Chapter 39 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

Lullaby ...

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~ Honey ~

I am trying to watch a movie on the television and all I can hear is Cosmic and Shadow making a lot of noise behind me, which as usual is irritating the hell out of me.  They keep laughing and the boy keeps screaming and shouting.

Shadow is over excited tonight because he knows that Jazz is due back from a three day hunting trip, thanks to Omri opening his big mouth and telling the boy he has spoken to Jazz on the phone.

I hate it when Jazz goes out and about doing whatever it is he does out in the vampire underground world.  As usual, I am kept in the dark and do not have any idea what this trip was about, nobody will tell me.  While he has been away Cosmic and Omri have been in charge of the den and I have given them both hell, mostly on purpose, it is only one of the few pleasures I get out of this miserable existence, winding them all up.

Storm is sat beside me on the couch in the living room and the racket that Cosmic and the boy are making does not seem to be bothering him at all, as he sits there glued to the television.  I seriously do not know how he can concentrate on what he is watching!!  I stand up angrily when I seriously can not take any more of their racket.  That boy really annoys me!!

"Can you not take that damn brat somewhere else!!"  I snap at Cosmic  "Take him upstairs, better still get Tapestry to take him, I don't want him, he should be with Vanilla, he is giving me a damn headache with his constant squealing!!"

"Vampberry's do not get headaches Honey - you lie!!"  Cosmic laughs at me

"Shut up ghost - just get rid of him, take the brat down to see the green pet if you have to, anything just shut him up and get him out of my ears!!"  I snap at Cosmic. 

"Me see Lime!"  Shadow starts to get excited, then he glares at me with attitude  "No pet!!  My friend!!  Naughty Honey!!"

I find it very strange as well as amusing, after everything that has happened, that Shadow and Lime are becoming very close, especially on Limes side.  Shadow would actually much rather spend time with Lime than he would with me, but that is perfectly fine with me because when he is with Lime he is not bugging me.  Shadow spends a lot of time down in the basement and in the cage with Lime.  He asks to go down there all the time, however Jazz has left strict instructions that they are never to be left alone down there together, which is exactly what I did the other day, gave the boy to Lime and walked away.  This sent Omri off his rocker when he found out that Shadow was alone with Lime!!  Cosmic, Omri and Jazz make sure that they are always down there watching them, just in case she hurts their precious brat, but I honestly think that she never will.

Lime plays with him, reads to him, she has even helped to teach him how to walk and talk and they spend hours chatting.  She dotes on the boy and would have him down there all the time if she could, but I guess he is company for her and the only one that does not judge her on her past history.  At first Jazz was just using her as a guinea pig to see how he reacted around mortals.  For a while he did keep trying to bite both my Dad and Lime, to feed off them.  However it did not take long for him to understand he can not go around biting mortals.  In the process, the boy has got very attached to Lime, and she to him.

"It is too late to be visiting Lime, she is asleep, like all good mortals at this time of the night, so you have to put up with me, until Daddy gets home."  Cosmic laughs at Shadow as he tickles him, the boy starts squealing again which has me glaring at Cosmic.  "We will just ignore Mommy she is being a misery guts again!"

"Mommy misery guts!!"  he laughs at cosmic

They totally ignore everything that I have said about the noise, they go back to making even more racket, probably on purpose just to annoy me.  Then they start singing stupid nursery rhymes, this really gets my back up.  I can hardly hear the television for their racket.  I am just about to have another go at Cosmic when the boy starts squealing at the top of his voice.

"DADDDDDY!!!"  he squeals suddenly as I watch Jazz walking into the room.  "DADDY BACK!!  DADDY BACK!!"

I stand up again and watch as Shadow starts to get really excited when he sees Jazz come in, he is jigging up and down in Cosmic's arms holding his arms out to Jazz.  Jazz ignores me and walks straight over to make a fuss of the boy.  He takes Shadow off Cosmic and starts to kiss him and swing him around.  Shadow is squealing the place down, with excitement, which has me covering my ears.

Jazz pays that child far too much attention, much more attention than he pays me and it irritates the hell out of me.  Jazz has been away for three days and he comes in and totally blanks me, he does not even look in my direction, he comes in and all he sees is that damn boy!!  If Shadow was not here then he would probably pay me more attention.

"Have you been a good boy for Daddy while I have been away?"

"Shadow a good boy!"  the boy grins at Jazz which makes him laugh.  Jazz raises his eyebrows at Cosmic like he is questioning him.

"Yes Shadow has been brilliant.  It is his Mommy's behaviour that needs sorting out!!"  Cosmic laughs at Jazz who just rolls his eyes and the smile drops off his face for a moment, as he finally looks in my direction, but not for long.

"Daddy me walking, Lime and Omri teached me to surprise Daddy!"  Shadow grins at Jazz  "Me show you me's a big boy!!"

"Really!!"  Jazz laughs as he starts to fuss the boy again.  "Show me then, walk back over to Cosmic."

Jazz puts Shadow down on the floor and stands there laughing, like the proud Daddy, as he watches the boy toddle across the carpet to Cosmic.  I think he forgets sometimes that the boy is not his!!  Cosmic picks Shadow back up when he reaches him and starts fussing him just like Jazz did.  They kill me, Cosmic, Storm, Jazz, Omri, Lime have gone all cuckoo over the boy, even our new spirit Saffy has joined in on the hype.  I can not see the fascination myself and have as little to do with him as I possibly can.  Only Maizie shares the same opinion as me - he is an annoyance!!  I wish he was not a vampire so that Tapestry could have him like he has the other one!!

"Clever boy!!"  Jazz smiles at him

Jazz continues to blank me so I march up to him.  He glances at me quickly but Omri walks into the room and starts to laugh, which distracts him away from me.

"Man am I glad you are back!!"  he smiles at Jazz  "SHE has been a right royal pain in the ass!!  I might need to go away for a few days just so I can recover from her antics!!  I seriously don't know how you put up with her."

Jazz just glares at me for a moment.  I just knew Cosmic and Omri would fall over each other to grass me up to Jazz the moment that he got back!!

"Unfortunately I have no choice but to put up with her!!"  he stares at me before he turns back to Omri  "What has she been doing?"

"It might be easier for me to tell you what she hasn't been doing!!"  Omri laughs  "Next time you go out on a mission, you can take me with you, or her, because I am not baby sitting her again and I doubt Maizie will either!!"

Jazz glares at me again and I just laugh at him

"Come on let's hear it, what has she done?"  Jazz snaps as he continues to glare at me.

"She left Shadow outside during the day time in the sun just because she was sick of his noise, then she went and left him alone with Lime.  She bit Sunny the other day quite badly, for absolutely no reason.  She took off and was sneaking around town stalking Tapestry, berry knows how he or anyone else did not see her, it was barely dark.  Honey has been on a mission, I think, to break every rule in this place as well as fighting with all of us especially Lime who she nearly faded this morning ... and that is just a start of it!!"  Omri laughs sarcastically.  "I used to think Maizie was a prize bitch, but she is an angel in comparison to her!!"  he glares at me. 

"Daddy, Naughty Honey, she burn Shadow!!"  Shadow says suddenly wide eyed as he starts swinging his arms around like he is telling them some dramatic story.  "She put me outside with the bright light and the nasty ratsies, me not like it!!"  I see Jazz's face switch from irritated to angry.

"He is okay isn't he?"  Jazz starts to fuss over the boy, pulling up his clothes and checking his skin for burn marks left by the sun.

"Yeah he was fine, thankfully we found him quickly!!"  Cosmic mumbles.  "He was upset mostly because she told him rats eat noisy little boys! and you know how many rats there are out there, they were running around him, I'm surprised they did not hear him screaming in town."

"I WILL be dealing with you later!!"  Jazz glares at me quite nastily, I can see that he is not happy with me, but then I never expected him to be.  It will teach him for leaving me behind.  He is going to give me HELL later, especially for mistreating his precious brat!!  He turns back to Omri  "Any more problems other than Honey?"

"Just one, there was a stray vampberry in town last night hunting.  Maizie disposed of him.  She is out there now prowling around to make sure there are no more."  Omri pulls a face at Jazz  "She found out he was from the den over in Raspberry Hill before she disposed off him.  I guess they have heard this den has been closed down so they must think this town is free range for their picking."

"Great!!  That is all we need!!"  Jazz moans.

"That isn't all, there is a mortal in the cold room."  Omri mumbles  "The stray had drained him before Maizie could get to him.  We tried to save him but it was too late, not even for turning. "

"HELL!!"  Jazz shouts  "This is the last thing we need!!  Does anyone know who he is?"

"No"  Omri mumbles  "None of us have a clue who he is, I don't think he's from this town, Honey and Storm don't know him."

"Daddy me wants a pussy cat?"  Shadow says suddenly which makes Jazz frown at him.  "Lime says they catch ratsies and mouses, me no like nasty ratsies."  he starts to wave his arms around, that boy is so dramatic  " Me likes pussy cats!!"

"Okay I'll ask Granddad Sunny to get you a cat."  Jazz tells him and Shadow starts squealing in excitement.  There Jazz goes, giving into that boy again!!

"You know this kid is amazing!!"  Cosmic laughs suddenly  "At the rate he is growing and developing, he's going to be a teenager in a few years, and he sings like you know who."  Jazz starts to howl at Cosmic.  "Straight up, Vanilla is still a helpless little baby who does nothing other than cry for milk, nappy changes and attention."

"She's probably a thick idiot like her Dad!!"  I snap as I point to the boy "I am surprised he isn't!!"

"Shut up Honey!!!"  Jazz snaps at me before he turns back to Cosmic.  "I know Sunny has already mentioned the difference in them, and that he is growing a lot quicker, than her, but I think him being a teenager in a few years is a bit of an exaggeration Cos, you twat!!"  Jazz continues to laugh for a while.  "Did we not say we would not mention 'you know who' in front of him, he is picking everything up.  You keep saying her name and he is bound to start asking questions!!"

"Sorry I keep forgetting!"  Cosmic rolls his eyes at Jazz

"I just hope you do not mention Shadow when you are around the silent one!!"

"No I am very careful of that."  he smiles at Jazz  "So your trip, was it mission accomplished?"  he frowns, I think trying to change the subject quickly
 

"Yes, me and Saffy had quite a successful raid!  They have both been disposed of.  We actually wiped out the whole den just in case, there were only six of them altogether.  It was good that Saffy has been hanging about there, they knew him so we could take them out one at a time quite easily, they didn't expect it or even see it coming"  he smirks at Cosmic.

"Where is Saffy?"

"He has gone off to check up on Sunny and Crystal.  I have told him he is wasting his time because they will be asleep now, but he went anyway."

"Who has been disposed of?"  I frown at Jazz, I am now really hacked off with him for continuously ignoring me.  "Where and what exactly HAVE you been doing this last three days anyway, nobody would tell me!!"  Jazz just looks at me there is not even a smile on his face.  "Don't look so pleased to see me either!!"  I snap at him

"After what I have just heard and you expect me to be pleased to see you!!"  he snaps at me  "Honey don't start already, I've only just walked through the door and to a load of problems by the looks of it, you being the biggest one!!"  he snaps at me  "If you really have to know what I have been doing, Saffy has introduced me to the vampberrys that have been chasing Crystal all her life, and we have quietly disposed of them."

"Why?  What are you, that colourless things knight in shining armour all of a sudden!!"  I snap at him and I can see he is getting angry.  "She is Tapestry's thing, he should sort it out, it is his problem not ours!!"

"Honey just grew up will you!!  Stop saying his name and calling her a colourless thing, especially in front of Shadow!!  Crystal is your Aunt for berry's sake!!"  he snaps at me  "We have disposed of them so that they don't come looking for Crystal, where they will also find the silent one and your daughter not that you give a damn about either of them or the rest of your family!!"  he snaps at me  "Why do you always have to be such a bitch!"

"Bitch!!  Honey Bitch!!"  Shadow repeats and everyone looks at him for a moment.

"Look now see what you have done!!"  he snaps at me   

"ME!!??"  I snap at him  "You are the one who said it!!"

"Only because you drove me to it!!  Just get out of my sight!!  Take Shadow out for a wander around the grounds so that he can get some fresh air while it is DARK!!"  He snaps again  "He is starting to pick up on way too much and if I don't remove you from the room he will be watching me dispose of his so called Mother, and sweeping your ash up off the carpet!!"  he points his finger at me and hisses at me nastily.  "I am warning you, hurt so much as one hair on his head and it will be the last thing you do!!"

"No you take him!!"

"Honey Don't argue just DO IT!!"  he rares at me  "We have things to discuss that he should not be listening to!!"  he points his finger at me and hisses.  "You are in enough trouble, don't make it any worse for yourself!!"

Cosmic hands Shadow to me and Jazz, Cosmic and Omri walk out of the room.  Jazz cuts his eyes at me as he leaves the room.

Storm just sits on the couch laughing at me.

"Get lost Storm!!"  I snap at him  "Well are you not going with your buddies?"

"No I am going to go and check on the silent one."  he pulls a face  "He lost it at Cinnamon's funeral, he was still sleeping the sedation off the last time I checked on him."

"Did he have one of his outburst?"

"Yeah, but I think it was because Strawberry was winding him up over you and Shadow.  He tried to dig your two's fake graves up in front of EVERYONE."  Storm starts laughing.  "It was actually pretty funny from where I was standing watching him on his hands and knees trying to dig up something that isn't even there.  Your Dad totally cracked up, he collapsed.  I guess because he knows, the silent one is going through all that pain for nothing."

"What do you mean, what pain?"

"Don't worry he is way over you!"  he laughs at me.  "It is the kid, he is not coping with him being faded.  It is actually not fair, I hate having to watch him cracking up over it and I am sick of lying to him and hiding Shadows existence from him."  Storm pulls a face at me.  "It is also tragic that he would do anything to have that kid and you have him and don't want him!!"

"Tapestry can have Shadow for all I care!!  In fact I wish he would take him!!"  I snap  "I am glad he has got Vanilla, he should have both of them!!  I hate him being here!!"

"What the hell happened to you Honey?"  he snaps at me  "You know that is impossible, with him being a vampberry and I don't really think you should be saying things like that in front of him ... that boy is seriously going to hate you when he grows up and it will be your own fault!!"  he snaps  "You never listen either do you, Jazz told you only minutes ago to stop saying his name!!  Anyone would think you are still obsessed with him!!"

"Like hell am I!!"

"Really!?  Well stop talking about him and stalking him, then I might believe you!!"

Omri pops his head back into the room telling Storm that Jazz wants him in the cold room.  Storm just gets up and follows Omri without saying another word.  I guess they are trying to work out who the faded man is.  Notice I am not included in their little get together!!

I am a little annoyed that Jazz has got me taking the brat out for fresh air!!  As I walk around the grounds of the warehouse I can not help thinking about what Storm told me about, Tapestry having one of his outbursts at Cinnamons funeral and trying to dig up mine and the boys fake graves.  I laugh, that is something that he would do.

I am sick of these grounds and the sight of the horrible warehouse building that we live underneath.  I feel trapped and stir crazy in this place, Jazz does not like me outside the walls unless he is with me, just in case anyone in town spots me, because they could recognize me quite easily.  I stare up at the windows which I have spent a lot of time standing behind, especially the top floor ones staring out over the town watching people I know getting on with their life when I can not because I am trapped in this place, which I hate. 

I stare down at the boy who squeals and points at something.  I follow his finger and he is pointing at a rat that is scurrying around the floor looking for food. 

"How do you fancy going for a walk outside the walls?"

"Outside, go outside."  he smiles at me.

I doubt that he understands what I mean, he has not yet been outside of the warehouse grounds, but he is about to.  I have suddenly decided that we are going out for a wander around town.  I am sick of being shut up in this place and very curious to see how much damage Tapestry made of our fake graves.  Jazz is going to read me the riot act anyway later, so what does one more thing added to the list matter! I already know that he is seriously not going to be happy about me taking the brat out!

I move over to the wall and double check that nobody is around to see me leave.  I know that Cosmic and Storm are busy having their secret gossip with Jazz and Omri.  Saffy is either stalking Sunny or with Tapestry's colourless thing.  There is only Maizie that I have to be careful of avoiding outside.

"You have to be VERY quiet outside!!  You can not speak, we are hiding from the mortals."  I smile at him  "Daddy will be mad if you speak and they see us!!"

"Okay Shadow no speak!!"

I can not help but think that this boy definitely does not have Tapestry's brain, this kid is already cleverer than Tapestry.  The coast is clear so I pull the brick out of the wall and slip through the gap quickly, when it opens up.

Checking the meadow is clear, which it is, I put my finger over my lips and Shadow copies me.  I fly quickly across the meadow, using the trees as cover and stop close to the entrance.  I check the road and it is totally deserted, so I cross it quickly and slip into the cemetery.

Once I am inside the cemetery walls, I look around and freeze for a moment, as I stand under the cover of the trees in a dark corner of the cemetery.  I am shocked to see an orange figure sitting on the floor in the cemetery close to the graves.  I did not hear or smell him when I approached the cemetery, he is silent to me.

It takes me only a few seconds to realize it is Tapestry!! 

I stand and watch Tapestry who is sat there on the ground crying and he has a bottle on the floor beside him, that he keeps taking swigs from, he is drinking alcohol.  Shadow's eyes are wide as he points towards Tapestry.

This amuses me.

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~ Tapestry ~

As I sit knocking back the vodka and staring at the mess I have made of the graves, especially the babies, I am glad that I can feel the tears running down my face.  I am crying, so I know at least I am not going to lose it again and have another outburst.  With nobody here to stop me I can imagine myself digging up coffins and that is seriously the last thing I want to be doing in reality!!

I have only drank a quarter of the bottle of vodka and I can already feel my head swimming as I sit staring at Honey and Shadow's graves.  I think about what Slate did to himself, knocking back the vodka like a twat, probably for only one second then it is forgotten as my mind moves onto Strawberry as I wander if she has been arrested yet.  I suddenly remember what Saffron had told me about our song being number 1 on the download charts, but I find I can not even get excited about that because I can feel the pain pulling me back down again, which scares me.  I can not afford to let this pain drag me down, I have got too much to lose.  This has to be a one off and tomorrow I have to pull myself together somehow!!

I think I was stupid to try and avoid this.  I should have come here, to visit his grave, straight away, as soon as I found out, instead of letting it drag on.  The boy fading, I did not deal with it properly.  I used Vanilla to take my mind off the boy, and he now is the only thing that is really hurting me.  Although, I think it is something that is always going to hurt!!   It is just not fair that he did not get any chance of life at all.  I hate that I was not here when he was born, I did not get to see him or hold him like my Dad and Sunny did, they buried him before I got that chance.  I should have been here and they prevented that too, by hiding from me what was going on here.  I am not sure that I can ever forgive them for that!!

I constantly look at Vanilla and can not help but think about Shadow.  I wander what he would have looked like, what sort of person he would have been and what sort of life he might have had.  I quite often wander if Vanilla will miss not having her twin brother here just as much as she is going to miss not having her real Mother.  I also wander if she is going to blame herself, because she lived and they didn't, just like Slate blames himself for his Mother fading when he was born.

I know I am an idiot, but sometimes I feel like I have dreamed Vanilla into life.  While I was away and mourning for them, I constantly wished that they had been given a chance to live their life, and dreamed about what sort of life they might have had.  Vanilla being here when I returned home, did not seem real somehow.  It almost felt like I had been given part of what I wished for and am now being given the chance of living my dreams for her.  Maybe if I had wished just that little bit hard, they both would have been here.  If only it was possible to wish and dream somebody to life, I would do exactly that for him.

I clumsily put the top back on the bottle and place the bottle down on the ground, so that I can crawl closer to the babies headstone, when I spot there is still dirt scattered over it.  I wipe it all off gently with my hand.  I stare down at the writing on the headstone, I am too stupid to even read what is written there.  I run my finger over what I presume is his name, that is when I suddenly realize I do not actually even know the complete name that they gave him.  To me he is just Shadow.  Did they give him a middle name, and what is he, Orchid or Shine?  I should know that, but I don't!!

As I crawl backwards to sit down, I stare down at the exposed patches of dirt.  I can see that someone has tried their best to repair the damage that I did, the ground is now level but there are patches of dirt where the grass should be, that has been ripped up by me.  Something catches my eye.  A pot of sunflowers has been knocked over, and the flowers have fallen out of the pot, they are lying loose on the floor.

As I scramble onto my feet to stand the pot up and replace the flowers, I stumble about a bit, the neat vodka is already getting to me.  As I clumsily place the sunflowers back into the pot one by one, I think I already know who has put them here.  Winter.  She has a thing for sunflowers, she had a lot of them in pots and pictures in Rainbow Valley.  I laugh thinking I even considered calling Vanilla Sunflower for a while but decided against it.

Once the flowers are back in there rightful place I sit back down again and grab for the bottle and continue to drink while I stare at the boys grave and get lost in my thoughts.  I feel a chill on my skin as a sudden gust of wind washes over me, which makes me look up at the trees, strangely they are not moving.  I think I am imagining things so I continue to drink from the bottle mouthfuls at a time, knocking back most of the contents of the bottle, as I sit there crying.

Suddenly I hear quiet laughing behind me so I turn to look and there is nobody there.  The laughing spooks me a little bit as I hear it for a second time, because it sounds just like Honey's laughter.  I try to ignore it thinking it is the drink and my imagination, the laughter is in my head and not my ears.

As I sit there, still crying, I keep hearing the laughter but try to block it out as I take the last few mouthfuls from the bottle.  A little annoyed that I have drank the whole of the bottle and wishing I had brought more.  I throw the bottle into the darkness and a few seconds later I hear it smash, I dread to think on what, but you can guess, knowing my luck, it was probably someones headstone.

"Sorry!!"  I mutter an apology, I did not mean to be disrespectful ... again!!

As my mind runs riot, I am now solely concentrating on Shadow's headstone, which I am now struggling to see properly because my vision is blurring a little and my head is merrily swimming.  With no more booze left, I guess this is as drunk as I am going to get, which is nowhere near enough for me.  I am still sitting here thinking semi straight, when secretly I think I just wanted to knock myself out.  I hear what definitely sounds like Honey's laugh again really loudly this time, it almost sounds like it is coming from right behind me.

"Get out of my head Honey, you are not really here!!"  me saying that only sets the laughter off again.

"Tapestry ... behind you."  I hear a quiet voice whispering behind me.

I spin round quickly, too quickly for my intoxicated state, and I fall flat on my face.  By the time I have propped myself up on my arm to look around, there is nobody there.  I hear the laughing again coming from the left side of the cemetery, after another gust of wind has washed over me.  I feel like I am going crazy as I lie on the floor, my head swimming and my vision blurred from the intoxication as well as with tears.  I just lie there in the fuzz listening to Honey's laughter which is now constantly ringing around me, it is coming from all directions with the gusts of wind.  I move my arm from underneath me, so that I can lie down completely, I close my eyes and put my hands over my ears because I just want the laughter to stop.

"Wakey wakey sleepy head!!"

I am startled by what feels like a cold hand on my face, which shocks me, and I clearly hear Honey's voice, saying something that she always used to say to me, when she was trying to wake me up.  I lie there trying to convince myself that I did not really hear it, it is all just in my head.

"Wakey wakey sleepy head!!"

When I hear it for the second time along with the cold hand on my face, this makes my eyes snap open.  I think I might have even been dozing off for a while.  I hear her laughing and I can tell she is moving away from me as the laughter gets quieter and another gust of wind blows over me.  The noise that the bursts of wind are making sounds familiar to me, but I can not quite work out what the sound is, or why the trees and bushes are not affected by the breeze that is bugging me.  I prop myself up on my elbow and can not help but touch my face, where I had felt the cold sensation, wandering if that was actually real or not.

"Tapestry."  I hear her say again.

"Honey?"  I mumble as I just lie there looking around.  "Honey stop messing about!!"

I hear her laughing again so my eyes try to search carefully around in the darkness looking for the source of the laughter.  Maybe I just think it is Honey.  I can hear it but I can not see where and who it is coming from.  It goes quiet as I sit there swearing, trying to convince myself, that none of this is real, it is just the alcohol.  It sounds like Honey's laughter, but of course it can not be Honey, she is not here to laugh, she is buried, six feet under, in the ground only a few feet away from me!

Then something catches my eye, while I am searching for the source of the laughter.  Two little bright shiny dots are moving about in the darkness of the bushes.  I hear Honey laugh again from behind me but I ignore it wandering what the two shiny things are that seem to be moving closer to me.  As the shiny shapes get closer, I think they look like eyes.  My eyes start to make out a moving dark mass as it gets closer.  For a moment I start to get a little scared thinking it is a giant rat or some other animal, like a dog or cat, coming towards me.

When the moving object moves out of the shadows and into the moonlight, I am shocked when I can see it is not a giant rat, cat or dog ... it is a child.  I rub my eyes thinking I am seeing things, but I am not!!  There is a toddler coming in my direction.

The laughter suddenly stops.

"Shadow get back here you little BRAT!!!" 

I hear what I am convinced is Honey's voice snap quite sharply from the bushes.  I expect someone, a woman,  to come running out after the little boy, but nobody does.  The toddler is looking right at me and keeps on coming in my direction.

Shadow?!  I hold my head for a moment without taking my eyes off the toddler that continues to come towards me.  She had called the boy Shadow!!  I don't even question if it is a girl or boy, I just know that toddler is a boy.  This is my intoxicated imagination, it has to be!!  Little boys do not just appear out of nowhere!!  He keeps coming closer all the time and I seriously do not know what to do or think.  I am scared now to take my eyes off him in case he disappears, while I am trying to make sense of this.  I even go as far as to stupidly think, I have done it again ... I am dreaming my Shadow into life ... but I know I am an idiot, because he should still be a baby like Vanilla.

"No cry sad man!!"  the toddler says as he stands in front of me. "Me Shadow."

I suddenly hear what sounds like Honey hysterically laughing, but in a sarcastic way,  this makes me feel like I am in a wacky dream of my own making that I can not get out of, which I do not actually want to get out of.  I am ignoring the continuous laughter, because my eyes are fixed on the toddler that has just called himself Shadow, I think.  Why would a toddler be running around the cemetery alone this late at night and why is nobody coming to get him.  I am staring at his bright eyes, which are distracting me, they are shining ... almost like ... he is a vampberry, but that is just ridiculous!!

"Me Shadow."  he grins at me as he plonks himself down and sits on the floor right in front of me, so close, I hear the rustling noise that his nappy makes as his backside hits the floor.   I wander why he is not scared of me, he does not know me.  The little boy just sits there quietly staring at me strangely. "You's Tapestry."

"And how would you know my name is Tapestry?"  I frown at him

"Mommy says you Tapestry."  he grins up at me and I just stare at him.  "She say you take me, she no like me, she no like Vanilla."

WHAT THE HELL!!???  I shout in my head. 

"You thinks too loud and noisy."  he grins at me again  "Me Shadow!!"

I frown at the boy in confusion because of what he has just said, especially him mentioning Vanilla!!  Who is this kid?!  I am wandering why he keeps saying me Shadow, and what does he mean by I think too loudly!?

I reach out to touch him as he sits frowning up at me.  I am shocked when my hand actually makes contact with a solid body.  He is real!!  I was expecting to feel nothing, like with the spirits.  I was thinking that I am imagining this boy to be here, because I want him to be here and I want him to be my Shadow.  I remove my hand off his arm, shocked by how cold he feels, this again reminds me of a vampberry.  This is my imagination it has to be, he is not really here!!

"Me is here look."  he pats my arm a few times with his cold hand.  "Me Shadow!!"  he looks at me like he is confused again.  He is not the only one, I am seriously confused, this really does not make any sense!! 

"Lime thinks loud but not at Shadow."  he grins at me  "She not like Mommy and she scared of the ghosties!!"

"Who is Lime?"

"My bestist friend.  She is sleeping in her bed."  he grins at me again. "Do you have friends?  Me have five friends."   he holds his little hand up with all his finger spread.  This boy is cute! 

"Yes I have a few friends."   I mumble. 

"Are you my friend?" 

"If you want me to be."  I laugh at him.

He makes me jump a little when he squeals suddenly as he points at a rat who is scurrying under the hedgerow towards the back of the cemetery, that I can barely see and had not even heard.

"Me no like nasty ratsies, they eat noisy boys."  This makes me laugh because he says it so dramatically.  "Me's having a pussy cat to catch the nasty ratsies!!"  he grins at me  "Tappy do you like pussy cats?"

"Yes."  I laugh at him for calling me Tappy  "I like pussy cats."

"What is that?"  he asks as he points at my jacket.  When I look down to see what he is pointing to, I see my phone is half hanging out of my pocket, and about to fall out.

"My phone."  I say as I pull my phone out.

"Me see!  Me see!"  

The little boy holds out his little hand and starts to scrunch and unscrunch his little fingers at me asking for the phone, just like Cotton does when she wants something.  I smile at him as I hand my phone to him.  He starts to play with it, turning it over in his little hands, as he inspects it and starts shaking it.  He starts to press the keypad buttons before he places the phone to his ear like he is making a phone call..

"Hello me Shadow."  he sits there grinning for a moment as he listens to the phone.  He starts frowning  "Hello, I'm talking!!!"  he says a little louder and dramatically, looking a little irritated as he shakes the phone and places it back to his ear.  "HELLO!"  he shouts into the phone.  He amuses me as he starts to look annoyed because nobody it talking back to him.

"Me speak to Grandad.  Tell him."  he holds the phone out to me

When I tell him that I do not have his Granddads phone number so I can not phone him, he frowns and starts to press the numbers on the phone again.  I am not too bothered because the phone is locked so it is not like he can randomly phone someone.  He jumps when the phone, which has had a blank screen up to now, suddenly lights up and flashes up the wallpaper picture of Vanilla that I got River to set on my phone.  The little boy sits holding the phone up as he stares at it.

"Who's that?"  he asks as he points at the photo on my phone

"That is Vanilla, my baby."  he frowns at it as he repeats the name Vanilla.  He starts shaking the phone, he keeps tipping the phone over and shaking it, like he is expecting something to fall out of it, then he is looking back at the photograph and frowning.

"Yellow baby in phone!"  he looks at me with that dramatic expression again  "Get baby out!!   Me see Vanilla."  this makes me giggle he must think the baby is inside the phone.

"The baby is not inside the phone, that is just a photograph."  I laugh at him as he stares at me wide eyed and confused.  "Do you know what a photograph is?"  he shrugs his shoulders.  "Sit still and I will show you a photograph.  I will take a photograph of Shadow.  Smile."

He sits there and smiles so I take a photograph of him, he suddenly squeals as the flash goes off and holds his hands over his face.  I should have warned him about that.  When I tell him it is okay and move his cold hands off his face, he looks a little upset so I tell him it was just a flash of light and to watch the phone as I take a random picture of the headstones.  This time he starts laughing, I guess because it is not going off in his face this time and blinding him.

"Make light again!"  he says as he is laughing.

I have to take a few more pictures, of the hedge, just to humour him, because he suddenly thinks the flash going off is funny.  I scroll back to the picture of him and hold the phone out in front of the boy so that I can show him the photograph of himself.  He sits there wide eyed with his mouth open like he is sucking in air.  He is a little drama queen!!

"Shadow in the phone!!"  he says dramatically then he starts to laugh  "Shadow in the phone!!"  he seems to find it highly amusing as he keeps touching the screen on my phone and giggling, while he looks at his own photograph.

I suddenly hear a noise which makes me jump and I drop my phone.  It sounds like the bushes are rustling quite violently and I can hear what sounds like twigs snapping, over in the dark area where the toddler came from.  I think I can hear quiet angry voices for a second.  I glance over in that direction, like the boy does, but only for a second because I can not see anything in the darkness and I'm still scared that the boy will disappear if I take my eyes off him for too long.

I pick up my phone and stuff it back into my pocket.  The toddler is sat there just staring at me wide eyed again, so I sit staring back.  I wander what colour he is? 

"Me's owange"  he grins at me  "Me knows my colours, Lime teached me and me's a clever boy."  I am confused, did I just ask him out loud what colour he is?!   "You funny man you do not know colours?"  he is frowning at me again.

"I do not see colour, I am colour blind."  his little eyebrows scrunch together in confusion, I am not even going to try to explain that one to him.  "No, I do not know colours, I am not a clever boy."

"You funny Tappy!!  Me clever boy, me teach you!"  he smiles up at me, and I think what he has just said is so cute.    

"White eyes!"  he points at my eyes  "Red eyes."  he points at his own eyes.  Then he starts pointing all over himself, his hair, skin and the body of his all in one suit, and then at my clothes, hair and skin, and every time he says ... "Owange."   So I now know he has orange skin and hair and red eyes.  I frown when he points at the arm of his clothes and he says "White" then points at the studs and badge on my jacket saying "White".  I wander why he is wearing white when he is red and orange.  My blood suddenly runs cold ... Red and Orange ... exactly the same as my Shadow!!

"Green"  he says as he points at the floor snapping me from my thoughts  "Grass is green, tree leaves is green, Lime is green, lots of green things - peas, apples, frogs."  he smiles at me  "What colour you want to learn now?" 

"Yellow."  I just say off the top of my head as I laugh at him.

"Flowers."  he points at some tiny flowers in the grass.  His little forehead wrinkles up and his eyes look upwards thoughtfully like he is thinking.  "Honey, Granddad, ducks, sun, nasty lemons."  he screws up his face and sticks his tongue out like he has just tasted one, which makes me laugh  "cheese, banana ... me like banana!"  he grins up at me. 

"You are a clever boy!!" 

He sits grinning at me.  He does seem to be very clever for his age, in comparison to Cotton, who I keep being told is clever, so this boy must be a genius!!  I laugh at myself, I am sat here in the cemetery in the middle of the night being taught my colours by a toddler!!  This I will definitely be keeping a secret and to myself, I doubt anyone would believe this one anyway!!  I frown as he leans towards me and puts his finger over his mouth and makes a shhhh noice.  

"Do you know secrets?  I do, Lime tells me."  he does the shhhhh noise again as his finger goes back over his mouth and he looks around to make sure that nobody is listening, and he whispers "Me keeps secrets!!"

I sit there really laughing at him, as he starts laughing with me.  I wander if he even knows what a secret is, but he makes me laugh more by how dramatic he is sometimes.  However, I can not help but wander why he chose to say that about the secrets when I had just thought about keeping something a secret.

He suddenly starts singing as he holds his feet and rocks backwards and forwards.

♫ Do you want to build a snowman? ... Come on let's go and play ... I never see you anymore ... come out the door ... it's like you've gone away ♫

♫We used to be best buddies ... And now we're not ... I wish you would tell me why? ... Do you want to build a snowman? ... it doesn't have to be a snowman ... Go away Anna ... okay bye ♫

I just sit and listen to him at first, amused that he seems to know the song word perfect and he is adding the sounding affects like the door knocking and speaking parts of the song, which he is even more surprisingly singing in tune.  This song drives me mad because Cotton is obsessed with the Frozen movie and she has it playing over and over, Affairs triplets also love it too.

Shadow starts to giggle when I can not help but join in and start singing the song with him.  He made it to the end of the song without getting a single word wrong. 

"Again!!"  he giggles as he jigs up and down waving his arms around in excitement.  "Sing it again!!"

I laugh at him and we sing the song again together.

I start to wander again why he is out here alone and nobody is coming to find him.  I jump in and ask him quickly before he jumps in and says he wants to sing the snowman song again.

"Shadow where are your Mommy and Daddy?"

"There."  he giggles as he points over into the darkness where the commotion had been coming from earlier.  "Me hears them, Daddy is mad again!!  Honey naughty, she bring me outside and she burn Shadow!!"

I frown in the direction of the bushes where he pointed, I now can not hear a thing, but then my hearing has never been any good.  My blood has run cold because he said Honey, he did, didn't he, I was not just imagining it was I?!

"Maybe we should go and find your Mommy and Daddy, they need to take you home, you should not be out in the dark all alone!!"

"Me's not alone, yous here and me likes the dark."  he grins at me  "We ignores Mommy, she is a misery guts!!"

I sit just laughing as I stare at him.  Shadow is seriously cute and funny.  I can not wait for Vanilla to get to this age.  He laughs suddenly.

"Shadow cute and funny!"  he laughs.  "Vanilla baby."

Now I know this is getting seriously stupid, I have thought it a few times and dismissed it, but I swear this kid can hear my thoughts! 

"Daddy you funny!!"  he starts to really laugh as he seems to look at something behind me. "Boo Daddy I can see you!!"

"Shadow where is your Daddy?"  I ask him

"There."  he points directly at me.

I automatically turn my head and try to look over my shoulder,  thinking he is pointing at someone who is coming up behind me.

I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my neck, my head swims madly for a moment just before everything goes black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ Jazz ~

"HELL!!  That was close!!  If he had seen me, after Shadow called me Daddy, it would have blown everything!!"  I snap as I hand Maizie the syringe.   "How long was he sat there talking to him?"

"Too long probably!!"  Maizie mutters  "They were already sat there when I stumbled upon them.  As soon as I saw what was going on I came to fetch you.  She was just stood in the bushes letting it happen, just watching them and laughing!"

I am seriously angry.  If it was not for Maizie, who is prowling around town on immortal watch, stumbling across Tapestry and Shadow sat together chatting while Honey just stands watching, I dread to think what would have happened.  They were NEVER meant to see each other!!  I seriously do not know how much more of Honey's stupidity that I can take!!

Honey has now blatantly let Tapestry see Shadow, which is a TOTAL disaster!!  Thankfully he is colourblind and drunk and with Shadow being that much older in appearance to Vanilla, we might just get away with it, for the time being at least, as long as someone can convince him he was so drunk he was hallucinating!

"I am worried about what Shadow might have said to him."  I glance at the boy  "It annoys me that I can not get into Tapestry's head to read his mind or hear his thoughts!!"  I snap to nobody in particular.

"Tappy thinks loud and noisy!!"  Shadow says suddenly

"Shadow did you hear what that man was thinking?"  I frown at him

"Me smell blood, he mortal.  Tappy thinks noisy, like Lime."  Shadow says  "He sad man wants Shadow."  he points down at Tapestry  "Tappy sleeping noisy head."

"Well isn't that just peachy!!"  I snap as Omri stands laughing quietly after he says I told you so.  He predicted that Tapestry might not be silent to Shadow.  "The boy can hear the silent one by the looks of it, and now he knows his damn name as well as what he looks like!!  This just gets better NOT!!!!"  I glare at Honey.   "I might as well just tell Shadow who he is and be done with it!!  Or have you already done that?"  I snap at her sarcastically. 

"Is Shadow a naughty boy Daddy?"  the boy mumbles as he stares at me wide eyed, an upset expression written all over his face.  I can not help but laugh at him, he is such a good natured and caring boy, which is a great relief to me.

"No Shadow is a good boy!  It is Mommy who is naughty!!" 

I ruffle his hair as I glare over at Honey.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING HONEY!!"

I yell at her, and unlike her son, she just stands there without a care, and stares at me with an almost smug look on her face, which riles me up even more.  I would not be surprised in the slightest if she did not send Shadow to speak to Tapestry on purpose!!  She is always banging on about how Tapestry should have the boy, because she does not want him.  She says it repetitively, even though she knows it is totally impossible, with Shadow being an immortal when Tapestry is not.    

"ARE YOU TOTALLY STUPID??!!  Tapestry is the very last person that should be seeing that boy!!  You want to hope Shadow did not say anything to him that helps him to work it out!!  Berry help you if he has!!"

"I'll take him to Mango."  Maizie mumbles  "I'm not sure jabbing him with sedative was such a good idea if he is full of alcohol!"

"Oh no you won't Maizie!!  Any excuse to go sniffing round Mango, he thinks you are faded remember, we have enough problems here without you adding to them!!"  I snap at Maizie who just pulls a face at me.  "I will get Sunny here to sort him out, he'll have to phone for an ambulance.  You, Cosmic and Omri can get THAT BITCH out of my sight before I dispose of her here and now!!  I want her locked in the pets cage where she can not do anymore damage!!"

"That is really not such a good idea is it Jazz, after she tried to fade Lime this morning!"  Omri pulls a face at me. 

"Lock Lime in the side room for tonight until I can sort something out.  Move her bed and furniture into there.  This bitch can just sit on the cold floor!!"   I laugh sarcastically  "It comes to something when I can trust Lime with Shadow before I can trust Honey with her own son!!  At least Lime looks after and cares about the boy!!  I doubt even she would have pulled this stunt tonight!!"

I turn to look at Storm who is holding Shadow.  Shadow is just staring at me wide eyed, I bet he has had a right fright especially with my shouting!!  That kid is far from stupid, I would not be surprised if he does not already understand what is actually going on here, especially if he has been listening to Tapestry's grieving.  I hope to berry that boy is going to forget tonight quickly!!

I snap open my phone and dial Sunny's number, as I watch them all making their way back to the den.  Omri and Maizie are dragging Honey who is kicking up a fuss.

It only takes Sunny a few rings to answer the phone, which surprises me, with it being the middle of the night.  He tells me to hang on, I hear him speaking to someone, then I hear doors opening.

"Hell Jazz it is 3am!!"  Sunny snaps at me when he has finally sorted himself out, and he has privacy to talk to me.

"I need you in the cemetery ..."

"Can it wait, only I am at the police station."

"Why?"

"Strawberry has gone and got herself arrested in the dive bar!!"  he snaps, he really does not sound happy.  "Don't even ask what she has been doing!!"

"You are going to have to get out Sunny, this is pretty urgent!!  Tapestry is here by the graves out cold.  Do not phone Mango yet.  I need to talk to you first and he can not hear what I have to say."

"Out cold?!  Please tell me you haven't!!"  he almost yells

"No stupid!!  We had to sedate him to knock him out.  Your stupid daughter has let him see Shadow.  Tap and Shadow have been sat here having a right cosy chat and sing song!  We couldn't get Shadow away from Tapestry without him seeing any of us.  I had to sneak up and jab him."  he starts swearing down the phone about his kids constantly giving him a damn headache all the time!!

"That will teach you for having so many!!  Most people stop at a couple!!"  I laugh at him  "Seriously mate Tapestry needs sorting out urgently, he needs medical attention.!!"

"Okay I'm on my way, I'll be five minutes tops I'm just round the corner from you."  he snaps  "I guess I can leave Saffron and Crimson to deal with Strawberry, I need to calm myself down anyway, I feel like throttling her!!"

"Just hurry Sunny.  As soon as you get here you will have to phone for an ambulance, he is hammered and we have just pumped sedative into him!!"

I snap my phone shut with irritation.

While I wait for Sunny I am wandering what the hell I am going to do with Honey?!

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Song ~ Lullaby ~ Nickelback

Do you want to build a snowman soundtrack
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