Alissa

EPILOGUE

The snow crunches under his feet as Kevin brings a cup of coffee to Alissa sitting at the edge of the ambulance's trunk. She wraps the blanket closer across her chest and flashes a faint smile at Kevin, taking the cup, coiling both her palms around it. "How are you feeling?" Kevin asks. "It must've been tough. Killing him, I mean."

Alissa doesn't look at him, she's taking the view before her. Some, just like Alissa, are sitting in the police cabs, wrapped in a blanket, drinking coffee. She sees Megan breaking down, and sobbing when her dad reaches the school and hurries towards her. She hides herself in her dad's hug. On the other side, Aman is sitting on the bench beside the main entrance of the building and giving his statement. Even though it's chilly outside, the sun is out and shining in it's full glory, the birds are chirping cheerfully. It's almost unreal for her to imagine that so much has happened to her—not just her, to all nine of them in the last few hours but the world went on as if nothing out of the ordinary ever happened. It's realisations like these that puts things in perspective.

"It was, yes," she nods. "But it had to be done. But that's not what's bothering me."

Kevin looks confused, "what is, then?"

"After this," she looks around, covering the expanse of the school, "it's really hard to not hate my father. And even my mother."

Kevin lets out a deep breath, as if he had been holding it in all night. "If it weren't for Felix, my dad would've probably gotten away with the money laundering. But you never know, so that meant living the rest of your life in fear and paranoia. So, for his own sake, I think him going to prison isn't a bad thing after all." He's tapping his feet against the metallic base of the trunk, almost as if he's jittery, unsure if he should say the next few words. "Also, he does deserve to go to jail. And no offence to you or your father, but what he did to Felix...that's unacceptable, and he should've faced repercussions. Just, not like this. None of us should've been involved."

She finally looks at him, making his heart throb faster. Then, she lowers her eyes. "You're not wrong," she says. "And for that, I'm about to sue him."

"Alissa," Kevin's voice rises an octave. "You sure?"

She nods with conviction. "I am. He doesn't get to ruin three people's lives just because his ego is too big to accept that people can be more successful than him."

Kevin squints, still looking at her. She continues when he doesn't say anything. "Felix, me and Brian," she says. "Felix told me he was the one who killed Brian," her voice cracks.

He sees her eyes shining in the sunlight. "I know," Kevin says. "I could hear a little even when I was unconscious." He pulls her in and she digs her face in his shoulder.

Holly is sitting inside the back of another ambulance when they slide Lucas in on a stretcher. "He was badly hurt," the nurse says. "But there were also some scar tissues on his body that never fully healed. And they seem like they have been there for months if I'm not wrong. Any idea what did he exactly do to get them on his body?"

Her throat contracts as she somehow manages to not break out a cry. "He was a fighter."

Pulling out the elastic gloves off her hands, the nurse walks out when somebody calls for her. Holly looks over at him, her shadow covering most of his face. Still, with his eyes closed, Lucas looks just like another boy. Strip him off his scars and he can be anyone, and not a boy with hatred in his veins who was blessed with an abusive father. In that moment, if Holly was granted one wish that could bring even her wildest fantasies to life, she wouldn't use it on herself. She'd ask for, she thinks to herself, Lucas to be born again in a happy family; surrounded by people who loved him and were complete in awe of him, as they should. She'd wish Lucas got every bit of happiness he wanted in life, and radiated positivity and attracted more of it in return. That's what she'd do with her wish.