I-6: Legend of the Mornellys- Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten
In which Sean says goodbye to the Mornellys


The Mornellys seemed anxious to get Sean back to his own home, speaking of”tremors” and how it was going to be “soon” when they’d be thrown back into their own time or dimension or whatever they referred to it as.
“The magnetic field’s unstable. We’re not going to be here much longer,” Breandan had murmured.

They ate their meal quickly and set out on the road with Sean, back to the old property and farm. The little conversation that did take place was polite and formal, nothing deep. Sean could tell the siblings were not thrilled by whatever was going to happen next. It seemed they didn’t want to have to go home.
The long walk back from town gave Sean a bit of time to mull over his and Breandan’s conversation. It was all very hard to believe, quite fantastic, actually. The pieces fit into place, though, and he could tell the twenty-five-year old wasn’t lying to him. He struggled to believe, though. He struggled to understand. What would it be like in a couple days when they were gone? Would he ever regain his ability to See, as the Mornellys referred to the gift of being able to see them?
Something caused all of the siblings to stop. Aichear glanced back at his brothers and nodded. “We don’t have much time left,” he announced.
Groans came from the two younger boys. Damhán sighed. “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”
“What’s going on?” Sean asked.
“Tremors. They’re getting harsher,” Bran replied.
“Tremors?”
“You cannot feel it, but for us, the whole ground is shaking, shifting, throwing itself around. Like an earthquake,” Breandan explained. As if on cue, all of them stumbled in different directions. “Kinda like that. It means that the time space continuum is balancing itself out again and we’re going to be thrown back to the fourth dimension.”
“Oh.”
It was almost comical to watch them struggle to keep their balance. They’d regain it, then be pitched forward again. A long pause came in these “tremors”, and Breandan turned to Sean.
“Sean,” he began, “don’t feel bad if you forget me.”
Sean gulped. Why do I want to cry?
He was fifteen, he was a man! He shouldn’t cry! But oh, did he want to. “How can ye be so forgivin’? I forgot about ye.”
“I don’t expect you to remember, Sean. I don’t expect you to See forever. Everyone grows up.” He smiled a bit. “I do hope that you’ll remember the good times we had when you were younger. I hope you can remember our adventures, the fun we’ve had, everything. I want you to remember me as your best friend, even if in a couple years you won’t remember me as anything else but imaginary.”
“I’ll- I’ll try,” Sean managed.
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” He stepped forward clumsily, the rest of his siblings shifting their weight and acting like they were about to fall over.
“Breandan, it is time,” Aichear called.
Breandan stuck his hand out to Sean. “It was an honor to be your “imaginary” character, Sean.” He grinned. “Try to stay out of the way of highwaymen, though.”
“Will I ever see ye again?” Sean asked.
“I do not know. Time will tell. Perhaps I’ll be thrown back into this dimension in the next couple hundred years. We’ll see.”
“I don’t want to forget ye.”
“Don’t fear the future. Accept it.”
Sean was hesitant to shake his hand. If he did, this would mean he was saying his final goodbye. If he didn’t, he may never get a chance to say goodbye again…
Without warning, he threw himself forward and hugged Breandan. “Ye will always be the best friend I ever had.” He released Breandan sheepishly. “And ye’ll always be the big brother I never had.”
Breandan laughed, opened his mouth to reply- and was gone.
Sean blinked. He turned in a full circle. Nothing. No one was there.
The sun was beginning to set on the ocean. The temperatures were dropping. He shivered, reminded of his earlier afternoon out here. Did he really meet highwaymen? He frowned. Already, it’s beginning to leave me.
So much had happened to him today. He would write it down, yes. But he knew, in the back of his mind, that he would never regain his ability to See.
The road called “Adulthood” had claimed another young man who had lost his ability to use his imagination.
~oOo~
Fifteen years later
“Papa!”
Sean turned to his youngest son, taking a moment to pause in his hammering. “Aye, son?”
Young Breandan giggled and pointed behind him. “I want ye to meet my friend!”
Sean frowned and scratched his beard. He stared at the empty space behind his five-year-old boy and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see anyone, Breandan.”
“Oh, but he’s right here!” Breandan insisted. He pointed again. “And guess what, his name is Breandan, too!”
A faint jolt in his memory. A day long ago when he’d encountered- or thought he’d encountered- his own imaginary character. A man he’d named his own son after, a man that didn’t exist except in his childhood imagination.
He stared harder at the empty space. He couldn’t see a thing. Still, something deep inside of him stirred. A long lost memory, a happy childhood, an imaginary friend who played with him no matter what…
“Well, I’m so glad ye have a friend, Breandan. And how fun it is that he has the same name as ye,” Sean told his son. He glanced at the spot once more and smiled. “I hope he’s as good a friend to ye as he was to me.”
Breandan O’Hare turned to the unseeable character and looked up. He smiled and turned to his father. “He said he’ll do everything he can to be the best imaginary friend ever.”
And Sean knew this imaginary friend would do exactly that.

The End

Comments

  1. Oh dear! Now I really want to cry! Why do you write such sad stories, Emily? ;)

    It was a beautiful story! Are you planning on writing more about the Mornellys? Please say yes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad you liked it, Blessing! There will be MANY more Mornelly stories- I have twelve others already written. :) Thank you for reading it all the way through, I'm so glad you enjoyed! :D

      Delete
  2. *sniff, sniff* I was crying when I finished this part. It's so sad. . .yet it's the perfect ending with Sean's son.
    I loved this story! But, still, *wipes eyes* yeah, it was a pretty emotional ending. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was emotional for me, too. I told the Mornellys afterwards not to worry- because they will ALWAYS be my imaginary characters. ;) Thank you for reading this story to the end and I'm so glad you enjoyed! It means so much to me!

      Delete
  3. *tears up* So bittersweet...
    I loved it, Emily! This story was amazing! Great job! :D

    ~Lydia~ <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Lydia! Your comments kept me laughing! Thank you for reading through the whole story! :D

      Delete
  4. Gosh, I almost never cry over movies or books but...
    *blows nose and rubs eyes* That was so sweet, Sean naming his son after his best "imaginary" friend!
    I loved the story! That was such a great story! I can't wait to read those other Mornelly stories I've heard about... ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am soooo glad, Megs! And what an honor that it really made you feel sad. It made me sad, too. :') Thank you so much for commenting and it makes me so happy you enjoyed this story! There are MANY more Mornelly stories yet to come! :D

      Delete
  5. Lovely story, Emily! Great ending...although I nearly cried.... :)
    I had NEVER read any sci-fi before this story, and I must say I've enjoyed it. This genre (in this case anyways) is 10 times better than I'd expected!
    I hope to read more on the Mornellys soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww, I'm so glad you enjoyed, Faith! I do not read any Sci-Fi/Fantasy stories so it was fun to delve into this genre and write one. I make up my own rules, though, for it all... ;) :D Kinda mixed history, sci-fi, and fantasy all together. I'm soooo glad you enjoyed and thank you for reading all the way through!

      Delete
  6. Anonymous9/10/2015

    I have absolutely thrilled with this story!!! Thank you so much for sharing your talent. God bless, R. Franklin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, R! I really appreciate your comment. I'm so glad you enjoyed this story. If I may ask, how did you find my blog? I like to know how people came across it. :)
      Thanks for commenting! So glad you enjoyed!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous10/11/2015

      Rebekah told me about you. I like to write too (though I'm not near as good as you and her☺).
      R. Franklin
      P.s. Red Crisis sounds extremely interesting. Are there certain places that you can get your research? Or the library mostly?

      Delete
    3. Oh, are you one of her church friends? If so I may meet you this Sunday! :) What do you like to write?

      My research for Red Crisis came from talking to people, watching documentaries on the Cold War, lots and lots of books and tons of researching via the internet (I always double check the internet facts and backtrack it to make sure that it's true) and newspapers. So basically I get all my research everywhere. I LOVE history so much and I like to learn about the things most people don't hear about. :)

      Thanks for commenting and I hope to see you around the blog more!

      Delete
  7. Anonymous10/13/2015

    I wish I could, but actually I'm an MK (missionary kid). And their church supports us.
    I'very not written extensively so far, though I'm getting into more. I really enjoy reading historical fiction(Donnalyn Hess!!!), some fantasy(Alice and Alyssa, Narnia, The Medallion ) and some sci-fi(though a lot isn't that great), and some modern fiction (Der wood Inc, Arby Jenkins, Braingame)....so pretty much anything. Though historical fiction is the majority of what I've read and really enjoy.
    I started on a book, but ended up throughing it out the window...too stereotypical and silly. I'm working on a semi-short story right now. It's fiction. I have a bunch of historical fiction ideas, but I don't really have resources other than the internet, because our mission field doesn't really have libraries available in english (I have a hard time reading my second language).
    I'm hoping that the new digital library will work, but it's frustrating. Rrrr.
    R. Franklin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh okay! That's really neat! What country are you a missionary in?

      Oh, you sound like me, R! I read a wide variety of things, too, but for sure historical fiction is my favorite. ;) And I'll bet your story is fun! What era is your story set in? And, if you don'd mind me asking, what's your first language? I think you're AMAZING at English! I'm very impressed with it! I love languages but I can't say I'm very good at them. ;) I speak a little Russian, Spanish, Gaelic, German and I can read and write a fair amount of Swedish. (Can't say much for my speaking skills.) ;)

      Thanks for commenting!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog, and I hope you enjoyed this post! If you have any comments or thoughts you'd like to share I'd love to hear from you! But do be thoughtful of others and please, no swearing or badmouthing, or I'll have to delete the comment. Thank you!

Popular posts from this blog

It's About Time...For an Update!

Polyushko Polye: A Song With a History

Devoted