Extraction

14 - Tyler Rake

song: The Joker and The Queen - Ed Sheeran (feat. Taylor Swift)

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EPILOGUE

THE KIMBERLEY, AUSTRALIA
8 months later (2021)

Jane

I sold the house. After Oliver passed away and Tyler left me the divorce papers. The best I could've done was sell it. I couldn't live in the same place where I was happy.

Where we were happy as a family.

I changed since then. I started drinking and started swallowing pill after pill, hoping that my wish to die painlessly would become true.

I had no one to live for.

I had done everything in life. I traveled, I got drunk, I got matching tattoos, I lived on the edge. I married the love of my life and I gave birth to a child.

And then I was empty. Just like the glass of whiskey in between my hands. I swallowed another pill. It wasn't for my back, shoulder or knee.

My anxiety had gotten worse since that mission in Bangladesh. I wasn't in contact with Ovi nor with Nik or the team. Everyone grieved in a different way. This was my way - very familiar to what I went through after Oliver. Nik called me though - several times. I never answered and never called back.

It's been eight months. Eight months of nightmares, pain and anxiety. Another year without Oliver. Another year of loneliness. Though this time it was different in a way. I couldn't explain it. When my baby passed away, I still had someone in a way - Tyler. Having him far away was better than having him dead.

I breathed out, shaking my head. I stood up from my seat and grabbed my car keys. I started the car and drove away from my property. I had a vague destination in the back of my head, though I wasn't sure if it was doable - if it was real.

An hour passed by. An hour without music, just the sound of my old car and the occasional animals in the wild. An hour of passing by familiar roads. My heart started beating faster.

I remember when Tyler and I were late to our own wedding as we were too nervous to take that step. We started driving down the road, seeing where it'd take us. Then at the end of the day we somehow got married, signed a few documents between giggles and tears. But we were husband and wife. We tested out my name immediately.

"Jane Osborn?"

We giggled.

"It's Rake now."

"Pardon?"

"My last name. I just got married to the love of my life!"

We were drunk off our asses.

I grinned at the memory and brushed a tear away.

I turned right and pulled into the driveway. I blinked as I saw another car parked in front of it. Realising it might've been a stranger who's bought it, I sighed. I parked it in the familiar spot and got out. The lights were out and there was no sight of anybody nearby.

I walked around the house. The new owner hadn't made any new changes yet. It's been years and it was kind of old. Odd.

The woods far away were greener than it had ever been. I heard squirrels and birds. I smiled a little, brushing another tear away. I walked back to the front and looked around, before moving to stand on the porch. I smiled at the familiarity.