Story [Chronicles of Narnia] The Last Chapter

Genre: Short Story

Setting: Our world and that of C.S. Lewis

Summary: The end of the one life and the beginning of another adventure.

Author's note; I've been gone from writing for a long time and this is my first foray back. Written because I've been listening to Narnia (only so many wiggles tapes to listen to on long car rides with a 2 year old) and Susan's fate really bugs me.

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The Last Chapter

Her grandmother was dying, or at least that was the impression that she was getting from the way her mother bustled her about the house and the hushed tones the adults spoke in. Her Grandmother, who wore fine lipstick, filled every room with her presence as if she had once been queen and celebrated Christmas with such great solemnity, had shrunk to half her size and become frail with a perpetual far-away look in her eyes. Sophie was always bundled out of the room now and told to leave Grandmama alone so that she could rest, but this morning her mother had left the house and her Aunt was out in the garden and she felt brave enough to venture in alone.

Sophie pushed the door open to her Grandmother’s room, marveling at the way the early morning sun brightened the room and the smell of the apple that her mother had left, cut into quarters, by the bedside table filled the air. Although she hadn’t made any noise, the tabby slept on the end of her Grandmother’s bed lifted its head and starred at her, it’s great golden eyes gleaming in the sunlight. I

It was a strange cat, the largest that Sophie had ever seen. It had simply appeared one day when her Grandmother began to fade and refused to leave. Her mother had been worried when the cat simply walked into her Grandmother’s house one morning when the illness had begun. Her mother and Aunt had tried to shoe it away but the animal had growled at them an continued padding into the house.
“It doesn’t look like a tame cat,” her mother had whispered to her aunt when the animal had pushed open the door to her grandmother’s room and leapt up onto the bed, but her Grandmother had simply said, “I was hoping You would come,” and fallen asleep. It had made her Grandmother so happy that her Aunt had convinced her mother that it was worth leaving the great shaggy animal where it was.

Her grandmother’s room had always fascinated Sophie, the trunk at the end of the bed filled with rich clothing and the strange paintings and photos of the four happy children in sepia tones that hung on the wall. Her mother had told her when she was quite young that her Grandmother’s two brothers and one sister had died along with her parents in a great rail-way accident after the war. Sophie loved the picture, they all looked so happy together but her Grandmother never smiled when she saw it, only frowned.

The cat was purring now, a great sound that filled the room and made her both happy and terribly sad at the same time. When she turned to glance at the cat she noticed that both it and her Grandmother were watching her through half-closed eyes.

“Come here Sophie, I have a present for you,” her grandmother whispered. She took two steps to the side of the bed and took her grandmother’s tiny hand in hers, it was so light and the skin was so papery and wrinkled that it almost felt like she was fading away in front of her eyes. Her grandmother looked at the cat and smiled and then focused her attention back at Sophie,

“Do you remember the stories that I used to tell you when you were very young about the talking beasts and the world within the wardrobe?”

Sophie nodded. She had loved those stories, even though her mother disapproved of stories of talking animals and sword fighting.

“In that suitcase at the end of the bed you will find some books. “ Her grandmother nodded towards the suitcase. It was the kind of case that Sophie had seen girls take to school in old fashioned pictures.

“You must read those book and believe what they say as it has all of our adventures from long ago. I stopped believing them for a while a long time ago, but it was foolish and it cost me dearly…” She trailed away her eyes going to the photo of the four smiling children. She looked at the cat who had stood up and was stretching slowly at the end of the bed and then back at Sophie. “You must be kind,” her grandmother continued urgently as if she was desperate to make Sophie understand and was running out of time, “you must take every opportunity and believe people when they tell you a great truth. You must listen to your heart and not your head even when it seems the silliest thing in the world. Like now. You must believe me.”

Her Grandmother reached down for the little carved box at the side of the bed and handed them to Sophie. The box tingled in her fingertips. Unsure of what exactly she was being asked to do, Sophie opened it, inside was a handkerchief with LP embroidered on an edge and two rings, a yellow and a green one, nestled inside.

“My brother had them when he died. They are rings of great power. Don’t let them touch you until you are ready. When you go, you must find the country from the stories that I used to tell you. They are there.”

“You could come with me,” Sophie suggested with a frown, “we could go together.”

“I am too old little one,”

The cat stretched and made it’s way up the bed. The purring had become louder and now filled the room with its sound. Sophie frowned, it felt like the air was getting warmer and the room brighter but it wasn’t coming from the windows, it felt like it was coming from the cat.

“Go,” her grandmother urged her, “take the books and the rings now. There won’t be time after I am gone.”

Sophie felt the cat butt her arm and she glanced down. The giant tabby looked like it had tears in its eyes and it sent warm shivers down her spine. She clutched the books and picked up the suitcase and backed slowly out of the room. As she got to the door she turned to see the cat standing next to her grandmother, their two heads touching.

“I have waited such a long time for you,” her grandmother was saying, “may I go back now?”

There was pause and the cat only purred louder and seemed to grow, if possible, more golden.

“Will I see them? Will they all be there?”

It seemed to Sophie as if the great cat sighed and then her grandmother smiled, the happiest smile that Sophie had ever seen and her eyes closed and she sighed too.

And then, for a minute Sophie thought the cat spoke too.

“You may, daughter of eve. I have come to call you to my country. Remember Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen of Narnia.”


But that couldn’t be possible. Sophie turned from the door and fled.

 

Consider it done It's nice to be back

 

Cool! Just. Looking forward to more--adventures.