ghost of the past (Thia)

After the test, and finding out I had Autism, probably the only thing I was delighted about was that Mora was still in the same group as me. It meant I had someone to talk to and wasn't alone in the class. Things have been starting to get quiet at home, but dad's still a bit stressed. Actually I think he's getting more stressed. He's starting to get grouchy too. I thought it was because of me,

finding at about the Autism; but Cat says it's because of the war with the Tru-beeins.

"They remind him of what they did to Serious."

"But it's not really a war yet." Said Sam, a little desperately.

"But it soon might be."

The one other thing I find comforting, besides being with Jay and the others, is talking to Amy about my new found condition. Dad's been getting worse.

Sometimes I hear him calling out at night. I keep asking Cat if it was to do with me, but she always just shakes her head and say it was because of the Tru-beeins.

"They're the ghost of his past. They took a lot from him when they last made war. He thought they'd taken you."

I'd just sigh at this, not knowing what to say.

Then, suddenly, after another week of school, they got the call again. Dad said this one was more serious, because their Commander - the very same one who'd led the battle on our Serious - was with them.

Since we were at school on the day of the first attack, we didn't know what the actual soldiers looked like. Now that we saw them, they looked very weird, almost like robots.

Dad said the ordinary ones were called Try-bots, but there was one other, also a bot, that looked like it was the ring leader of the others called a Tru-bot.

("Do they always name themselves beginning Tr, or are they supposed to be named like that?" Noaba asked.)

But there was one other, this time not a bot, who looked like he meant business. He was all green with wolverine claws and a creepy grin. Even Jay seemed a little afraid of him, though he tried his best to hide it.

Dad said this was the one who'd led the attack before. The one who'd taken everything.

This just seemed to make him even more cranky than ever. He even started shouting at Cat when she tried to help.

"Oh daddy." I dared to say, when it was just me and him in the Command Room. "I wish you would tell me what was wrong."

He said nothing, but just sat in his chair with his head bowed, so I left slowly, fighting back tears. Just before I was about to leave, however, I spotted something I hadn't seen before.

It was a long blade, with a handle shaped like a very life-like dog's head, hanging in a case by the door. Was that dad's old blade? I would've gone up to have a closer look, but I knew that dad was still in the room, so I just left and didn't say any more about it. It was probably just another ghost of the past.