Chapter 1.30: Not Today

Serene woke up the next morning in her bed with no memory of how she got back home, but she could vividly remember everything else. The last thing the guide told her is that she had a choice to make, and it would change a lot of things. She decided that she would not spend her tenth birthday upset and confused, nope it wasn't going to happen. A girl only turns ten once, and she was going to make the most of it. Serene walked downstairs to see her mama cooking something, and smiled. Today, she wasn't going to worry about what happened to her papa, because today she was going to pretend everything was okay.

"Serene! Good morning, how did you sleep? You were sleeping like a rock when I went to check on you last night," her mama told her. Serene laughed, and shrugged because she really didn't know to what to say. "Hey munchkin, do you mind clearing the table for me?" mama asked her.

"I don't mind," Serene said, and went to clear the table.

"Thanks munchkin! Isobel! Get your talented ass down here!" Mama yelled. There was some muttering and curses, before Isobel showed up in the kitchen. Mama walked over to her, and the elbowed her sharply in the ribs.

"Ow! What the hell!?" Isobel whined.

"Language, missy! Now, I believe today is special," Mama told Isobel as she winked at Serene. Isobel just stared, and then looked at the table where the freshly baked apple pie was sitting. "Right, Iso?" mama asked her again.

"OH! Happy pie day brat," Isobel said, grinning at Serene.

"Hey you can't call me that on my pie day!" Serene said, giggling. Mama stood there and watched as she started to tear up.

"Aww my baby girl is getting old," Mama said as tears streamed down her face.

"Hey!" Serene and Isobel said at the same. "I am not getting old," Isobel said.

"Neither am I!" Serene said as they sat down at the table.

A few mouth fulls later, and half a pie later they all sat there chatting about what they wanted to do to celebrate Serene's pie day. Serene got up and went to go wash her hands before grabbing another slice of pie and came back to find Isobel sitting in her seat. "Hey! You're in my spot!" Serene said, and smacked Isobel on the back, not hard of course.

"What was that? You want my spot?" Isobel said mockingly. Serene stuck out her tongue at her older and dumb sister, before sitting in the chair next to her. Isobel smirked and mama shook her head.

"Child," a familiar voice said. Serene stopped as her blood once again ran cold, and her fist clinched together. No, I just want one day. And then the guide appeared at the other end of the table, and she shook her head. "You need to make a choice," the guide said.

 "No," Serene said, shaking her head.

"Honey, I thought you liked going to the park?" Mama asked. Serene just stared with wide eyes as she heard what her mama asked. Didn't they see him? Didn't see they the guide sitting at the table with them? "Are you okay?" Mama asked her.

"I'm fine," Serene said tiredly. The guide watched her, as she finished another slice of pie and went upstairs to her room. This was not happening, she wasn't letting her birthday get ruined by the guide showing up. Serene started to play with her doll house, doing her best to ignore the guide as he watched her play.

"Child, you need to choose," the guide said.

"Not today," Serene snapped at him. The guide shook his head, and then watched her some more.

"If not today, then when?" the guide asked.

"Maybe tomorrow, I don't know," Serene said, the guide shook his head again. Why wouldn't he just leave her alone? She knew she still had to decide what to do, but she didn't want to do make any decisions today. Any day but not today.

"You need to choose now," the guide. Serene could tell that he was growing impatient with her, but she didn't care. Today was her day, and nothing was going to ruin it. "Child, this cannot wait. Even now what I see is changing, and cementing. You cannot wait any longer," the guide told her.

"NO! GO AWAY!" Serene turned around and yelled at him. Tears began to stream down her face as she struggled to keep it together, and then it became too much. Her tears ran down her face as she sobbed and started to shake. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" Serene screamed at the guide. Her sobs getting louder and louder.

"SERENE!?" Mama yelled from somewhere in the house. She could her hear the concern in her mama's voice.

"MAMA!" Serene yelled out, she wanted it to stop. The pain was too much for her to bear anymore as she sobbed and shook terribly. "MAMA!" she yelled again. Serene heard footsteps and she ran out of her room to get away, still sobbing. As she saw her mama, running towards her she started sobbing more and more as she dropped down in front of her.

"Shhh, what's wrong? Mama's here, I won't let anything happen to you. Serene, what's going on?" Mama asked her.

"Hold me," Serene choked out.

 "Shhhh, we're here. We're here," Serene heard a familiar voice to say. It sounded like her papa's voice and it made her cry even harder. She missed her papa so much, and she clung tighter to her mama as she cried. "Papa's here," the familiar voice said gently.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.31 Fact or Fiction