Tara’s Friends

Tara spends most of her life alone. As a child, her memories create a small world with only her mother, her grandmother, and Kevin. Until the age of ten, she doesn’t understand why solitude follows her, only that it does. She knows she is different: not fully Black, certainly not white. She cannot fathom why being Apache sets her apart from her mother or why they had to live separately. What she understands, even then, is that she is different and she is alone.

After the age of ten, that difference is more evident. Though she does not yet understand immortality, she senses an unspoken knowing that she will outlive her mother and grandmother. Loneliness becomes familiar, almost comforting. For Tara, being alone feels like home, the only home she has ever known.

Discovering her love for Kevin gives her something new: family, and a sense of permanence. With Kevin, solitude transforms into connection, and some of the happiest moments of her life are spent simply being alone together. She is still different, but she no longer feels alone.

Meeting her fellow immortals, Sheila, David, and Ellin expands that sense of belonging. For the first time, Tara is surrounded by people who share her experiences, while struggling to understand their own purpose. Sheila becomes a sister, someone Tara can share her heart with, with or without Kevin. David and Ellin become brothers and allies, bound by a deeper understanding of one another’s needs. Through them, Tara learns a profound truth: she was never meant to face immortality alone.

Her family, her experiences, her fears, her triumphs, her emotions are all meant to be shared. Tara’s true home is not a place, but with her family.

And to my readers: what feels like home? Is it family, friends, the friends who become family, a beloved pet, your passions, or your accomplishments? If we are lucky, it is all of the above. Together, they form the core of who we truly are. Tara discovers this truth.