Everyone for Themselves

Epilogue

20 years later... 

February 23rd, 2011 

Epilogue- 

"And that," she said, bending down low so that the three small children could hear her. "Was how she survived the games." 

The small, skinny 8-year-old girl with long, black hair leaped to her feet, a look of awe and amazement on her face.  "Wow, mom!" she exclaimed. "That was the best story I ever heard!" 

A small 5-year-old with spiky blonde hair leaned forward breathlessly, his face contorted in question and wonder. "Did that really happen?" 

The girl sighed in irritation and slugged her brother in the arm. "Of course it did, dummy! Didn't you hear what she said?" Then she turned back her mother and asked, "Was that really true?" 

The smiling mother nodded, amused at seeing her children so worked up over this. "Yes, it did, Susan." 

Smirking, Susan turned to her brother, hands on her hips. "See? Told ya, Johnny!" 

"Yeah, yeah," Johnny muttered, but his eyes were still lit up with excitement. "It happened to you?" 

But before the mother could answer her son's question, Susan asked, "Hey, Holly, what did you think of Mom's story?" 

Holly, a tall, delicate looking 12-year-old girl with long, curly blonde hair, only shrugged as her answer. She was always extremely shy, rarely around her family, but she barely said a word to anyone else. "It was interesting. Who would do such a thing to people?" 

"Did it happen to you?" Johnny repeated. 

"Trent would! Duh!" Susan scoffed, interrupting him again. 

"Oh." Holly whispered.  

"Hey, mom, did you ever-" 

"DID IT HAPPEN TO YOU?" Johnny shouted over Susan, and it made the whole house go quiet.  

But the mother only started laughing. "Yes, dear," she said quietly. "It happened to me." 

"Serenity!" a voice called from the next room. "Have you finished the story yet?"  

A tall, handsome man with hair that had become black over the years, stepped out of the hallway into the cozy living room.  

"Yes, I just finished it, Jake." Serenity replied, tilting her head up to kiss her husband.  

"Daddy!" Susan screeched, both her and her bother rushing up to meet him.  

"Hey kids!" Jake laughed. "How'd you like the story?"  

"IT WAS AWESOME!" They screamed in unison, practically pushing their dad over with the force of their utter excitement. 

While Johnny and Susan bombarded their dad with questions and facts and things their mother said, Holly silently stood up to join her mother.  

"Mom, what happened to the rose you were talking about?" she asked curiously. 

"Oh, I think it's up in the attic somewhere," Serenity said with a wave of her hand. "You could go look for it if you'd like." 

Eagerly, Holly ran past her siblings and into the hallway. At the very end of it was a string dangling from the ceiling, and it took Holly a long time, despite how tall she was, to reach it. Yanking it down, the stairs unfolding in front of her, Holly slowed down to a stop before tiptoeing up the stairs.  The attic was the only creepy thing she could see about her house, and, unfortunately, it was probably where the rose was. 

When she was up, at first all she could think about was finding a light to see by. Who knew what kind of stuff was up here?  Finally, she found the small switch and flipped it on.  Why she was so intent on finding the small flower, she didn't know, but something inside her desperately wanted to. 

Scanning the dusty room for a hint to where it was, Holly uncovered boxes, looked under containers, in shelves, and in cabinets, but she couldn't find it. She was about to give up when she saw a small black box on the shelf of one of the tall bookcases.  

Smiling in triumph, Holly strained to reach it, but she wasn't tall enough. Looking around, she carefully dragged a chair over to the base of it and climbed on top of it, and her hand barely reached the top. Feeling around, she was finally able to grab hold of it. 

Sitting down on the chair breathlessly, Holly slid her fingernails under the lid, and pulled. 

And there, on a small velvet pillow, lay the rose, its petals brown and withered, but still the perfect amount of red that made it look still as beautiful as it once was.  

And, now that she was looking at it, Holly suddenly knew why she had wanted to find it so badly. It was a memory, a reminder of what had happened 20 years ago. It was important to Serenity, and to her, even though she was just now seeing it for the first time.  

And that was also why she closed the box. 

Standing on her tiptoes, she managed to push it back onto the top shelf. 

"Holly! Dinner!" Serenity called up the stairs to her, her voice echoing around the stuffy room.  Smiling, she climbed down from the chair and ran to the doorway. Just as she was about to pull the light switch down, she turned and glanced one last time at the small black box on top of the shelf.

 Perhaps, she thought, that may be a secret for another time. 

And with that, she flicked the light switch down and ran downstairs, bathing the attic, and the rose, in darkness once again.