The Secrets My Mother Kept

Once safely back in his room, Alex ducked under the covers with his new treasure and flipped the flashlight back on. It shown brightly through the thick wool blanket his aunt Sydney had given him on his seventh birthday. He had gone through a mighty big dinosaur phase then, represented by the green outlines of pteradactyles, triceratops, and Tyranosaurus rexes that cluttered the black cloth he had grown up in.

Under the blanket, Alex pulled Mr. Stuffings out from beneath his shirt and gave him a tight squeeze while simultaneously dropping the notebook onto his thin sheeted mattress. He reached for his bedside nightstand and dropped the single pearl necklace into the wooden drawer before burying himself deeper under the flashlit blanket he had been hiding in.

Okay; Alexander began to speak quietly. Daring the silent room to object against its darkened walls, he opened the blue aged notebook and begin to read:

June 13, 2014

My dearest Alexander,

If you're reading this, then you've found my notebooks. I've always known you would - you're too curious, too clever not to search for answers someday. Just like your father. Just like me.

There are things I need to tell you, things I should tell you. Things I'm not sure are relevant to you. There will come a day when your body will change, as all bodies do and I just want you to know that yours is no different Its just very peculiar in its design.

I know this might sound frightening, but please don't be afraid. What makes you different is also what makes you special. Your grandmother knows about this too.

Alexander lowered the notebook, his hands trembling slightly. Mom had written this before he was even born. Before she'd told anyone about him. He hugged Mr. Stuffings closer, breathing in the faint scent of lavender that still clung to its worn fur.

"Different?" he whispered into the darkness under his dinosaur blanket. The word seemed to hang in the air. He'd always felt normal enough - maybe a little odd sometimes, especially around water, but Gran was just overprotective, wasn't she? That's what everyone always said.

His flashlight beam wavered across the page as he flipped forward, looking for more recent entries. There had to be more. Had to be something that explained what she meant about him being different, about his body being "peculiar." Something about why she'd died...

Alexander's fingers trembled as he flipped through the pages, dates blurring past. August 2014... December 2014... March 2015... Until finally, an entry caught his eye:

July 8th, 2017

My dearest Alexander,

Today you turned three, and I saw it happen for the first time. We were at the beach, just you and me. You were playing in the tide pools when the wave came - too big, too fast. My heart stopped. But you... you didn't panic. You didn't even struggle. For a moment, just a moment, I saw something in your eyes. They shifted, like sunlight through shallow water. And then you were just my little boy again, splashing and laughing as if nothing had happened.

I've taken the pearl from its chain. Your grandmother would recognize it for what it is if she saw it. She keeps asking about you, about whether I've noticed anything "unusual." I tell her no. She knows I'm probably lying.

The next few lines were different - messier, more hurried, as if his mother had come back to the entry later, her usual careful handwriting replaced by something more urgent:

They're here. I saw them watching Him at the beach today. Just like Mother warned me. I thought we had more freedom but you deserve to feel safe. I wish I had kept better records but somethings needed to be enjoyed about this planet. The pearl I found in July will help make sense of you but for now this isn't safe"

Wait what? Alexander shook. He skimmed through the rest of the notebook but nothing but seraded edges of torn out pages gave Alexander more answers just unresolvable paranoia that left him feeling more alone than his initial wake up response had.

Alexander closed the notebook and placed it in his bedside nightstand drawer with the pearl necklace and noticed just how long he'd been reading inching up over the mountain miles away. He yawned gently and decided to get some sleep.