Insider

Thirty-five

How do I end a story like this?  The task is impossible because now is not the end, more of a new beginning.  Each day I take a breath like it was the first time, embracing the nuances that now compose my life.  Each day I still miss my original family, but the hole in my heart is smaller.  People care about me.  I care about them.  And although it was not the tale I asked for, I am happy that my path led me here.

I am currently working with S.H.I.E.L.D., I help track down gangs and drug traffickers.  While I have placed criminals behind bars, I am more proud of the abudance of kids that I helped find a new path.  People are not inherently evil, I have learned that adversities bring them to do bad things.  

The government was wary to let me off the hook of S.H.I.E.L.D.- even when I became an adult at eighteen- but they eventually relented.  I still stayed with S.H.I.E.L.D., I had built a home there.  

Rose and Jasmine became inseparable, like sisters.  They flourished at school and have many friends.  Sam, Sharon, and James are trying to make S.H.I.E.L.D. prominent again, but this time with no Hydra involved.  I call those three my friends now, we've been through a lot together.  Shuri visits often, and while I have yet to confess how I really feel, I am glad that we have become best friends.  

A few months ago James found something for me.  We flew to Alaska, and I came upon the little log cabin where my journey had started.  Snow had piled in huge drifts and the house was littered with dust, but when I closed my eyes I could see the hearth glowing red, and me making daisy chains while Papa read a book.  The furniture was still in place, although worn down.  With delicate fingertips, I cleaned the dust off of Papa's history books and shook dirt out of my old clothes.  I arranged them in a large box to bring home with me.  Looking inside, James asked, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yes," I answered.

What he said next shocked me.  "Would you like to stay here?"

On my own?  

It was what I wanted.  Was.  But now...

I shook my head and replied, "No, but thank you.  I'm exactly where I want to be."

We walked back to the jet in a peaceful silence.

I visited the cabin again during the spring once again, bringing something with me.  On a piece of stone I carved some words, and on its base I left some of the woodland flowers.

Noah Heinrich Fleur, Valentina Camille Fleur
Loving parents who embodied Good despite the Evil they endured.

Lived on by Elissa Joelle Fleur.