The Snake Queen

Chapter 30

I sat at my desk for days, trying to figure out what to say to Ryan. Surprisingly, Tombutoo said he's leave me along long enough to talk to Ryan. I figured that would be two or three days tops. It's been a week.
Knock knock. "Hey, beautiful." I turned around to see Ryan standing in my doorway with flowers. "You sounded so upset on the phone, so I brought you these." He kissed my cheek.
"Sit down, Ryan. There's something I need to tell you."
"What's wrong, Mag?"
I took a deep breath. "Because of my family's curse, it's more than likely I won't live passed eighteen."
It felt like a long time before he fianlly said anything. I could feel my anxiety rising with anticipation. It felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest. If I was a car, it'd be like the accelerator got stuck and I was about to get into a head on collision with a brick wall.
"Ryan? Say something. Please?"
"What do you mean you won't live passed eighteen?"
"I read the book Tombutoo gave me and we had a long talk. Apparently, there was a woman that was also half snake."
I filled Ryan in on the rest of the story about Shahmaran and Tahmasp. He gave me the same reaction that I gave Tombutoo. He didn't understand it either. He also wondered when I started talking to Tombutoo without yelling at him to go away.
"This is exactly why I started talking to Tombutoo. I'd be putting everyone I love through heartache. I can't do that, especially not my parents."
He ran a hand through his hair. "So what are you gonna do?"
"Well, Tombutoo said if I want kids, I better have them now. If I do that, it could go a couple different ways. They can grow up with out without me, or I can not even continue my family's bloodline. If I ddied, this whole thing ends with me."
"I meant about everything. If you go through with this, I could lose you."
"And if I don't go through with this, I'll die anyway, and the only thing I could've done was what I was supposed to do in the first place. So I can either try to end this how I'm supposed to, or I can sign my death certificate now just to end it all. I chose whatever gave me a chance to have a life for you, my friends and my parents.
"You can support me or not. That's your choice, but I have to do this. Not just for me, but for everyone who means something to me. You have to understand that."
"I can't handle this right now." He stormed out of my bedroom.
I thought Ryan would support me in my decision, but I was wrong. He ran away because my family curse got to be too much for him to handle. I knew this would happen, which is why I didn't want to tell him in the first place.
"Did you tell him?" I heard Tombutoo from my window.
"Yea, I told him."
"Didn't take it very well?"
"I believe he jus broke up with me."
"I'm sorry."
Surprisingly, it didn't bother me that much. What really bothered me was the fact that he knew about my family's curse and he still wanted to be with me. But he still dipped when I tell him about my possible future. Part of me wants to think he only did it so my death wouldn't hurt so much. The other part of me thinks he's just a coward, who won't stick around when things get real.
It's just easier to believe he didn't want to look stupid for dating the girl that's half snake only for her to die. Either that, or he's be made fun of for dating the freak. Both scenarios make me look stupid for dating a guy that didn't really love me or felt sorry for me, dated me as a joke or for god knows what reason. Any normal girl would be crying her eyes out into her pillow right now. I'm not a normal girl. I have more important things to do than crying over Ryan.
"You want to take a couple days to yourself before we go on?" I got up.
"No. I wanna keep going. It's better to keep myself busy. If he dipped when I needed his support the most, he worth it." I stopped in my doorway and turned around. "Just let me go for a drive and I'll be alright. Don't wait up." I went down to the garage.

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Dedicated to EmmanuelEmeka5 for the suggestion. Now that I think about it, it was a good idea.