EPILOUGE
(One Year Later)

The car shook with the force of the closing trunk while I slammed the lid down over various bags and suitcases. My gas tank was full, there was cash in my center console, and I had my new GPS turned on. I shouldn’t need it, said Scott, since I’d be in the middle of the car train. I didn’t trust his direction for anything. I was keeping my GPS turned on.

We had bought out an entire apartment building somewhere in Arizona. It was new, hardly even finished in its construction, but we put down offers on it. It was a small building, with just six apartments, but it was all we needed. Colleena wasn’t coming with us, and I would continue to share with Scott.

I turned away from my trunk and looked at the horizon line behind my parents. I can’t say it was a graceful reunion. I had received a stony silence from Anna for the first two months, and it was difficult explaining to them why I was bringing their daughter - who they had already thought to be home - back to their house at midnight. The Fitch had been taken back, and as for the status of the Other Side, I can’t say much.

Anna’s mouth was set in a grim line, but her petite figure accepted my hug when I moved towards her. My dad kissed my forehead, handed me another fifty dollars, and smiled. He didn’t know why I was leaving. He didn’t know that his daughter would stay seventeen forever. He didn’t know that we were moving to Arizona and I would go through my last year of high school again before I went into college.

They didn’t need to know.

I turned my attention to Emily, now seven and a half. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, and she smiled up at me.

“I’ll fly you out every summer, okay?”

She smiled even wider.

I straightened, and looked around. Scott’s truck was at the top of my driveway, followed by Gia’s jeep. There was a space for me to pull out into, and then Tyrael, Rache, and Alucard would follow. I nodded, and climbed into my car. When I closed the door, I rolled down the window to receive the last of my good-bye kisses.

“Call us the first time that you stop, alright?”

I smiled at Anna and agreed. My father looked my car over.

“Do you have enough gas? Do you need more money?”

I laughed. “dad. I just filled up my gas tank, I have one hundred in cash, and my cards. Don’t worry, I’ll be alright.”

He frowned. “I just don’t understand your sudden decision to up and move. Especially since we haven’t seen hide nor hair of you lately.”

My frown matched his. No, they didn’t understand my sudden decision; I couldn’t tell them. They wouldn’t understand. Regardless of whether or not the government deemed my kind as legal citizens or not, my parents wouldn’t understand what had gone on in the past year. This devout Christian family wouldn’t have understood that I accepted what I was - a bisexual vampire that lived with inhumane species and fought off the evil wicked spirits of the world.

I smiled.

“It’s just time for a change,” I told him.

He kissed me one last time, and I reached out and grabbed Emily’s hand.

“I love you.”

I smiled; I would never get tired of hearing her voice.

“I love you too, Emmy.”

They stepped away from my car, and I pulled out of the driveway, moving slowly towards the actual road. I pulled behind Gia, and Scott started up his truck, which caused a chorus of engines to follow suit.

I took one last look at the life I was leaving behind. When I looked ahead, Gia was smiling comfortingly at me through her rear-view mirror. I smiled back, and then Scott moved forward. We followed him, going straight along my small neighborhood road until we hit the highway.

We followed Scott, and my mind collapsed in on itself. I had changed so much in this past year that I don’t think I would recognize myself anymore. The lights from the streetlamps illuminated the highway, and I named each pool of light after one of my new friends. Without them, I wouldn’t have come this far. I knew that; they helped me move forward, to conquer my own darkness. They helped me breach my midnights of nightmares. They helped me move forward.

Forward; it was the only way to move.