SURPRISE! An epilogue.

Epilogue:

“So, any plans for the weekend?” Dr. Raymond asks when he’s exhausted his supply of usual questions and I shrug with a sigh.

“I’m going to go to my mom’s this weekend again. They want me to stay the whole weekend this time instead of just one night…” I smile and look down at my feet that are kicking at the front of his desk, which is making him rub his head…but less than usual. “They said I could bring a friend along if I wanted to, so I’m bringing Rafe. They just want us to sleep in separate rooms…”

“How does that make you feel?”

I raise my eyebrows. “The separate room thing? Not a big deal. I’d feel weird doing anything with him in my mom’s house anyway. It’d just feel really weird. Like thinking dirty thoughts in church, or something.”

His cheeks and the top of his balding head flare up in a bright, shiny red. “I…uh, I meant introducing him to your mother.”

“Oh…” I shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t think it’ll be too bad. Mom, Ted, and I have been getting along pretty good, I guess, so that makes it easier. And besides, I’ll probably feel more comfortable having Rafe around. I…” I trail off and shrug, but finish the statement in my mind. I always feel more comfortable when he’s around.

Dr. Raymond nods and writes something down in that stupid folder and then looks up at me, resting his cheek in his palm and narrowing his eyes. “Keegan, do you know it’s been two whole months since you were attacked by that boy at your school?”

For a moment I just stare at him before slowly nodding and letting my eyes slide up to stare at the ceiling. “Yeah… Yeah, I know.”

And he knows. My dad knows. Mrs. Williams who may or may not be the one who’s been calling my dad to talk in the evening knows. Rafe persuaded me to tell Mrs. Williams what happened, threatening that he would if I didn’t.

“We don’t deserve being treated like this from him still!” he’d argued.

And even though I insisted that it was done…that it had to be done, he still dragged me upstairs, leaving Brady sobbing in the showers so I could stutter out the basic shell of the story to a horrified Mrs. Williams.

It was weird. Seeing Brady so vulnerable made me want to protect him. Seeing him down on the floor of the showers made me realize that he must’ve seen me looking the same way the entire time we were together, but while I wanted to protect him despite bad memories, he found it easier to treat me badly.

Brady was suspended and the school set up this campaign against bullying. That didn’t matter to me much. It was just good to know that the past was over and could be left in the past. It was good to know that I had Rafe with his arm around my shoulder the whole drive home that day. It was good to know that dad would hug me even after I sobbed out the entire Brady story to him, from start to finish and that Julie was growing up and leaving behind the day she found me in the bathtub. It felt good shattering my CD with Mozart’s Requiem etched into it and throwing it into the waves at the beach, watching them shimmering in the sun and then sinking below the surface. That past was over.

“So…? You’ve been feeling okay about that? No more nightmares?” Dr. Raymond asks, causing me to jump and focus my attention back on him.

“No more nightmares.” No more nightmares that were filled with dripping water and the surging ocean and a sea monster that swam beneath the surface, waiting to drag me under. “They stopped about a month ago.”

“Good… And you’ve been controlling your anger okay?” I nod. He glances to his watch. “Well, today’s our last session together. And time’s just about up. Anything else you’d like to talk about before I give you the boot?” One of his nervous smiles flickers onto his face and then stabilizes and I smile back.

“No… No, I think I’m fine. I think I’m okay.” I get up and reach my hand over the desk, shaking my doctor’s hand for the first and last time. “Thanks… And sorry for messing up the front of your desk.”

He shrugs and stands up, walking me to the door. “It’s been good watching you grow, Keegan. Good luck with the rest of your life…and you can come back and talk to me any time you need.”

I smile and nod, leaving the room, and knowing that there’s no way in hell I’ll ever want to be back here. “Yeah, thanks. See you.” I quickly turn and leave before he can say anything else.

Down in front of the hospital, smoking with a disheveled looking old woman is Rafe, who drops his cigarette as soon as he sees me and walks over, pummeling me with hot, smoky desert breath as he throws his arm around my shoulders.

“Freedom!” he shouts, his words crystallized in the air as he gives me a yank toward the parking lot. “Hey, tell me, Keegan, how does it make you feel?”

I grin and lean into his side as he guides me to his waiting car. “Pretty good. Does this mean I’m a normal, functioning citizen? I don’t know what to do with myself.”

He kisses the side of my head and lets me go when we reach the side of his car, but instead of getting in, he leans forward, pressing me into the door. “Let’s go somewhere to celebrate, yeah?” His cold nose presses against the side of my neck and I sigh, breathing in the smell of his hair and reaching up to smooth it down.

I know I should get home so I can jump around excitedly and do something to celebrate with Julie and dad, but feeling Rafe against me like this feels too good. “Where to?” I whisper.

Straightening up, he gives me the grin I remember from the first day we met in Mrs. Williams’ office, mischievous but kind and sweet…

“Where else?” He kisses the tip of my nose and backs away. “The beach.”

The end for real this time.

I hope this is a little better than the previous ending… (Keep in mind, I was satisfied with the original ending. And I would've left it as is, but ya'll pissed me off enough to write this.)

Thanks again to reviews, favorites, the bitching about the end. Yeah, good times. Good times.