Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Stones of Summer: Instinct ❯ Mid-Winter/28 ( Epilogue )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Epilogue
Mid-Winter/28

“We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves.”
Lynn Hall , Where Have All the Tigers Gone?, 1989

So much has happened since those months, and everyday I am reminded of them. That was what happened, through my eyes. If I could have traded my life for theirs, those people who were never found, I would.
I have decided to write this for you my children. So that you may know who you are named after, and so you may have some piece of me when I am gone.

You will not remember how I or Myali died by the time you read this, it will be a memory long in the past. Myali defended his territory with all his might, but the cat was old, and it was the natural order of things for him to lose. We did not expect him to die of such an event, but he never regained his spirit or heart, and wasted away. That is the reason your father and I took those cubs to our home. The knew king, Jack, would have killed them. And I'm glad we did so as well. You grew so tremendously in the months those tigers were growing, and they became a part of you. I hope you will never fear them. Respect them, and show you are stronger. My beloved Sasha died that same year because of the loss of her cubs. We didn't arrive soon enough to save them. That is something I shall always regret.
And me, I hope with more hope then I should have, that you will never forget me.

At the moment, I lay in a hospital bed in the capital city of China. Your father and I have tried so hard to keep you innocent, and I know you will stay such, of my illness. If you have read my story, than you will understand when I say that when those men abused me, they left me with a disease that is going to take me from you. It is partially my own fault. They, the doctors, told us that if I had gone to a hospital immediately to be examined, I would not have such a short time to say goodbye. They do not think I will last the year out. Still, I wanted, needed to tell you this story. I hope that you never have to go through what I did, but I hope that you can take from it knowledge that I was at the time short of.

It is in these words I trust you will become stronger and wiser and able to withstand the trials growing up will throw at you. Be good to your father and know I will always love you.