even know him! What if he's mean?"

Rowena sighed as her daughter began to start sniveling.

  "You will have time to get to no each other now. You do not have to like him Amanda. You are young, so we still have other options. However, you will get married, and you will have a child. That is just the truth, and you need to accept that now. You need to know what is at stake."

"No! I don't want to see him or talk to him or anyone else. I just want to go read. I don't care about getting married."

"You will meet him, and you will be on your best behavior. If you are not I will burn your books. I've allowed you to fill your head with that rubbish for too long anyway. You should be reading something more practical."

"I promise I'll be good mother. Please don't destroy my books! I'll talk to him and be on my best behavior."

"Good. His family has just arrived, so we best go meet them now."

  With marriage prospects being looked into, Andi's father Thomas decided it was a good idea to increase his security detail.

He had an interview with a young man named Caspian. Even though the other man was of a lower status and did not have much experience, there was something about him that made Thomas think he would be a good fit for the job. He seemed to want to protect their family because he genuinely cared, not to gain money or prestige.

Thomas decided that Caspian would work for him and be rewarded land in return, even though he turned it down. The man was humble and caring. Thomas allowed him to bring his young son to live at their estate as well, much to Rowena's dismay. Thomas would not cast a child out on their own. Not after what Rowena had done to their own children.

 "Wow father you look so different now! Do I get fancy new clothes too?"

"Your clothes are fine Silas. I need this armor to protect the Banks family. You're a child, so you won't be in any danger."

"What if I want to protect them too."

"Then that will be your choice when you are older. For now, you are just a child. You should be out having fun, making new friends."

"But you're my friend. I don't need anymore."

Caspian smiled, "There's another child that lives here. Maybe you can make friends with her."

"I don't think she'll want to be my friend. I think I'll just keep you as my only friend."

Caspian frowned. Silas had always seemed very weary of people even though he was so young. He had taken Silas away from their horrid living situation when he was merely a baby. Sometimes Caspian wondered if Silas somehow remembered how bad things were. If that was why he kept his guard up.

 "What's wrong. Did I say something bad? You look upset."

"No, it's nothing. I just wish you would be willing to make more friends is all."

"People are scary."

"I can't disagree with that."

"Will I be staying in this big room with you?"

"No, you'll have your own room downstairs. We will also have a house soon close to the Banks Estate, so we'll each have a room there too."

"A new house? Cool! Maybe I'll just stay in that house all by myself. Someone will need to look after it."

"No Silas, you'll be staying here. You're much too young to live on your own."

Silas pouted as Caspian lead him downstairs to his room. He was wary of people, but Silas really had no reason to be. He really hoped that one day Silas would grow to like it here. They were safe and could have a fresh start.

Silas liked his new room. It was much bigger and fancier than the one he had before. He liked that it had windows overlooking the courtyard. This way he could double check to make sure no one was out there if he wanted to go exploring. He didn't understand why his father made such a big deal out of him making new friends. He was perfectly content on his own.

Silas was kept quite busy with lessons of his own. Rowena had decided that any children that were brought in by their new hires must be educated if they wanted to live here. She would not have them ruining their good name. Silas, for the most part, enjoyed the lessons. He loved learning new things.

He still did love exploring the grounds on his own. They were so pretty and had the nicest gardens. He wanted to have his own garden when he grew up.

He was still careful to avoid the other members of the estate. Aside from his brother and tutors, he rarely spoke to anyone. One day, however, when he slipped outside he saw the Banks' daughter walking by. Silas froze hoping she didn't see them. He was a bit intimidated by her. She was usually surrounded by lots of people, and they were loud and scary.

Heart racing, he tried to run back to his room, but he felt frozen in place. He braced himself, as he saw her approaching him.

"Hi! I haven't seen you around before. Did my mother send you here?"

"N-no she d-din't. I really need to g-go."

"Oh that's too bad. I was hoping we could talk. If you weren't sent here by my mother, that must mean you're just a normal kid."

"What do you mean?"

"My mother keeps wanting me to meet all these boys, so I can potentially marry them. I don't like talking to them at all, though. They're boring. Since you're just a kid like me I was hoping we could be friends. It would be nice to make an actual friend."

Silas looked at his shoes not saying anything. It must be strange to have to think about getting married already. She seemed to be around the same age as him. Were they going to make him marry someone too if he stayed here?

"I'm sorry all of that must have sounded odd. Sometimes I don't know when to stop talking. My mother always says I should talk less, that I do not need to talk to get a husband. I do not know why though. Why would I marry someone I couldn't talk to? Oh, there I go again. I'm sorry. I will leave you alone, so you can get back to where ever you needed to go."

"I um, I actually didn't need to go anywhere. I was just scared when I saw you out here. I've seen you before, and you're always with a lot of other people. I thought you'd bring more people with you."

"No it's just me! If you've seen me before you must have been here at least for a little while."

"My father is part of the security detail. I just don't leave my room much. I do like to sit out here, though. All the plants are so pretty."

"Aren't they just beautiful? If you don't have anywhere to be, then maybe we can sit and talk for a bit."

Reluctantly, Silas followed her over to one of the benches. At first, he didn't say much. She did most of the talking. He found out her name was Andi, and that she had two cats she adored. She liked the color purple, and flowers, and reading, and going on adventures. She wasn't allowed to have much fun because of her mother apparently. Andi's nose seemed to crinkle up in annoyance whenever her mother was brought up.

Andi asked him some questions about himself, but she didn't pry when he didn't want to talk. He told her about living with his father in a little shack on the outskirts of town before they cam here. He also told her that he didn't much like people because they scared him, and he couldn't understand them. He didn't know why he told her that. It probably made him seem weird.

"Why are you being so nice to me," he finally asked.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"You don't have to talk to me. I'm not anyone important, and I was really poor before I came here. You're a princess. You have fancy important people to talk to."

"I'm not a princess," she giggled, "Besides I think you're very important. You're really different than the other kids that are here. None of them want anything to do with me. Not really anyway. They are just here because they have to be. You are just talking to me because you want to be. At least I think you want to be."

Andi looked nervous and shy for the first time since they had started talking. Silas decided that he liked Andi. Maybe she had a lot to say, but he liked listening to her talk, and he liked talking to her even if he didn't have much to say. She made him feel comfortable and warm.

"I am. I guess I'm glad I came out here today. If I didn't maybe we never would have met."

Andi beamed, "So does this mean we're friends? I'd like to be friends!"

"I'd like to be friends too."

 Silas and Andi spent quite a bit of time together after that day. Silas decided that having another friend besides his father was not that bad after all. Andi was a lot of fun to be around. She let him play with all her toys. She also seemed to be a lot more carefree and goofy around him the longer they spent together.

 Silas also started teaching Andi new skills. She wanted to learn new things in addition to her studies, so when the tutors were gone, they would sneak into the study rooms and exchange information. Andi really liked working on potions. She also wanted to learn about woodworking, but Silas wasn't old enough to have had those lessons yet.

"Look! I made something green and something purple."

"I can't believe you actually got that to work. It took me days to get that potion right."

Silas wanted to learn some different things too. One day he got up the courage to ask Andi.

"Do they teach you about art? This is probably foolish, but I really like drawing. I don't get any lessons on drawing. I guess they don't want boys to learn."

"I think boys should learn to draw too! I actually have a drawing table in my room, if  you want to use it."

"Really? That would be amazing. I am allowed in your room?"

"I don't see why not."

"And here we are in my room!"

"The drawing table..it's fantastic! There are so many supplies."

"Feel free to use them. I'm not much for drawing."

"Your room is so amazing. You have your own drawing table and violin right here. You wouldn't ever have to leave."

"Sometimes I wish I didn't have to leave. I also have a stash of books hidden in my dresser. My mother does not like the books I read."

"Your mother doesn't seem to like a lot of things."

"No she does not. Sometimes I wonder if she likes me."

Suddenly Rowena burst into Andi's room, a furious look on her face.

"What is he doing here?"

"Mother, this is Silas. His dad is one of the guards."

"I know who he is. Why is he in your room?"

Silas sat frozen at the drawing table. He shrank down. Maybe going to Andi's room was a bad idea. He didn't want to get her into trouble.

"He wanted to draw. He doesn't get art lessons like I do, so I thought I could let him use my drawing table."

"He doesn't need art lessons, and he certainly does NOT need to be in your room."

"We aren't doing anything bad. He's just drawing."

"I do not care. I want him out of here NOW!"

Silas ran out of the room. He didn't dare look back, but he could hear Andi start crying. Why was her mother so mean?

Silas ran into his father's room as fast as his legs would carry him.

Seeing the terrified look on Silas's face saddened Caspian.

"What's wrong?"

"I was drawing in Andi's room, and her mom came in, and she got really mad and scary."

"What were you doing in her room?"

"I just told you. I was drawing."

Caspian sighed. He had wanted Silas to make friends, but he thought he would just make friends with local children in the village or more of the guardsmen's children. He wasn't expecting him to befriend the next heir to the Banks' legacy.

He reached down and wrapped Silas in a hug and could feel him shaking.

"Hey, shh, you're gong to be okay."

"She was so scary father. I thought she was going to hurt me? What if she's hurting Andi right now?"

"Well you are perfectly safe here. As for her daughter, I doubt she would hurt her."

"Andi tells me all this stuff about her mother. She sounds really mean and scary."

"You need to worry about you. Being friends with Andi could be dangerous."

"Why? You said you wanted me to make friends, and I did. Andi is really nice and fun, and I like being her friend."

"Just be careful, okay. People of her status aren't normally friends with people like us."

"But Andi's different!"

"I hope you're right."

"Can I sleep in your room tonight? I'm scared to go back out there."

"Of course."

 Over in Andi's room, a very different conversation was taking place.

"How often have you brought him to your room?"

"What?"

"Do not pretend you did not hear me. How often has he been here?"

"Just today! He wanted to draw, so I was going to teach him how to draw."

"You cannot have young men in your room."

"Why? What did you think we were doing here?"

"I refuse to believe you are that clueless. The last thing I need is for you to be with child."

"What? I am only twelve. I cannot have a baby right now."

"It is not up to you. It is up to your body, and you are capable of having a child."

"You thought we were making a baby? I don't even know how to do that!"

Rowena laughed a humorless laugh, "You really are completely clueless."

"I am not. I know you think am stupid, but I am not."

"Oh, you do quite fine in your lessons, but you lack common sense. That boy is clearly taking advantage of you. Why do you think he wanted to come back to your room?"

"He wanted to draw! Silas is not taking advantage of me. He is my best friend."

"If I were not so disgusted right now, I would find your naivety adorable. He is not your friend Amanda. He is using you. I have half a mind to force he and his father to leave."

"No, you can't," Andi wailed, "If you make them leave I'm leaving too."

"You do  not understand Amanda. You cannot leave. You are our only child."

"Have another one because I don't want to be here anymore! I do not want to constantly talk to different guys about having to get married. I want to have friends and have fun and read my books."

"Since you keep on insisting that you do not want to be here, then I am locking you in this room until I can trust you will not run away."

"Don't lock me in! I will be good. I'm sorry."

"That is what I thought."

 Thomas noticed that Andi looked upset and stopped her as she walked by.

"What's wrong darling?"

"Mother was very mad at me! I just let Silas in my room to draw because he wanted to draw, and we are best friends. Mother thought we were making a baby! She yelled at Silas and scared him away, and I don't think he will ever be my friend again. She also said she would send him and his father away and lock me in my room. Please make sure they don't get sent away! I will stay locked in my room if I have to, but Silas and his father did nothing wrong."

Thomas frowned. He had been growing increasingly frustrated with the way Rowena was behaving. She was beginning to sicken him. He couldn't leave though, especially now that they had a child together. He would not leave Andi alone to live with her. It didn't mean he couldn't tell her exactly how he felt.

"I promise you that Silas and his father will be safe. You do not have anything to worry about there. You will not be locked in your room either. I will keep you safe."

"Oh thank you so much father! I'm glad they don't have to leave. I felt so horrible because it was all my fault in the first place."

"It wasn't your fault at all. You were just spending time with a friend, and your mother, well she may have gotten a bit more upset than she needed to. I will talk to her."

"I love you father."

Thomas hugged her tightly, "I love you too."

Thomas dreaded confronting his wife, she always managed to turn things around on him or weasel her way out of it, but he was done.

He found Rowena in their room, sighing he prepared himself to let her know exactly how he felt.

Before he could even get a word in, Rowena let out an exasperated sigh.

"She came running crying to you didn't she."

"If you are talking about our daughter, then yes, she did come to me and told me everything that happened."

"And I assume you are going to baby her and take her side as always."

"I am sick of your behavior. You treat our daughter as an object and not a child. I sometimes wonder if you even care about her at all. You torment her and threaten her. She is only a child. I'm surprised you have not caused her any permanent damage."

"Oh please, do not act all high and mighty. Soon enough you will have to stop treating her like a child too. She needs to live in the real world and not this innocent fantasy world she has conjured up in her head."

"She is a child. She will always be my child no matter how old she is, and I will always want what is best for her. You ripped away two other children without my knowledge. I will not have you drive her away too."

"You went along with my plan."

"Only because you gave me no choice. You made the decision to cast out our previous two children before I even had a say. Sometimes I wonder if there was anything wrong with them to begin with."

"If there was not anything wrong with them. I would have kept them. They would have surely been preferable to her."

"You disgust me. You can't even refer to our own daughter by name. You openly despise her. What kind of mother are you?"

"One that is doing the best I can for our legacy, your legacy."

"Legacy be damned I will not have you treating Amanda like she is a some pawn on a chess board."

"Well I wish you luck with that. Caving in and allow her emotions to get the best of her is going to bring nothing but ruin to our name. If you want to be in charge of raising her, that is fine by me. Clearly you do not appreciate me at all. I am done."

"I am more than happy to take on the majority of her care if it means keeping her away from you. Another thing I need to tell you, you will not have any say over the security detail. They were hired to protect my family, so you cannot dismiss them."

"You will live to regret that too someday. I have no doubt in my mind that she will become pregnant by that street urchin you allowed in our home."

"I am done with this conversation, and I am done with you. For appearance's sake, I will pretend we are a united front, but behind closed doors, consider this marriage over."

"You have no idea what kind of trouble you are getting yourself into."

"You know what I really do not care."

With that Thomas turned to leave the room and leave his wife.

Andi didn't know exactly what happened between her parents, but after their talk her life became much happier. Her mother rarely spent any time around her, and she was allowed to remain friends with Silas. Though she was still expected to continue her lessons and to find someone to marry, her father put considerably less pressure on her. It felt as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Maybe, just maybe she could marry for love instead of status. She wanted a better marriage than her parents had. Sometimes she looked at Silas and wondered, but she tried to push those thoughts to the back of her mind. What were the chances he had feelings for her anyway. For now she was content to have him in her life regardless of what their relationship was.

Now that Silas was older and had started carpentry lessons of his own, he passed on his knowledge to Andi since he knew she was eager to learn.

"What are you going to carve today. Another cat?"

"Oh you think you are so funny. There's nothing wrong with loving my cats. My last attempt of Juliet's statue did not turn out how I hoped, so I am going to try again."

Silas smiled at her, "Whatever makes you happy."

"Spending time with you makes me happy."

She felt heat rise to her cheeks, and she quickly turned away to focus on the woodworking bench. She didn't notice that Silas was blushing as well.

As Andi began to work on her statue, the pair chatted between themselves.

All of a sudden, Andi began to find it very hard to focus on Silas's words. She felt dizzy and unwell. Her vision became blurry, and she felt as though she was slipping in and out of consciousness. She still got sick quite often, so she tried to push through it. It was probably nothing.

Andi felt herself slipping and tried to grasp on to the table to keep her balance. It was no luck, though. She suddenly began to have a hard time breathing and collapsed on the floor, unaware of Silas's frantic cries asking her if she was okay.

Silas rushed to her side and lifted her off the floor. He tried to keep his breathing steady and check for a pulse. It was so faint, and he could feel her slipping away more and more as each moment passed.

"Andi wake up. Please wake up. This can't be happening."

Trying to hold back tears he kept shaking her lifeless form trying to get her to wake up.

"You can't die. I can't lose you."

Silas scooped her limp body into his arms and rushed off as fast as he could to get help. Andi couldn't be dead. She had to be okay. She would fight this and be just fine. He knew she would. He couldn't picture a world without her in it.

Silas placed Andi on her bed and rushed to find her father to alert him of what happened. The local doctor arrived quickly and ushered Silas and Thomas out of the way, so they could attempt to heal her. Silas stood by the closed door head in his hands. Now all he had to do is wait, but he wasn't sure if he could handle it. They had to be able to help her, they just had to be.

When Andi regained consciousness, she found herself in a dark room with a strange hooded figure. What had happened to her? Was this person a doctor?

"Where am I? Who are you?"

The hooded figure sighed, "Just give it a moment Amanda, and it will come to you. I am sorry that this had to happen again."

"Again? How do you know my name? What is going on? Where is Silas?"

The figure did not answer her.

All of a sudden, Andi felt a sharp pain in her head as memory after memory flooded back to her. She had been here before, so many times before.

"I am dead aren't I."

"Yes. I'm sorry there's nothing I could do to prevent it, but I can bring you back."

"I know. You have done it before. Will this work the same way?"

"Yes, you will just need to wait here for a few moments, and then you will return to your world. All of this will be but a distant memory."

"Why does this keep happening to me?"

"I truly am sorry," the Grim Reaper said, and with that he walked away, not answering her question.

Andi wrapped her arms around herself and tried not to cry. She had been through this before, and she knew she would be alright. She just wanted to know why this kept happening to her over and over again. Was she even worth existing?

As the Grim Reaper went to prepare to bring Andi back, he was stopped by one of the Fates. He sighed, of course it would be her. She hated him the most out of all of them.

"So I see she died once again."

"Can you not antagonize me just this once and let me do my job."

"Your job is to not interfere with the lives we have planned out for mortals, but you get too attached to some of them and cannot handle that."

"I have no idea how you decide which mortals you want to save and which ones you let die. Why does it matter in the grand scheme of things."

"Some are dealt a bad hand that they did not deserve, thanks to you and your sisters."

"You do realize you have made the five people whose lives you 'saved' even worse don't you? You have ensured that they are destined to die in every timeline, and every timeline you fight us and take control of their lives. You are the reason why they are doomed to such a fate. Not us."

"If you would leave me alone, I need to mark her once again, so I control her fate not you. You have put her through enough already."

"As I said, it is your fault she keeps dying to begin with. We have rules in place for a reason, but you break them no matter how many times we warn you."

"Please stop antagonizing me. You and your sisters may create someone's fate, but I ultimately decide whether they live or die."

"You know, I think I understand why you saved her. It was to appease yourself of  your own guilt. It has nothing to do with her, it has to do with him."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You try and act noble, like you are saving Amanda Banks's life for selfless reasons, but you really want her there for Silas."

"Don't."

"You feel guilty for how he came to be."

"I said don't bring him up."

"You know we have warned you over, and over again not bring children of your own into this world, but you refuse to listen. You feel guilty that you gave him to a sociopath, a mass murder, and to make up for it, you are saving the love of his life. You have doomed this poor woman into a horrible life in every timeline just because you feel guilty for what you did to your own son."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

"You know it's true. You gave Silas to someone who had no business raising a child. Someone that wanted to turn him into a weapon. Only this time, in this timeline, he never had to suffer. He was taken away from his real father, and raised by someone who cared for him. Instead, Amanda was the one to suffer. Your choices left her with a manipulative and toxic mother. You made her life hell, just so your son could be happy."

"You know nothing about my motives."

"Oh, I clearly do now. I do not know why it didn't occur to me in the first place. You have just traded one reason to be guilty for another. You are giving your son a bit of light, a glimmer of hope in his life, while you destroy someone else's. I hope you can live with yourself because you have all of eternity to complete this cycle over and over again."

Much to Silas's surprise and relief, he saw Andi walking down the stairs just a few short hours later. They both rushed towards each other to embrace. He was so terrified of losing her, and yet here she was, thankfully alive and well. They held each other for what seemed like an eternity, yet not long enough, each afraid that if they let go this would all turn out to be a dream.

"I'm so glad you're okay. I was terrified. You just collapsed. I thought, I thought I lost you."

"You did not lose me. I am right here."

"What happened?"

"I have no idea. The doctor said one moment I was fighting for my life, and the next moment I woke up perfectly alive and well. He said he had never seen anything like it. There is something else odd, though."

"What is it?"

"When I woke up, he noticed a strange mark appeared on my back. It was not there before."

Andi turned around, so Silas could see the mark. It was mostly covered by her dress, but he could see the odd pattern.

"What do you think it means," he asked cautiously.

"I have no idea, but when my father saw it, he said I must hide it and never let my mother see it. She has left me alone for the last several years, so I am fine with doing anything to avoid facing her wrath. I suppose I shall have to style my hair differently, but that isn't a problem."

"I'm so sorry this happened to you Andi. I wish I could have protected you. I feel like it's my fault."

"Oh Silas, do not blame yourself. I have always been sickly. There's nothing you could have done."

"I could have gotten you to a doctor sooner. I could tell you were starting to feel off."

"I am alive and well now, and that is all that matters. You saved my life Silas. If you wouldn't have been there, who knows what would have happened to me."

Nervously, Silas took her hands.

"I will try my best to make sure nothing ever happens to you again. I will protect you from your mother too. I won't let her find out about the mark."

Andi smiled, "I know you will keep that promise. I always feel safe around you. You are my best friend, my protector. I am so happy to have you in my life. Whatever else happens, I know we will get through it together."