Marked VII: A watch and awakening

Your mother was stunned but she believed. She remembered seeing the strange marking while bathing once. The day they argued your mother was only seventeen, soon to enter University and chart her future and her mother tells her she has forever, that with that fate comes duty and duty requires training and sacrifice. Some would think eternity was a gift, but Cebill knew differently . Marked VI

“Shyte! I don't believe you.”

Phatom reached into her bag and pulled out a strange article.

“Erronne, look at this relic. It's called a watch. See the arrows pointing to the markings? These are roman numerals. A watch was used by anicents to tell time. For us, time stops. When our Awakening occurs, we remain as we are. Let me tell you about your mother's Awakening.

She discovered the marking when she was sixteen. She said nothing. She was already odd, the outcast. Who would she ask? Her relationship with her mother was strained. When her mother explained TicToc, your mother put up a pretense, but inside she felt as if she had been kicked in the chest. She thought, 'she tells me in one breath I'll live forever, and without giving me a moment to take it in, she talks about duty and sacrfice, so like her. She issues a death, oops life sentence and she wants to chide me about being responsible.'

Your mother and Fatima were'nt able to bridge the chasm. Instead, Cebill behaved like a lone traveler traversing unknown terrority. She entered University, met your father and decided that until she had to, she wouldn't accept fate. Then you were born. Like your mother, you came into this world a rebel. Your first offense was your appearance: you were born with a head full of dark hair, caramel skin and long limbs. Your parents were pleased. You were first-born of first-borns.

Your temperment was a mix of your parents. Your mother however hadn't mellowed with marriage nor childbirth. There were no signs that Cebill's Awakening had occurred. Her mother had told her for some TicToc, giving birth would trigger it. Your parents loved you and decided you'd be their only child. They didn't want to put more children at risk, and they didn't want to prempt your mother's fate. Yes, your mother told your father about TicToc before they married. She believed he had the right to know.

Your parents discussed at length what they would do if you were TicToc as they had discussed what would happen when you're mother's Awakening occurred. The years went by without incident or so they had told themselves. However by nine, your parents knew all wasn't well. Your mother had you when she was twenty-three. By thirty-two she looked no older. Even if we age well, a woman in her twenties is not the same physically in her thirties. And your father who was your mother's junior was aging just as you a growing child was changing and developing.

Your parents began to put plans into place. The first was to contact the Order. After years of defiance, your mother believed you deserved better. You needed a guide, to learn what she had refused. They asked that you be assigned a slot for the sisterhood. Your mother could not wait for an answer. When you were ten as you know, she left.

Every week Thom assigns three words. This week: traverse, assign, pretense. Join us.

This week's prompt: watch. Join us.




*image. Neil Gaiman's Sandman.