The Neighborhood Watch

Epilogue - Hospital Smell

I woke up to the sound of beeping.

It was dark in the room, but I recognized the smell. As I slowly came too, the door opened and someone came in, carrying a clipboard and clicking her tongue.

"Mika, the police are here," it was Nurse Grandma Jill, sounding tired. "I told them you were still sleeping off a load of pain medication, but they wanted me to come to check on you anyways. They already talked to Marrisa and Leo. Is it true your dad did all of this to you? Marrisa said your dad found you were at the Price home and started shooting. She said he killed a lot of your cousins and a missing girl. I'm so sorry I didn't realize sooner how insane he was. And that West woman was helping him all the while, which is probably why her husband is missing." She didn't seem to know I was awake yet. "Oh, and to think he killed that Midway girl? Barbaric."

"Where is Marrisa?" I asked, finding my throat to be coated in something that felt like sandpaper.

Jill jumped, realizing her error in keeping the lights off. "Oh, Mika! You're awake! Thank, God!" She turned on the lights and gently stroked my face. "Marrisa is with the Prices. They cut their trip short when they heard about what happened. Leo lost two fingers and a bit of blood, but he's fine. And that Vince child has injuries consistent with a car crash? Your sister had a few cuts and bruises, but she is fine. A bit shaken but alright. For two days she wouldn't leave this room."

I glanced around, realizing exactly what room I was in. Despite it being covered in get-well-soon cards and balloons, it didn't look any different. "Is this?"

"Room 204?" Jill nodded. "Yes. The town's new social worker thought it might be good to wake up somewhere familiar. They called him in on an emergency, he said he's never seen anything like this before."

I bet he hasn't. I snuck out while you were sleeping and listened to his conversations. He hasn't got a clue. For the first time, I was excited to hear my shadow's voice. I also listened to Marrisa's story to the police, just in case. It'll be like one big game of telephone.

"When can I see them? My sister and my friends, I mean." I asked Nurse Grandma Jill, hoping I could see them before I spoke to anyone else.

Nurse Grandma Jill glanced at the doorway and frowned. "I'm sure soon enough."

"Mikael Darcy?" An officer entered the room, followed shortly by Chhaya's father. "How are you feeling, kid?"

That was only the first of hundreds of conversations with the detectives. Each time, our stories would not change, and we'd act just like our father taught us, unfortunately for him, we used all his training against him, but I wouldn't call that a loss for my sister and me.

After Max died, the Light listened to the one who had killed him, and once she'd eaten his shadow, there was no one else they could. Marrisa told them to bury all the Light in graves in the middle of the woods to be found in a hundred years and be linked back to my father. Then she had them stage everything to be Hank's fault.

Marrisa allowed the Light to have a funeral for Max and Sabrina out in the hills, where she instructed them never to return unless they wanted her to eat them like she had Max.

As for the Wests, Charlotte West was framed by the Light for corruption and working with our father and sent to prison. Mourning her family, Mrs. West didn't argue and was taken away. Grace and Josh entered foster care and now attend regular therapy for the shared delusion of the brother who looked exactly like me and the scary monster that kept them from telling anyone.

I'd live in the hospital for some time, through Christmas and New Year, and until Valentine's Day. Jill decorated my room with things she brought from home and cards from the kids at school who last saw me beat the lights out of a kid in the cafeteria. Every night I spoke to Hannah as best I could in the dark of that room, and some nights if the medication was strong enough, it felt like I could hear her response.

We had a funeral for her up in North Carolina, where she should have been all along. With the help of some dedicated nurses, I was able to go to it, though being wheeled through a graveyard in the snow in a wheelchair was not the best of times. We buried her next to her fathers and brother, and a few weeks later, an investigation opened up to find her sister's body. The police were confused about how the cold case ended states away with us, but we told them that the secret died with Hank Darcy, and it would.

My hands never stopped shaking.

They called them psychogenic tremors and linked them to post-traumatic stress disorder. They gave the acronym to Marrisa as well, called Leo at risk for it. It was like I had said to Max; none of us had really won here. We'd only just made it to the other side.

The last snow of the year had long ago melted, and it finally gave way to spring when I began to go out on my own again. The Prices had rebuilt the side of their house and blamed bad wiring for the electric windows and doorknobs, so Marrisa and I were living with them again until a more suitable home could be found for us.

But for now, while I was here, I'd get back into running. And this morning, I knew where I wanted to go.

Like it had been that morning, the coffee shop was empty, and it took the bell above the door for a head to pop up behind the counter. "Mika?" Her face lit up when she saw me.

I knew what Jessica had said a while ago about Chhaya, but I just wanted a friend who didn't make me think of that week. And since I'd have to repeat Senior year as I'd missed half of it, someone who was a junior was a good idea to have around.

If there was any knowledge that came out of this whole thing, it was that there would always be those people who think our shadows meant death, things to fear. Things to take from each other and control. And so, we had to be careful. But the truth was, our shadows are just parts of us that we need to learn to live with. I'd learned to live with mine through hard parts I don't wish upon anyone else, but if you have a shadow out there, and you're reading this, don't wait until it's too late and you end up like my brother and me.

Go out, live your life, and fall in love stupidly. The chance of pain at losing it all doesn't hold a candle to the pain it would be to have never felt it at all. And if your reflection beckons you to the water, don't follow him in.