Wingless {Clifford A.U}

Epilogue

Several Months Later

Astrid stared at herself in the mirror. She home schooled for the remainder of the year instead of enrolling at the end, Luke graduated, and she was turning eighteen in a few months, everything seemed to be going good. But it wasn't always that easy for her. It wasn't as bad as it was before, but it wasn't all smiles and happiness all the time. Old habits come into play, she tries to ignore the urges, but sometimes it's hard.

She hasn't slept in days, the dark circles under her eyes were evidence of that. She hadn't cared about her appearance lately and barely left her bedroom. Luke worried about her, but he only thought it was leftover post traumatic stress, but he didn't know what was really happening, so he let her be. The nightmares had been becoming less frequent for her, but occasionally she wakes up tangled in her bedsheets covered in her sweat and tears from that night, and then retreats into Luke's room to sleep with him like she used to when she was a child.

She stared at the blade that lied on the counter in front of her and she picked it up, holding it between her fingers. She was doing so good, she had only relapsed once a few weeks before. She sighed, pushing the urge to the back of her mind. Enough is enough. she thought to herself before wrapping the blade in tissues and flushing it. She didn't want to see it ever again. She walked back into her bedroom, changing into comfy clothes.

She put her ear buds in, blaring her music loudly through the speakers while she picked her room up, trying to make it at least somewhat organized since she hasn't cared about it in the past few days and it was getting too cluttered for her liking. There was mostly just paper that had her scrawled writing across it or sketches that she screwed up and water bottles and clothes cluttering the floor. She was too caught up in her music and cleaning up her room, she didn't notice the angel leaning against her closed door, waiting for her to notice him, but after several minutes he gave up.

She turned her music off and was in the middle of checking the time on her phone, realizing that it was getting late and she needed to at least try to get some sleep, when she felt him snake his arms around her waist and she flinched slightly.

"It's okay angel, it's just me." he said, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Michael." she said quietly, feeling tears threatening to fall. She had missed him so much. She turned around quickly and wrapped her arms tightly around him, several tears spilling over her cheeks as she buried her face in his chest. "I missed you." she said, her voice muffled, but he could still hear the crack in her voice.

"I know, I know. I missed you too." he said, holding on to her just as tightly.

"You are here right? Or is this just a dream?" she asked and he laughed lightly before kissing her gently.

"I'm really here." he said and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. They sat down on her bed, Astrid immediately cuddling his side. "I told you I would come back sometimes." he said and she sighed.

"I know, I just didn't know when." she said.

"Have you been doing okay since I haven't been here?" he asked, wrapping one arm around her shoulders so she was laying against him.

"It's been hard, but it's not as bad as it was before. I have nightmares sometimes and I-I relapsed a few weeks ago." she said, ashamed of the last part. "But it's the only time I did, and I flushed the blade, I don't have it anymore." she added quickly.

"It's okay, it happens. I'm proud of you angel, you've stayed so strong since I've been gone." he said brushing his thumb over her fading scars and she put her hand over his.

"I hate them so much." she said sadly.

"Don't hate them, you're thinking of them as a symbol of you being weak, instead think of them of proof that you've stayed strong and kept going when you could've given up." he said.

"I've never thought of them like that before." she said. "Thank you."

"What for?" he asked and she smiled at him.

"Everything."

THE END

A/N: So this is sadly the end of Astrid and Michaels story. Thanks so much for everything.

-Xx E.J