Legacy of the Stream Liner

Author: Paul Leslie Griffiths

Copyright © 2014 by Paul Leslie Griffiths

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The characters in this book are all fictitious, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely co-incidental.

LEGACY OF THE STREAM LINER

Life has a beginning and an end for most of us, the lucky ones anyway

CHAPTER 1

Whoever reads this first will live forever…

The World is round, the sky is blue, the grass is green, this I know, in fact I know most things, my mind allows me to absorb and retain information on a frightening scale, yet here I am alone, lost, lost in a world I do not really belong to. A world I don’t really care for, but I stayed; I had the opportunity to leave, to seek a new world, the world where my father had been born, and a world where my own kind is in abundance. But no, I rejected my father’s outstretched arms of love, for what, what was so important in my life to reject the only thing I had thought about from the second I was conceived, yes conceived!

I sit here and wonder, I wonder about what it would have been like, this new world that my father went to, I know I have all the time in the world to ask myself this same old question week after week month after month year after year and yes decade after decade. Because now this world called earth I find myself on is my prison, my everlasting reminder that I threw away my one and only chance of being happy, being fulfilled, being able to follow in my father’s footsteps. My so called mother or what I now came to realise after all these years of being alone, she was a mere carrier, vanished a long time ago, even now with all my powers as strong as they are I cannot find her, no trace, no clues just vanished. Anyway like I said earlier I have all the time in the world to keep looking for her, not because I love her or miss her you must understand, no, because I want to rip her heart out, I want to tear her from limb to limb and give her some of the pain I have now been burdened with. I for some stupid reason turned down my father’s offer for what I thought at the time was my love for my mother, a trait I was given by my mother for although I do not belong in this world I am a half breed, a mongrel. Over the years I have tried to rip out the human side of me, the emotions, the pain the feeling of somehow belonging here, my body and mind has changed so much over the years, my senses are as sharp as a cat and my mind is as vast as a universe, but there is still something missing something I can feel inside of me, deep inside of me, I know something is going to happen, it’s not a case of if, it’s a case of when. The only way to describe it is I feel I am coming of age! What this means I have no idea, what I do know is I’m frightened, frightened of the unknown, another trace of human genes I cannot shake off. Yet I am also excited, very excited.

Now I find myself waiting in anticipation for something I know nothing about, but I will wait, the only thing I have to keep me occupied these days is my games, I love games, and now you have read this you will be part of my game, like I said at the start of this letter you will live forever this I promise you.

SIGNED Aaron

Aaron stood on top of a tall building casually watching all the people below, the hustle and bustle of everyday life, people doing what they did best, get up, go to work, go to bed, then repeat this day in day out, why? Is this what their lives were all about, pathetic, he wanted so much more, he yearned for a challenge, any challenge, but who on this earth could possibly give him what he longed for.

Instead he played games!

It was the only thing that stopped him from going completely insane, was this all he had to look forward to?

He realised he was going to spend an eternity alone, just like his father before him, for how many years or even decades he did not know, he looked up at the sky and wondered where he would be now if he had gone with his father, even the clouds that were full with their white mist had blocked the blue skies and the stars, and then, well then home he thought, but how could he yearn somewhere he had never even seen, he had never been there! He didn't even know really what it looked like, his father had tried to give him a glimpse of what it would be like but that was like watching a movie, a fictional movie at that.

He could feel his anger building up, he hated being alone, he hated every part of his existence. The clouds started to turn black, the clouds did not look so inviting anymore, and some of the look-alike ants below instinctively began to look to the skies.

Bolts of lightning flashing down then a split second after the thunder boomed out; Aaron was controlling the elements, with one point of his finger down onto the busy crowd of people below, the lightning bolts rained down. He could hear their futile screams as the lightning bolts hit the ground and buildings, even before most of the people below could realise what was happening they were being crushed to death by flying debris.

The sheer power of the lightning bolts turned buildings into mere rubble; cars were smashed into each as they tried to evade the bricks and mortar tumbling towards them. The thunder got louder and louder and the lightning bolts got bigger and bigger, by the time Aaron had lowered his arm, half a block had been demolished, hundreds of people were either dead or dying.

He could still hear the odd screams coming from below, he watched as people who had managed to avoid certain death slowly came out of their hiding place, some had tried to evade danger by hiding under cars some had just taken their chances in the open, he could feel his temper starting to subside, he had no idea why he had just caused so much havoc, he also didn’t have any remorse for the people below.

The skies cleared up as quickly as it had started, the clouds had returned to normal, within minutes the devastation had stopped, the buildings that had collapsed had stopped falling, the inevitable fires caused by the lightning had mysteriously just been extinguished, he could faintly hear the birds starting to sing their song once again, he smiled, he knew the birds were oblivious to what had just taken place, he envied them, they didn’t seem to let anything or anyone stop them from singing. He stood there for a long time, time enough to watch as the fire brigade and the string of ambulances started to arrive, he pondered over what he could do to keep himself from being so lonely, even his games had become monotonous, he could not come to terms with the loss of his mother,

Why had she abandoned him?

Why could he not with all his powers find her?

He could not feel her presence, he could not hear her heart beat, but what was most confusing to him was that he knew she was still alive, that, he could sense. Anyway what difference would it make even if he did find his mother, he would still be a half breed, why did his father bother to make him, how could he have abandoned him the way he did, yes he offered to take him with him but it was all too sudden, if he had got to know him better perhaps things would have been different.

He slumped to the floor and landed on his knees, he had so many questions he had no answers for and nobody to get answers from. He put his hands over his head in despair; he started to mutter to himself.

Why? What am I here for, what was the point?

He raised his hands up to the skies once again looking for an answer, nothing came. He waited and waited hoping for some sort of divine inspiration anything would have made him a significant a miss placed cloud in the sky anything, again nothing happened. 

Meanwhile whilst Aaron was in a state of complete trance waiting for a miracle he had overlooked a teenage girl by the name of Amelia she was watching his every move, She had seen everything!

the strange man on top of the roof, the way the lightning had just come from nowhere and the fact that this all seemed to have happened as soon as the stranger had lifted his arms up to the skies, the devastation that had occurred, the terrible screams, the crushed bodies, with parts of them protruding out from under all the rubble.

She was transfixed with what the stranger was doing, she wanted to take her binoculars away from her eyes as she had been looking through them for so long now her eyes were starting to water up and felt sore but she couldn't she was mesmerized with all that was going on, one second she would survey down and see the carnage the next she would focus them back on the man.

She kept telling herself it was just a coincidence, how could it not be, nobody could bring lightning or thunder to the skies, nobody.

She tried to manoeuvre her body so she was sitting upright a bit more but her disability would not allow this, she was numb from the waist down, Damn these useless legs of mine she muttered to herself as she tried once more to hitch herself up. She was situated adjacent to where the stranger was.

She lived with her mother and father on the top floor of a plush hotel, her mother had picked this particular hotel for its height and the view she wanted her daughter to be as close to heaven as possible, for as long as the teenager could remember they had lived

here, although it was only eight years since the accident she awoke

with no recollection of what had happened to her that fateful day, the doctors told her parents she would never be able to walk again.

Amelia was eight at the time, too young to really understand and too old in her mind not to, she could remember the day she first came round, she didn't like it, the room was strange and not familiar, it had a funny smell to it like the smell you sometimes came across when your mother was spring cleaning the house. The person looking at her was dressed all in white and he had a silver shiny thing hanging around his neck, she would never forget the look on her parents faces when she looked at them at her bedside for reassurance, they tried their best to hide their fear but even at her young age she could sense something was very wrong.

Six months, she had been in a room she did not like, six months of looking at four walls, no windows, no fresh air no nothing!

That was when her mother vowed she would not be closed in ever again for as long as she was alive and true to her word she had found this very special place, the windows were from floor to ceiling looking out of the buildings penthouse suite, she was living in a hotel full time ‘in a penthouse suite no less,’ nothing was too expensive for my daughter she could remember her mother saying to her father.

Fortunately for them they were rich well before she was born, they owned a family run business that had been handed down from father to son for over a century, there was big money to be made in the clothes industry if you knew what you were doing and they did, it was built into their genes.

From the humble starting of a small holding all those years ago to the clothes empire of today, but being successful had its price and for Amelia the price was she very rarely had any time spent with her father. She used to resent this fact but as she got older she realised he was doing what he needed to keep herself and her mother in a very expensive penthouse that most people could only dream about

calling home. She shuffled her body as best she could and put the binoculars back to her sore eyes, panning back to where the stranger was only a couple of minutes ago, to her shock he was not there, she frantically scanned the roof top but to no avail

Before she could think about where he might have gone her father came storming into her room, he had rushed from his work the second he had heard about the freak weather accident, driving as fast as he could to get there, the thoughts going through his head as he weaved in and out of the traffic was almost too unthinkable to bear. He ran over to Amelia and fell to his knees alongside the bed and flung his arms around her,

I was so afraid, I was so afraid

He kept repeating, he was sobbing uncontrollably

I'm ok dad I'm ok,

Was all she could say, the last time she had seen her dad crying like this was a few days after she had woken up after the accident. She had to tell him he was crushing her too hard,

Oh sorry princess.

He snuffled as he let the vice like grip ease off a little. Where's your mother? He eventually managed to ask once he had seemed to control his emotions, Amelia thought about this for a second and then shrugged her shoulders, and she realised she had not seen or heard of her mother since she had got so wrapped up in watching the stranger on top of the building that was in front of the building she lived in, that was the best thing about where she lived they had the highest building in the town and she could see for miles.

Her father sprang up off the floor and started to look in all the rooms in the penthouse, he frantically shouted her name as he peered into each and every room one by one. Amelia listened intently waiting for her mother to reply to the pleas of her father to answer him, then silence. She could hear her father’s footsteps coming back towards

her room, he poked his head round the door and she instantly noticed the sheer panic in his expression, the blood from his face had seemed to have completely drained out if him,

I can't find her

He said trying his hardest not to look too afraid.

This is a very important question princess, when was the last time you saw your mother? Was it before or after all the bad weather? He didn't know how much his daughter had seen or knew about the tragedy that had befallen the unfortunate people outside and although his wife was on top of his agenda now he was still trying to protect his one and only daughter. She had been through so much in her short life and he didn't want her to worry any more than she needed to.

Amelia could see by the look on her father’s face that this was important; she had to be certain of her answer, she thought hard for a few seconds and could see by her father’s constant glare he needed an answer like NOW! Suddenly she remembered it was after, yes, definitely after, she could remember hearing her mother shouting something to her but for the life of her she could not remember what, and she had been too absorbed in watching the stranger with her binoculars to have taken any notice.

After Amelia blurted out

Yes definitely after the bad weather realizing it was,

she was trying to protect her father now; bad weather my ass she thought as she gave out a faint smile of reassurance to her father about when she had last seen her mother.

Her father stood there for a few seconds as if taking in the fact that it had been after the disaster, Right He eventually came out within an assertive voice You stay here and I will go look for her she can't be far with that she heard him rush to the front door and she heard him close it shut behind him. You stay here? Amelia thought was he having a laugh or what, where the hell could she go she couldn't even get out of bed without someone’s help!

She quickly looked down for her binoculars but she noticed they had fallen off the bed onto the floor; they must have done so when her father practically gave her a full blown bear hug.

Shit she said out loud,

she looked at them god they were so close yet so far for somebody who couldn't move her lower body. She reached out her arm as far as it would go but it was not far enough, she'd already known the outcome but her mind told her to try anyway…….

Shit, shit, shit she said again with total frustration in her voice, she looked around for something that could possibly aid her to retrieve the binoculars, she wasn't