Dead Wrong

I sat silently away from everyone else in the house. So much is going through my mind. Should I just let James in, only for a few seconds? I’m worried about him. He’s changed it seems.
This isn’t the sweet little boy that I’d let into my house. This was a much colder version. What had happened to make him this way? Maybe he was just in shock over his parent’s death, that this is how he’s always been.
I felt pressure at the end of the bed, causing my heart to skip a beat. I looked over to see Snowball perched on the edge like a statue. Her purr sounded like the soft rumble of distant thunder. She seemed to almost smile at me with her eyes.
“You’re not going to turn on me like that are you?” I asked the animal. She meowed and walked over to me, nuzzling her head into my neck.
“Of course you wouldn’t” I cooed, scratching the top of her head. She laid on my stomach curled up in a fluffy white ball as I petted her. I could hear Jack downstairs; he was talking to himself and pacing again.
I cause him so much stress, I know I do. He doesn’t like James, maybe I’m starting to see why. He sensed this before I did. He said something wasn’t right about this kid. Maybe he wasn’t being paranoid, maybe he was dead on.
From the crack in the door I could see James’ watchful eyes. They seemed different, pleading almost. More like the ones I’d seen on that dreary night, then those new cold ones.
“L-Lilly?” his small voice asked, opening the door more.
“Yes James?”
“Can I come in?” he asked quietly.
“Yes James” Snowball turned her head in his direction. Carefully he inched closer to where I was, his eyes never leaving the cat. God, he really is scared of this thing, maybe he’d been bitten or scratched by a cat when he was little.
“She won’t hurt you James” he jumped at my voice, looking up at me with terror in his eyes.
“How do you know? You can’t tell what she’s thinking”
“She’s sweet James, really” the feline purred, rubbing her face into my stomach.

“Still, I don’t like cats” he said biting his lip. Sighing, I picked up the cat, placing it on the floor beside the bed. She scurried away through the open door. James climbed up on the bed, and sat on the edge with his legs crossed and his head down.
“I’m sorry” he said in one breath.
“For what?”
“For scaring you”
“You didn’t scare me” I lied.
“Yes I did, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, it’s just that I don’t think you could understand”
“Try me”

“You promise not to think I’m stupid?” he asked with wide eyes. I nodded my head and opened my arms. He climbed into my lap and laid his head against my chest.

“I feel guilty, why was I the only one to survive? My parents both died and I lived” he said, tears forming in his eyes.
“James, you can’t blame yourself for their deaths, it was an accident, and no one is to blame”
“Why didn’t I die with them?”
“James, you have a purpose, they’re so much life left for you to live”
“No, there’s not” he whispered.
“What makes you think that?”
“What good can I do?”
“Tons, you just have to find out what, do you know that ever since you’ve arrived, I’ve been much happier James, in a way I think you saved me”
He looked at me, a small smile forming on his thin lips.
“Really?”
“Yes”
“I love you Lilly”
“I love you too James” I said holding him tight. I want to protect this child, from all the evils I know exist in this world.
“And James, I do understand what you’re talking about, my mother died trying to protect me”
“Trying to protect you from what?”
“Bad people”
“Like the ones that were after my parents?”
“No, these were different bad people” I said.
“Like who?”
“I’m not quite sure” I lied. There’s no need to tell him. He needs to believe that the only monsters that walk among us are human. Not the immortal beast that I know of.
“I wish I could see my parents one last time” he said somberly.

“Maybe you will” I’m not sure if I believe in heaven or not. I’ve seen the side of evil, but I’ve never felt that eternal good. Yet for James’ sake I have to believe there’s a heaven.
“Like heaven?”
“Just like that”
“You’re wrong” he said with his head down.
“And why is that?”
“My parents aren’t in heaven”
“Then where are they?”
“... they’re in Hell” he said looking off into the distance.
“Why would they be there?” I asked, my heart starting to race again. What kind of kid thinks their parents are in Hell?
“That’s where the bad people said they’d put them”
“That doesn’t make it true!”
“Lilly you say this, but you don’t really know, you didn’t know my parents, how I do even know if they were the good people? Maybe the bad people were actually the good ones?”
“James, good and evil can’t be decided by us, if your heart tells you that they were the good people then they are”
“I want to believe they are” he said a tear sliding down his pale cheek.