Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Years gone by

Elle's POV

"Ugh, why do we have to do this? I never wanted fame. Is it not natural to help out in certain situations?" I mumbled looking at the two large statues of us.

Elijah smiled and held me by the waist as he looked up.

"You know what? This will be a reminder of the day you were reborn. Is that not a special day for us?" He said now leaning in for a kiss.

I smiled and looked again at the large statue.

"Guess you always find the good side of everything do you? I like it better that way."

I turned around facing him, as I leaned for a hug and a kiss.

"No way. You two love birds, go do that somewhere else. If you couldn't remain youthful, you would have grey hair and wrinkles all over your face by now in human form, with probably around one to two missing teeth," Neil said teasing us.

"Leave them alone. Let them enjoy their youthfulness. They do deserve it after all," Zack said shrugging his shoulders.

"Right?" He looked at Neil with crossed hands, close to his chest.

Neil shook his head and smiled. "Right, now. An earthy traditional photo everyone, cheese!" We all gathered in front of the statues as Neil took the picture.

"Thirty years, and it feels like it was yesterday. So much has happened since then," I said smiling at Elijah whilst looking at the photo album, resting my eyes on the picture of the day the statues were inaugurated.

"They have grown up into mature adults so fast! We did a good job raising them to have we?" He said sitting down on the sofa right next to me.

Whilst Elijah and I never changed one bit, everyone around us was growing up and getting older. Neil had three kids that are now between ten and fifteen, all so curious and adventurous just like myself whilst Zack adopted two dogs, one Labrador and one king Charles that he got from the earth, and named them kiki and Nico.

I felt a tear running down my face as I kept turning the pages of my photo album and gazing at every picture, remembering the good days we had together.

"Come on. Enough of you dwelling on the past. We still have more empty pages, waiting for us to fill with more good memories."

He took the photo album away from my hands and placed it back on the shelf.

"Can't help myself?" I said shrugging my shoulders.

He offered me his hands to help me get up from the comfortable sofa as I leaned on his chest feeling the warmth of his body. He hugged me tightly and kissed my forehead.

"Look, darling. We are gifted to see all the future generations. Who would live to be great, great, great, great, great grandparents?"

We both giggled as he cleared away the few tears that were rolling down my cheeks. That is all I needed to feel better, his warm embrace. It does get difficult at times as I can never imagine living without my full family around me, especially my kids.

I have already had to face the loss of both my parents a few years ago, and I miss them so much, but I would not accept watching my kids die before me too. Surely living forever is both a gift and a curse at the same time. Who would have thought!

"Are you ready Elle? Everyone is waiting for you," Elijah called from downstairs.

"Yeah, I am almost ready. Will be down in a sec," I yelled back as I was pulling up my hair in a ponytail.

Kiki was by my side looking up at me wagging his tail, with his tongue out, eager to go out.

"Even you can't wait any longer, can you?" I said to him smiling.

"Alright, let's go."

He barked and sprinted down the stairs, still wagging its tail with excitement. I giggled as he reminded me of my childhood dog, ginger which was given to me as a birthday gift when I turned eight. He was just like him, always excited to take the exit.

I rushed downstairs and my motherly side triggered.

"Is everything ready? Food, plates, mats, the desert?" I asked looking around the kitchen, making sure that everything was in place.

"Everything is ready darling, I made sure of it, don't you worry," Elijah said winking at our grandkids.

"Right, off we go then," I said opening the door.

My nephew and niece rushed out of the door from behind me, already heading to our favourite spot. We walked down to the river, in the middle of the beautiful and peaceful forest, to get some fresh air. Zack started the barbeque and his partner was helping him cook the veggies and meat whilst we all chatted.

Belle's family joined us too, bringing more food, like what I prepared wasn't enough.

"You know how the boys are," she said smiling whilst placing everything down.

Jean took out a can of beer, popping it open. He brought it from earth the last time they paid a visit after he tried it at our friend's house.

"He made sure that he would have enough beer to last him a lifetime," Belle said grinning from ear to ear, taking out the glass of wine and the bottle from the bag.

"It's only right if you picked your favourite too. How many of that did you bring?" I said teasingly.

"Well, a few" she winked back at me, offering me some.

As I was observing the nature, opposite me, I could have sworn that I saw something or someone behind a tree, not too far away from us, but I thought it must be an animal so I brushed it off. Suddenly, we all heard a loud splash and heard someone screaming for help. Elijah took off his shirt and jumped into the river swimming towards the screamer.

I could tell that Elijah was surprised by who it was. As I observed them from afar, I watched them lean in for a hug. They both waved at me from the other side, but they were too far away for me to recognise who it was so I stood up and started walking towards them. Sure enough, I recognised him, it was Room, the alien from Moonsun, the one that saved my life. I was overjoyed to see him.

"How can this be? I thought you were..." I stopped there knowing that it would be inappropriate to even think it.

"Dead?" He giggled. "I don't blame you for thinking so. The planet I grew up on is gone, but a few of my people managed to escape before it blew out. Elijah told me that you are that little girl I knew from years ago. The human-alien. You have grown so much, but how is it that you are looking just like a Ragnon?" Both Elijah and I laughed and told him the full version of the story.

"I am so glad you survived Room. I thought of you so much. You know what? You are the first alien I encountered," I said, smiling at him.

Now I could tell that he was getting old. His hair was turning grey and his skin was paler then I remember.

"Please, do come to join us. We would like to introduce you to our family," Elijah told Room.

That evening was a great one. The best one since a very long time. Since he didn't have a family, Room decided to remain on Rignau for the rest of his life, living with us in our home, until he fell ill and passed away. We gave him the best life we could ever give him and so before he died, he left us a box full of stuff from his original planet as a token of his gratitude.

Sure enough, thousands of years have gone by, my children also grew old and passed into their next life, and as my husband said years and years ago we became great, great, great, great grandparents to many children whilst we always remained with bodies of young Ragnons.

Though we watched our loved ones die, they always remained in our hearts. It is now year 3000, a new millennium, and by now Elijah and myself have visited every planet in the milky way as we lived our forever lives to the very full.