This is the end. Remarkably, I not only finished the story, but I met my goal of finishing it before the end of summer. (I move to the university on August 18th.)

Check the Q&A section at the end of the chapter to see what I think about the possibility of a sequel.

Enjoy!

-- Summer's Gone Epilogue By: Ariel-chan --

I should be able to hear the MC clearly from where I'm standing in the wings, but he sounds far away in comparison to blood rushing in my ears.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he says into the microphone. "We have for you a special treat this evening. One of our recent alumni, he received numerous offers upon his graduation, and has finally accepted the invitation to teach at the prestigious Hochstein School of Music and Dance in Rochester, New York.

"The Princeton University Orchestra is proud to present Mister Luke Asher on violin."

As I step into the light of the stage, I can feel the orchestra behind me applauding, I can see the audience's hands moving together, but the sound seems to be broken. I'm smiling, waving, scanning the crowd for the familiar faces I know should be there.

In the far left of the auditorium, almost at the very back, sits Clara Johnson, formerly Clara Asher, my mother. From this distance, she looks the same as she always has, as she dyes her hair to cover up the gray she's started to get. She never remarried, and she's come alone tonight.

She never came to any of my performances while I was in school.

On the far right, only a few rows closer to the stage than Clara was, is my father. An impartial observer would almost think they'd met in advance and arranged to sit as far from each other as possible, but making that kind of arrangement would require them to speak to each other.

John Asher came to two of my Princeton concerts. At the first, he told me he and Clara were getting a divorce. At the second, he'd introduced me to Amy, the woman who's sitting beside him now, and her six year old daughter Rose. They're getting married next February.

In the center of the theatre, considerably closer to the front, I see the only people who are really there for me, not for themselves or because they feel guilty about the past.

Kiara has grown into a very beautiful woman and an accomplished actress. She looks unspeakably elegant in her long, midnight blue gown, and it contrasts wonderfully with her shoulder-length pink hair. I give her a private smile, the one that she knows is for her. We're as close as we've ever been, and the four years of pain when we weren't like this might as well never have happened.

Her daughter, Ellie, is sitting on her lap, and at the moment she's the most polite two year-old I've ever meet. It's hard to believe she's such a ball of energy at home, chasing the cats, hiding in cupboards, and generally driving her parents crazy.

Kiara's husband Caleb is seated beside my sister, and I have to admit they look good together. Not that it's any great chore. Caleb's a reasonably successful artist and poet, and a nice guy. I like him, it's just that protective instinct I've developed for both Kiara and Ellie after I nearly lost them both during Kiara's pregnancy. The scars from her miscarriage made it very difficult for her to carry to term and deliver successfully, but thanks to modern medicine they're both happy and healthy.

The older couple a few seats down are holding hands and beaming like I was their son, and I might as well be. While I was at Princeton, it was them who made sure I had everything I needed, sent me care packages, and offered to let me spend holidays at their home, even though I was forced to decline each time. They've been the best, most supportive parents anyone could wish for.

Their daughters are sitting beside them. The girls have certainly grown up, and it's hard for me to believe that one will be starting high school soon, and the other has just turned eleven. Their personalities haven't changed much in the past six years: Katya has never failed to greet me with a running hug, and Natasha still tends to keep to herself until I present her with a new book, when I get a small smile and a swift peck on the cheek.

I hope it never changes.

Last, I cast my eyes on the man sitting beside Katya and on the other side of my sister.

It's hard to believe it's been six years since I last saw him like this. During all that time, of course, it felt like longer, but now that I'm up here, looking down at him, and he's giving me that grin I memorized all that time ago, it seems like it could have been weeks.

He's a bit taller, and a bit broader, but so am I. His hair is still the same shade of ruddy brown as my violin in the light, and I imagine I can see his blue eyes twinkling at me from here.

A voice on the phone line, a strong, legible hand in a letter, and a memory. That's all he's been for six years, but he's always been there, always been my support and my council and let me do the same for him, and now I'm moving to New York, where he lives, where I'll work, and where we're going to try to live together, and see if we work.

The clapping has died down quite a bit, and it's time for me to play.

I bow one last time to the audience, and I give him the happiest, most hopeful smile I've ever had.

Because as I stand here, looking down at my family, I realize that happiness is not a bad feeling at all, and it looks like I'm going to be feeling a lot of it.

I run my fingertips briefly across the Cyrillic inscriptions on the back of the violin, as I do before every performance, then I lift Sasha into position and set the bow to her strings.

--

THE END

Q & A Section:

Only got a couple questions, but I'll go ahead and answer them here anyway.

Question One: If "everything was going fine", how did Kiara lose the baby?

I've taken a couple of years of Child Development classes. Since a good number of girls in the class would be new or expectant teen mothers, we covered all stages of pregnancy and care, and there's a lot of emphasis on prenatal care.

A mature pregnancy has a lot of risks involved and requires many precautions be taken by the mother to be. What you often don't hear, though, is that teen pregnancies are twice as dangerous and require twice as much care, including frequent doctor's visits and diet changes- teenagers aren't known for their nutritional eating habits!

It's possible to carry to term as a teenager without all this, of course, but it greatly increases the chance that the baby will be born physically or mentally impaired.

Many mature women I've known who did take all the precautions and had good prenatal care still managed to lose their babies between the second and fifth months, so the chances of a fourteen year old girl with absolutely no prenatal care carrying to term are close to nothing.

Question Two: Will there be a sequel?

I think I've had someone ask this question at the end of every story I've ever completed, so I was waiting for it, but I really liked the way one reader asked this time. They said simply that there had to be more to the story than ten chapters and an epilogue.

In the first few chapters, I was already pondering a semi-sequel which would be, not a new story, but a re-telling of this story from Alex's point of view instead of Luke's.

But recently I've gotten a better idea for something I'm more likely to stick with. (Retelling the same story would get boring later.)

The thought is a bit thrilling for me, and I'd like you to tell me what you think and if you'd be interested in reading it.

First, I'd like to expand this story: make some changes to the earlier chapters and add chapters, not to the end of the story but to the beginning. Work in some more of what home life and school is like for Kiara and Luke.

Then I'd like to do a prequel, rather than a sequel, since I think my epilogue is going to tie things up pretty nicely. I want the prequel to be Alex when he was fifteen or sixteen: his first kiss, his first boyfriend, how exactly his parents and friends reacted. Home life and school life, just like with Kiara and Luke.

Alex seems to be the most popular character, which doesn't surprise me, so I thought that might be more interesting than me turning out some half- baked sequel that would be nothing but fluff and sex. (Unless. hmm. I think I'll pack that idea away and save it for later. ;) )

Any questions after this will be addressed in a private email to the person asking.

ATTENTION:

As a huge favor, I'd like anyone who's been reading this story to please review this last chapter and tell me what you thought, even if you never reviewed the story before. I'd really appreciate it.

And be sure to tell me what you think of my sequel/prequel ideas!

Ariel