Sacrifices of Fire: Escaping Murder Manor

Epilogue

Two days later, Ellie is released from her room. She immediately goes to visit Kara. "Hey, Kara," she says. She sits down in a chair beside Kara. "I hope you'll wake up soon. I had a baby. Her name's Camellia. I can't wait for you to meet her. She came a little earlier than Julia wanted. She says that it's probably because I've been so stressed about you. Stress isn't good when you're pregnant, not to blame you or anything. It's alright though. Camellia is healthy. She's just a little small." She sighs and stops talking for a few minutes. "Kara? Can you even hear what I'm saying? Kara, please...I need you to wake up."

Several days pass and Ellie doesn't leave Kara's room. Thomas makes sure she eats, along with all the other necessities of life. Thomas and Marie make a plan to get Ellie home for a while. "She's not going to like this," Marie states, "she'll be angry with us."

"Yes," Thomas agrees, "it's for her benefit though, so it's worth her being angry with us."

"True, I'm going to go find her now. Knowing her, she's probably in Kara's room." She makes her way to Kara's room, sure enough, Ellie is there talking to Kara. "Hey, Ellie," Marie says softly.

Ellie looks up and looks startled. "Ah, Marie," she answers absentmindedly.

"Ellie, you really ought to go home."

"No," she answers tiredly, "I can't leave her. I won't."

"Yes, you will," Marie states, "sorry Ellie. This is for your own good." Thomas comes into the room and picks Ellie up, and carries her out of the room.

"Thomas!" she cries out, "No! Let go! I can't...Kara!"

"Ellie," he says calmly, "Kara is fine. Her condition is stable. I promise you she'll be okay while you're at home. If anything happens, good or bad, I'll call you, okay? You need to take care of yourself."

She slumps down in her seat. "I know, I just...Kara...I can't..." She gives Thomas a troubled look.

"I know, kitten. I understand. You can't lose her. You won't. I promise. Now, let's get you home."

The drive home is quiet. When they get there, Ellie silently leaves the car and makes her way up to their penthouse. Thomas follows behind her. They enter their home and are immediately ambushed by the kids.

"Mama!" Violet cries, "You're home!"

Ellie smiles at her tiredly and says, "Yes, love, I'm home. Where's..."

Matt walks into the living room. "What in god's name are you all..." He looks up and sees Ellie. "Ellie? You came home? Kara? Is she ..."
"She's fine," Thomas answers, "I brought Ellie here, so she could take care of herself. I need to get back to the hospital. I promised her I would stay with Kara."

"Oh, alright."

"Take care of her. Call me if she starts to freak out."

"Yeah, of course." Thomas leaves. Matt walks over to Ellie and takes her hand. "Come, let's get you cleaned up and into some clean clothes." He takes her to the bathroom. "Do you want me to stay or..."

"You can go," she whispers, "I'll come find you once I'm finished."

"Alright," he says softly. He leaves the room. Ellie strips her clothes off and gets into the tub. She turns water on. Once the shower is running, she closes her eyes and lets the hot water envelope her.

After ten minutes, she washes her hair and her body. Afterwards she turns the water off and gets out. She wraps a towel around her body and another towel around her hair. She leaves the bathroom and hobbles into her room.

Inside her room, she selects a long sleeved shirt and some jeans. Once she has the clothes on, she leaves the room to find Matt. She finds him in the kitchen making some food. "Hey," he says, "are you hungry? I made your favorite." She sits down and he brings a bowl full of rice, covered with chicken broth. "Eat, you'll feel better."

He hands her a spoon and she quietly starts to eat the food. About half-way through she stops and pushes the bowl away from her. "I'm full," she whispers, "I don't want to..."

"Overdo it?" he finishes.

"Yeah, but it was really good. Could you save the rest?"
He laughs, "Of course, my love. Now that you've eaten and showered, I think you should get some rest. I'll wake you if Thomas calls."

She nods and makes her way out to the living room, where she flops down onto the couch and instantly falls asleep. About three hours after she'd fallen asleep Matt gets a call from Thomas.

"Hello," he answers.

"Matt," Thomas says, "bring Ellie to the hospital."

"What? Kara, is she..."
"She's awake."