Up From Hell

Chapter 9

Halbred was taken quite by surprise when her grandmother reacted with exuberant happiness and excitement at the news of an expected great grandchild. Halbred, who still smelled of whisky, cried and her grandmother cried with her. When they were done crying, they celebrated together in their own little way. The grandfather joined in the small celebration, which mostly consisted of Halbred slowly becoming excited for her child and making plans to live a better life.

That night was the last night Halbred ever touched alcohol. She got two jobs and saved up as much as she could for her baby, with the help of her grandparents who let her stay in their cabin. She even reconciled with her parents, who also reconciled with each other. Through excitement for the coming baby, they all relearned what it meant to love each other. New, lasting bonds were created between the family.

Now that she had family, Halbred left all of the friends that never had her best interest in mind. This was perhaps the hardest part of changing her life. Many of them left on their own once they heard that she was settling down and keeping her baby. They didn't like the new Halbred at all and felt that she thought she was better than them. Halbred was okay, though. The few genuine friends she made at work were far more precious to her than the dozens of fake friends she had surrounded herself with before the pregnancy.

Nine months later, Carrotina met the guardian angel that would become one of her closest friends. He was assigned to Halbred's son, and was new at the job as Carrotina had been at Halbred's birth. Halbred told her son stories of how he had the power to name his guardian angel, and thus Carrotina's friend was dubbed Waffle.

Halbred's life was far from easy, but she always said she wouldn't change it for anything. She loved her son and felt that he was the only man who had ever understood her. She raised him as best she could and lived to grow old and meet her own grandchildren. A day before she turned 85, Halbred finally got to meet Carrotina and thank her in person for protecting her along the way. How good it felt for Carrotina to hug the human she had loved and looked over for so many years. Hand in hand, Carrotina escorted Halbred to the Gate, where they said their goodbyes and parted ways.

Dear Carrotina was assigned a new, beautiful little human. She loved that human just as much as she had loved Halbred and protected her just the same. And another human after that one. And yet another. Carrotina loved all her humans, but she would never ever forget how much she loved her first.