It was still pitch dark and nothing had changed.
Deafening cries for help could be heard outside our apartment room, alarming chaos rumbled around us but all I could do was stare at my husband of 5years.
I met Richard one sunny afternoon.
I remember it like it was yesterday
I was walking on a quiet street back to the office when a man suddenly bumped into me, almost sending me to the ground.
But he kept running
“Hey!” I remember screaming after him in hot pursuit, his long legs taking him farther away from me but I wasn’t backing down.
“Hey!”
He suddenly stopped and pulled me into a tiny corner on the street. I tried to scream but his hands were placed firmly over my mouth.
I remember thinking I was going to die that day
When he looked at me, what I found in his eyes had me bewildered.
I had thought about biting the hand that was over my mouth but something about his eyes drew me in.
It glowed in a strange way, reflecting colors of grey, blue and purple all at once. It must have been the Sun.
Beads of sweat traveled down my back.
The question that followed the onslaught assured me that the stranger must have had a few knots loose in his head.
“You can see me?” he had asked, looking surprised.
I took that as my cue to bite the hands over my mouth.
It was immediately followed by a loud Yelp.
“Who do you think you are? Mr. Invisible?”
He had continued to stare at me in disbelief while managing to look intrigued.
“I’m really pressed for time…” He looked around again
“I’m Richard and I know this isn’t the best circumstances to meet anyone but can i see you again?”
It was raining the second time we met.
He told me he was a school teacher and was running late for a class the day he bumped into me.
We talked some more, a little coffee here and a little walk there we were married a year after that.
So riddle me this quickly…
How on earth did an elementary school teacher know about a strange white light.
Unless he wasn’t and he had been lying to me all these years.
Looking at him now, he had that look again. He was definitely hiding something from me.
He beckoned me to the bed room.
After observing Phoebe and deciding that she was okay, I followed my husband to the bedroom.
“You knew all along didn’t you?” I said the minute we were away from Phoebe.
He held his head in his hands
“Richard, what is going on? What do you know about the light? How do you..?
“Are you a secret government agent? CIA? Black ops? Is that what this is about? Give me something, anything to make sense of this. How could people literally turn to monsters? Where does that even happen?”
“I’m not who you think I am”
“Yeah, I got that memo already”
“You shouldn’t have been able to see me that day”
I didn’t need to ask what day.
“I had slipped away from home to clear my head only to realize that I was surrounded. Unarmed and ill prepared for the altercation, I ran for the nearest route home”
I was yet to see the connection but I held my tongue. “Bumping into you was supposed to feel like a strong wind that caught you but somehow you could see me”
“But you were right there”
“I’m only visible to humans when I’m not in my natural state. You are the only exception.”
“Richard you’re scaring me. What do you mean you’re visible to humans in your natural state? You’re not…human?”
Nothing could surprise me anymore. I was both married to and pregnant for a human looking non-human.
A great icing on the cake today.
Just what I needed.
Unsurprisingly he didn’t respond.
“Richard you’ve only told me about us, what does any of this have to do with what’s going on?”
“Everything” He said with great heaviness.
“You’re still not making any sense”
“The fruit of our Love”
“The fruit? I don’t understand you”
“It’s the baby Emma”
What’s wrong with the baby?” I hated how shaky my voice sounded.
“They’re here for the baby, to take him home”
His face suddenly darkened and he clenched his fists
“W-what home?” I asked, dreading the answer.
“Ashgdad” he said, refusing to look me in the eye. I felt his shame from where I stood.
“Why him?”
“Because he’s my son”
“Why does it matter?”
He took a deep breathe and looked straight at me
“He’s the heir to the throne”
“Wh..what throne?”
“Mine”
