My Shadow

College Bound

Christian
I am just getting on my flight to go to Harvard, I can't believe I don't mind being touched by strangers anymore. Dr. John Flynn and his associates have put me through the wringers and the pain is gone. The nightmares are gone and I have a bright future ahead of me because my parents got me the best help they could find. Four years and I am ready for the world. I can FaceTime with dr Flynn if needed. But I have other ways to get through my anxiety and that is throwing myself into my studies. Dad said that if it gets too much that I can go to college in Seattle. But I want to be strong for my family, like they were strong for me for all those years. I hug all my family freely and tell them I love them regularly. I am finally looking out the window of my dorm room. I have a room with three other guys. I put my things in the dresser by the bed that's closest to the bathroom. First in, first out and on my way to classes.

Carrick
I collect my crying wife and my two other children and we head back home and we are going to miss Christian a lot. Dr Flynn has assured us that Christian is ready for this step. We had a couple of group therapies for just this. After everything that went down with Elena Lincoln and we found out just how awful of a person she truly was and the victims are still being located. She was using her clubs to traffic humans through. I knew of her owning clubs, just not the kind of clubs she owned. It all came out and Richard Lincoln luckily hadn't been married to Elena long at all. They had a prenuptial agreement that gave her nothing if she cheated on him. Well I would say having sex with minors constitutes cheating. He finally got his home sold. He moved into a house on the other side of Seattle. He married a nice woman who he had thoroughly checked out. Elena had a public defender, she apparently hoped that I would defend her. I refused her calls.

Grace
The things that came out about Elena Lincoln was hard to come to grips with knowing how close she was to making my children her victims as well. Christian and our family were lucky enough to have Carrick looking out for us. It turned out that he had noticed one too many young teens going in and out if her house, yet the rubble was never cleared out. It just made him suspicious of her true motives. Christian has worked hard to get through all his problems and he is in much better shape mentally and physically than he was the day we brought him home from the hospital. The fighting stopped and he started enjoying friends and started dating girls. He and Elliott were heartbreakers. The calls we got were from girls looking for them both. I told the boys to handle things better after that. Carrick found out that Elena had been hurt during a prison riot and they couldn't find out how her jugular was cut. She died at the bottom of a massive pile of fighting women.

Elliott
I am halfway through college and I'm am working at a construction company as well. I am learning a lot by working with the best company in Seattle. I am getting my degree in architecture and business. I am pushing myself hard and my girlfriend ended things with me because I didn't have time or the money to take her out to the nicer places. I am putting my salary away to start my own company. Christian is doing a lot better and he had a very enjoyable prom night with my help. I gave him some pointers and condoms and told him to make sure the girl was clean of STD's because he definitely is. Birth control was important as well. Luckily he knew all of this before prom night. All I can say is that he had a smile on his face when he came out of his room the next afternoon. He dated her until he went to Harvard, she tried to pull the fake pregnancy test on him and he insisted on her seeing an OB/GYN to make sure everything was okay. She finally admitted to him she wasn't pregnant.

Mia
I am going to miss Christian a lot. I am going through a lot of changes this year. We got a new student this year, she stays to herself and we have heard her having conversations with people. Nobody has seen them though. I think I caught sight of men in black getting in a nearby car. She had been getting bullied and I was shocked when she stopped the punch thrown at her midair and flipped the girl over her shoulder. I was a witness to the battle and all the bullying the girls had been doing to her. I learned later she is a foster child. Anastasia Steele's foster parents were my brothers psychiatrist and his wife. I and several others were asked what we saw and heard and I added that the girls had been bullying her since she arrived at the school. The other girls were expelled because of their bullying. They have to go through psychological testing and then therapy sessions.

Anastasia
I hated being bullied by anyone and I started self defense training that my friends recommended I go to their guy. The Flynn's checked him out and he gave them a nice discount for all three children. So their boys are learning alongside me. The instructor told the Flynn's I was a natural and he put me in his advanced classes. So I went through every possible form of self defense training. I work out regularly as well. My next training will be to shoot guns safely.