Tears flow for my dead friends. There is nothing I can do now, no reason to battle against the waves of despair coursing through me. They are dead, and I will never see them again.
But despite our losses, our tragic and stupid losses at the hands of creatures who should not exist, I know my friends didn’t die for nothing. I am proud of them all, and the survivors as well, because together, we won.
We woke up in a prison. We were made to be erased. The Grownups said we were property. They said we weren’t people.
We showed them they were wrong.
The Grownups, or monsters, or Cherished or whatever they are, don’t care about us. They don’t care what we believe in, what we stand for, they don’t care what we like or who we love or what we think—they just want copies of themselves. They would kill the children so they could live forever.
We were made to be like them, but we’ve earned a different path. They can’t follow us. We can be whoever we want to be. We can make a new future now. If we make mistakes, at least those mistakes will be ours.
As the darkness within my head swells to match the darkness without, one last thought fills me with peace before I drift away.
We are the Birthday Children.
We are on our way to Omeyocan.
We fly.
AN OH-SO-POLITE REQUEST FROM THE AUTHOR
Dear Reader: Thank you for spending your time with my novel. I hope you enjoyed it thoroughly.
Not to be presumptuous, but I have a favor to ask—consider the people after you who want to experience the story’s twists and turns for themselves.
In other words, my request is this: no spoilers.
Pretty please.
In this world of blogging, Goodreads, Amazon reviews, Twitter, Facebook and whatever social media powerhouse comes next, it is disconcertingly easy to amplify your affection or distaste for a piece of work like this one. If your broadcast to the world includes key plot points or reveals, other people lose their chance at the moments of discovery that can make fiction so special.
A reader only gets one chance to be surprised.
So if you tweet and blog, if you review and share (and I hope that you do!), please avoid giving away the good stuff. You had a chance to enjoy this story spoiler-free—I’d appreciate it if you’d preserve that same chance for others.
Thanks,
Scott