My beginning and the end (Completed)

Farewell

A few months have gone by now.
My leg has completely healed, and as the nurse said, I would have a big scar. It's not super noticeable, so that's at least something. Me and Ethan are official. Finally, boyfriend and girlfriend. We also dropped the L word. We said we loved each other for the first time.

So far, there's been no sign of Damien. His car has been found. He had left it in an abandoned parking lot. It was merely a coincidence that someone found it.

I'm still very cautious of my surroundings, and every now and then, I mistake someone for Damien. I no longer get the feeling that I'm being watched like I did before. I haven't gone back to the graveyard since I got back, however. I'm still afraid that if I go back to where it all started , it will trigger it to happen again.

My story has gotten into the news, and everyone seems to know me now. It's rather uncomfortable. The first week and around the month mark, some kids thought it would be funny to leave roses outside of the house. At first, I was scared it meant Damien was back, but when i took a closer look at the roses, I saw they had thorns and the wrong ribbon. I don't get how people think it's funny to trigger someone's trauma like that.

I'm still going to school, just full-time now. I haven't found a suitable job yet, and Ethan agreed that I should try and focus more on healing right now. My life is looking up. I got to go to Sophia's funeral. She had a beautiful ceremony to celebrate her life, and a lot of people showed up to pay respect.
The robberer was caught in another neighborhood, targeting empty houses of people on vacation. I guess he thought Sophia had also left with me for a "vacation."

- - -

Christmas has rolled around, and New years is just around the corner. The ground is covered in snow. Ethan and I have been making endless snow angels together. I always tell him the snow makes us younger. We started to play again like when we were children.

I decided to finally visit Father. I had to get over my fear at some point. I felt safer when walking in the snow because I could see the footsteps and hear the crunch of the snow if someone was walking.
When I got to his grave, there were already footsteps leading to his grave. I wondered if Ethan had gone without me before.

The footsteps in the snow didn't look fresh, so it must have been someone who came a few days ago. I got to his grave, and a single red rose was left on top of his headstone.
At first, I wondered if it had been one of the pranksters that were always leaving roses in front of the house. I did think they had stopped doing that a while ago.

I picked up the rose to examine it. It was frozen with ice crystalizing on it. There were no thorns or leaves on it. The same black ribbon I knew so well. It's funny how particular that ribbon was, so simple, yet it was so distinct. I could immediately tell if it was from Damien or the kids. This time, it was from Damien. Only I knew that and would keep it that way. I felt this was a goodbye, for now.

I wasn't scared that he had been here. I felt that he was gone for now. I knew he would be back some day, but I can enjoy my freedom and live my life the way I choose now.

I put the rose back on the headstone and pondered where he had been driving to the day I escaped. I thought about all the moments i had lost because of him.

I heard someone walking close by, and I looked up to see Philip, the old graveyardkeeper. He came over and asked me how I was doing. He hadn't seen me in so long. We started talking, and he walked me back to the gates. When we were by the gates, I asked him if he had seen Damien at some point coming to visit. He just smiled and gave me a quick nod and walked back to attend his graveyard duties.

I wasn't afraid that he confirmed that Damien had been there because I knew this was the ending of the beginning.