Hexenbox - now complete! 🇬🇧 (🇩🇪 translation in progress)

Chapter 5 - Epilogue

She wakes up in a familiar place. Kind of familiar place. In hospital.

There is no box on her bedside table. The guns are. The set of duel pistols from the nightmare place. She blinks at them. Both because there's no way hospital staff would have let her have them. And because it means that everything has been real. Has it?

The man in the dark blue coat is there as well. Haythorne. The telltale dark blue coat, of course, grey hair, grey beard. Standing by the window, looking out.

For a moment, she enjoys the silence but there are thoughts gnawing at her, questions.

"Is it over?" she finally manages, her voice again a rasp. "Really over?"

A smile spreads over his face when he turns around. "You're awake."

"You're not answering."

He points at the guns as if they would be answer enough. "It's one of the reasons I'm here," he says. "I have something to ask of you. It's not much. Just... It would be great if you could keep things to yourself."

She stares at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding?"

He gives a little laugh. It's a first in all the time they've known each other. "No, I'm not," he says. "Look, you may not appreciate it now. But what you've done is incredible. Remember Shackleton? Lost 36 men. Brought back a curse that killed so many more. No." He shakes his head. "I'm not kidding. You've done good. You've done so very good. It would be natural to talk about it. Not as a secret. As an achievement. Because that's what it really is."

She gives herself time to consider. Then something else comes to her. "You said it's one of the reasons."

"I did," he says as if beaming under his beard. "Want to hear it?"

She rolls her eyes at him. "Why would I freaking ask?"

Unexpectedly, he pauses. "I'm not getting younger," he says then, suddenly serious. "I need an apprentice. If you want to. I'll pay. Of course, you already have enough money for a billionaire's life. If you'd prefer that?"

She stares at him. "I ... what?""

He brings her bag to her bedside. The messenger bag the box was in and also the rusty brown coat for a certain time. It's filled with coins. Gold and silver. Coinage she doesn't recognize, but what difference does it make? She stares at all the riches. Unthinking. Not believing. She's rich? Like God-forsaken, Jesus-Christ-and-all-the-Heavenly-Host, really, really rich?

It takes a while. Maybe because she's just woken. Maybe she has been given a mild sedative that still has some effect. Maybe because it's just too much, too much to sink in. And then, she understands that this is not what she needs. She doesn't need money. What she needs and always has, ever since back in Syria, is someone. People to talk to. People who understand. People who walk the same path. Whatever path that is.

When she finally looks up, she finds an empty room. The man, Haythorne, has gone. The door just closes with a last swish of a dark blue coat, a coat a bit too wide.

"Wait!" she calls after him.

She gets out of the wake-up bed. Almost stumbles because the vice is still there. She finds her coat, the rusty brown one that Haythorne gave her. She stops, grabs the guns, shoves them into the pockets, and gets the bag because there is no use leaving it here.

It has taken too much time. Too much time before she finally gets out of the room. The elevator doors close on her, a dark blue smudge of color just vanishing from sight. She almost hammers on the button, becoming aware that she left her boots. It doesn't matter. Not now.

She catches up with him in front of the hospital, its broad steps leading away into a day where the sun is rising, pink and blueish over a deep, distant horizon.

"You could have called, you know?" he says, looking at her feet.

It's not the goddamn time for this. "I want to," she says, a slice of anger mixing into her voice. She still means it. She really does. "I want to become your apprentice."

He starts to smile, a real smile. And when he does, she knows she has made the right choice. The first right choice in a long time.

"Welcome," he says. "Welcome to the adventure."

---

Right... So, here we are, at the and of things! Hope you enjoyed this little story! 

Just as a remark and in case you are wondering (and since I couldn't place this anywhere else): If you are thinking, 'Wait a sec, didn't he somewhere say there will be six chapters?', you're absolutely right! Somehow the author–who is absolutely me, but please allow me some professional distance here ;-)–the author got the numbers of the five chapters mixed up. Please, don't ask how that's even possible with five chapters... ;-)

In any case, thank you so much for reading Hexenbox! If you liked what you read, a vote or comment would go along way! As for what's next: I'm currently working on my main project, so it might be some time until I publish something shorter. 

In any case, stay tuned and happy reading!