Post by StoryGirl83 on Sept 21, 2013 23:17:59 GMT -5
Chapter Thirty-Three - Good-Bye To An Old Friend
Darryl turned off the car and got out, gun drawn. He walked rapidly to where Andy was waiting.
“Put that away,” Andy instructed him.
“Andy’s dead,” Darryl informed him. “Therefore, you can’t . . .”
“Can’t be Andy?” Andy asked, sounding a little amused. “Darryl, surely by now you know how untrue that statement is.”
“Victor seemed to be saying Prue was alive,” Darryl commented cautiously. “Are you . . ?”
“No,” Andy shook his head. “Much as I’d like another chance to live with Prue, that doesn’t seem to be an option. I guess we’ve used up our chances. I was given a chance to say good-bye. I’ve done that. Now, I have to let her go.”
“So she’s really alive?” Darryl asked, lowering and holstering his gun.
Andy smiled sadly. “Yes.”
“You’re not going to ask me to watch them, again,” Darryl commented, eyeing Andy. “Are you?”
Andy shook his head. “You’ll make your own decisions on that. I know what happened over those six and a half years, the good and the bad.” He paused and smiled. “Actually, I’m releasing you from that promise.”
Darryl looked at him surprised. This was not at all something he expected to hear. “What?”
“You heard right,” Andy smiled at him, laughter in his eyes. “All I ask is that you don’t lose contact with them unless that’s what you want. Stay or go. Help or not. It’s up to you, but don’t drop them unless you really want to.”
“Aren’t you worried about them getting into trouble with the law after what happened?”
“Are you?” Andy returned the question.
“I . . .”
Andy smiled. “There are others, I imagine. And I truly think they no longer need that. When I asked your help all those years ago, they were new to all this. They aren’t so new anymore.”
“That doesn’t mean they don’t need help,” Darryl reminded him. He glanced toward the manor that had until that day been a death trap to anyone who ventured to close.
“As I said, there are others who can help them if needed,” Andy reminded him. He pointed toward the house. “There are ten men and women in there who owe the girls their lives. Now, maybe they don’t realize that. Maybe they do. Maybe one of them would step up if needed.”
“What men and women?” Darryl asked, casting a confused glance at the front door of the manor.
“Ten of the members of the SWAT team who stormed this house seven years ago,” Andy informed him. “Prue cast a spell that saved their lived as well as that of her sisters.”
“You’re saying that there are people in there, people who could expose the sisters.”
Andy smiled at Darryl’s obvious concern. “I’m releasing you from your promise. You don’t need to worry anymore.”
“It’s not just a promise,” Darryl informed him. “Those sisters are my friends.”
“I know they didn’t always treat you that way,” Andy reminded him. “I played with them as a child and can’t understand or condone some of what they did to you.”
“What are you doing?” Darryl asked, confused. “Are you trying to make me abandon them?”
“No,” Andy replied with a shake of his head. “Honestly, I don’t want that at all, but I know some things that happened hurt you and I don’t want those to fester any more. I want them faced and if possible gone. It that means that you have to tell them good-bye, then that is what you have to do even though that’s not what I want. If that’s what you need to move on, then do that. But if you can forgive them . . .”
“And you’d force me to decide that now,” Darryl asked with a dubious look.
“Only to think about it,” Andy assured him.
“I’ve already done that,” Darryl informed him. “I’ve had seven years to do that,” he added. “I’ve already made that decision and I’ve already been acting on it. That the sisters are alive only changes the fact that now I can tell them that.”
Andy was stopped from speaking when the front door opened. He nodded at Darryl. “Good bye, my friend.” Instead of walking away, this time he simple vanished.
In a whispered voice, Darryl replied, “Good-bye.”