The Fifth World

Bo: Whatever lies ahead, in some distant time away, I know that things will only get harder. It will never get easier. My life will not get easier, at least, not at any time soon. I am illegal. My entire existence is illegal. Every person around me, every life I have ever come across is in danger because of me. Every person I care about, they have been tainted, by me... just having them know me is a danger. I guess it would be easier if I had no family, no friends, nobody to love or care about - it would mean I would lose no one.

Or would it?

I stare at the portal Cynric draws with his Angelican dagger... a golden light shines from the lines he makes. They are rigged but it is almost the shape of a circle. I hold my dear brother in my arms as Mum watches on in the background with Johnson nearby. Tears stream down my face. Not only do I have to say goodbye to Cynric, again, but I have to say goodbye to someone I always thought would be there. I have no idea what will happen after today.

In one way or another the Fifth World has taken almost everyone I know; Janine, Nancy, Felicity, Caine, Lucius, Calhoun, my brother, my father and I fear that one day it could be my mother too. Possibly even Jonathan. Average Humans do not belong in the Fifth World, that is why they should not be affected by it. That is why it is time for me to take the Fifth World.

"Bo," Cynric says to me.

I am distracted by my own thoughts. I look over at him and he sees the sadness in my eyes. Carefully, he walks over to me and he takes Adam in his arms before returning his dagger to his satchel. I sniff as I touch his cheek with my hand and then my eyes look at Adam again. A finger wraps through his little red curls as my other hand caresses his face. He is warm, obviously still alive, thank god, but I know that whatever serum is inside of him... can change everything. Nothing will be the same if he doesn't get help immediately.

"Please, take care of him, Cynric," I whisper to him.

"I will."

I watch as Cynric turns around with Adam, unconscious, in his arms. He takes a few steps ahead before looking back at me with a look of promise - a promise to me that he will protect Adam with his life. The portal swallows them as they walk into the Fifth World. A temptation almost lures me in... as if the empty portal is calling my name, because so many people in that world are in there... waiting for me. I almost do give in but a hand on my shoulder tells me not to... I almost expect it to be Theresa but I am wrong, it is Johnson... my biological father whom I have barely said a word to. When I look back at the portal... it is gone, making a swarm of disappointment come over me.

"He will be okay, Bo," Johnson says to me.

I do not acknowledge him. I simply shrug his hand from my shoulder and run to my mother to comfort her. She continues to cry as she looks around the house, sees the mess and the debris... and then she keeps repeating Adam's name. It is breaking my heart. She is breaking my heart. I cannot stand to see her this way or to have to return her to that dark phase. I hold her in my arms and I hope that maybe just doing this will make it work. I can help her heal...

"You can help her forget, Bo," Johnson says to me as I hold her.

I look up at him and stare at his eyes. This man, this man who has been absent my entire life... is telling me this? I never thought I would meet my either of my biological parents. I assumed they would be dead... it just never crossed my mind but I never expected that I would ever come face to face with one of them and feel this... disgust... but he is right... after all, I do hold the power to do that.

I let go of Theresa but keep my hands firmly on her shoulders. I stare into her eyes and feel a sudden guilt come over me... I can't believe I am about to do this to my own mother. I just want her to forget. I want her to be happy again. She won't be able to keep going knowing that something terrible has happened to Adam.
She breathes heavily and looks up at me with a look of helplessness in her eyes. I stare falls down my cheek when I stare at her. This is too much for her. I can tell. Mum is young and beautiful and full of life. She shouldn't have to carry this burden on her shoulders of everything I have brought to her family. She does not deserve it.

"Mum, I love you but I want you to forget what happened tonight. The last thing you will remember from today is that we were cooking in the kitchen and then we had a great Christmas feast with Adam and Cynric. The turkey was perfect. Adam came down with a fever again had to go away for a while, you will not worry for him and you will not be sad for him because you know that it is what is best for him at the moment. You will not remember the strangers who came into our house tonight. You will not be afraid of how the house looks now and you will believe that even after everything that happened tonight, everything will be okay."

When I finish I swallow a very deep and almost painful gulp. She stares at me... her eyes completely empty now and innocent looking. The tears stop and her breathing begins to calm. I let go of her shoulders and then reach for her hands.

It is done.

I look up at Johnson and stares at me and then at Theresa. He nods his head once before he pulls out his Angelican dagger and mumbles a few words in a very low tone. A gust of wind almost blows me off of my feet but I hold onto my mother very carefully as I watch how everything in the house begins to move. Furniture returns to their original positions, pieces of wood, even splinters, return to wherever they came from... walls are stuck back together and built up to the ceiling perfectly... glass vases return to tables and the mantle piece whilst the couches that have been littered with dust and wood are moved back to where they belong and cleaned entirely. The bodies of the Thornes disappear and all evidence of their presence leaves with them. After a minute the house looks completely normal... as if nothing bad ever happened tonight... as if it had never really happened. I look down at my mother and she smiles with fascination at the house. I then look at Johnson who looks at me with a fascination too.

"Thank you," is all I say to him before I pull my mother off of her feet and take her upstairs to her bedroom to put her to bed.

She has had a hard day... first preparing a stressful Christmas dinner and then having to witness something she never should have. Gosh, being a Fifth World Human really has its perks, doesn't it? Everything that has happened... the good and the bad... has all happened because of me. My entire existence has only brought havoc among both worlds. I am sick and tired of trying to find a way to belong in one world or another. If I try to live here then I am only being faced with the Fifth World anyway, it follows me... but it is completely contradicting because I am not even allowed in the Fifth World! Yet it somehow keeps coming back to me! I'm not going to wait here anymore. I am going to fight. This has to change. I may not know what will happen after today but I do know that things are going to be different and it will take a hell of a lot to make that happen... but I am prepared to do so.

As much as I want to jump into the future and find out what waits for me there... I cannot bear to seek the truth - for whatever is the truth can always be changed, a simple action will set everything in motion and even knowing could do that. All I can do is keep those I love close to me, protect them, fight for them and hope that in time everything will get easier... the future scares me, it scares the hell out of me... but luckily, it only comes one day at a time.

I will have vengeance. That is my promise.