Beautiful ➳ Neil Perry.

épilogue

One Year Later.

New York was just as wonderful as Neil once said.

Alice couldn't help herself but wonder what it would've been like with him here. He would've attended a performing arts college close by, giving the two of them time between classes to catch up and spend time together. The thought about what could've been no longer brought tears to her eyes— she'd grown to smile at the memories instead as time progressed.

What the poets wrote about life itself appeared to hold an absolute truth— that a whole life could be lived in one moment. And it was in that moment that Neil felt he had truly lived.

Smiling as she glanced out the window, her index finger traced the melted snow. The winter was finally coming to an end. Alice couldn't wait for the summer. She'd been dreaming of the warmer weather for the longest time, waiting for the cloudy sky to fade into sunshine.

The first time she met him was in the middle of summer. The flowers were in full bloom and everything in life felt magical. Alice remembered every detail that night— the way the moonlight shone on him the moment she first laid eyes on him, his soft brown hair moving to the rhythm of the breeze. Lifting open the window, she welcomed the breeze with a soft smile. There was always a piece of him with them wherever she went.

The door swung open in one motion, almost causing Alice to fall out of her chair. With her hand over her rapidly beating heart, she turned to face the doorway where her roommate had been standing. Unfortunately for Alice, she'd been graced with a less than polite roommate for the next couple of years.

Alanah's hands were on her hips, a disapproving expression plastered on her face. For the past two weeks, she'd been giving Alice hell about her high standards and expectations. It was almost living with Elsbeth again, only worse.

"Didn't you hear what they said about visitors? None at all. God, it's like you don't listen to anything."

"What . . . visitor . . ." Alice raised a brow, shaking her head. She never had anyone over, nor did she invite anyone.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, stalking towards her own desk on the opposite side of the room. "There's some guy named Stanley downstairs looking for you. Get rid of him now or I'll report you."

"Stanley?" Alice repeated, her confusion ever growing. She knew how strict the college had been against guests, so she decided she'd meet with friends outside of campus when she needed to.

Ignoring Alanah's further complaints about this mysterious uninvited guest, Alice rushed down the stairs to settle her curiosity. Since her arrival from Vermont, Alice hadn't made any more than a few friends, and none went by the name Stanley. Perhaps they'd been looking for a different Alice.

"Alice?"

And it was like all the air in her lungs left her when she burst into laughter. Stanley? Alanah would've meant Charlie.

"Hey, Stanley," she greeted, struggling to find her composure as she wiped away a single tear from laughing.

"I told that idiot clearly my name was Charlie," he sighed heavily, shaking his head, "It's like she's doing it on purpose."

Charlie was attending law school this year at Harvard, at least 180 miles from here. It was another obstacle studying far distances away from her closest friends, but the holidays were always something to look forward to now. But it was only nearing the end of February— the holidays weren't quite here just yet.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Alice asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked up.

"Well, someone seems to have forgotten what day today is."

With all the different assignments and exams coming up, Alice seemed to have lost count of the days. The seventeenth of February . . . It was her nineteenth birthday this year and she'd completely forgotten about it. Time always passed by so quickly— Alice was quite late to realise that. Seasons were passing by at the speed of light. But despite that fact, so many things could happen in a season.

So much could happen in one winter.

Neil had lived his whole life that winter. He met Alice, fell in love with her, and found his love for the stage. That night he performed in front of all his friends, he finally felt free. That single moment filled him with so much happiness that it'd healed every part of him.

"Come on now, silly," Charlie said, glancing at his watch for a moment, "Chris and the others are waiting at the theatre. There's a play I thought you'd like to see."

Alice nodded her head with excitement in her eyes, making him smile tenderly. It was the same play they'd watched the night they lost Neil. She never thought she'd find the courage to sit in a theatre ever again but the memory of those words dripping from Neil's lips like honey seemed to outweigh it all.

"You ready to go right now?"

"Of course," she pursed her lips into a smile, "Let's go."

Alice knew that watching this play meant taking her back to the night they first met— the one night that very much felt like a midsummer night's dream.

/

author's note.
and thus, it finally brings us to the end of this book. thank you to all readers past and present for supporting this story! i know finishing the story took me much longer than it should've (i apologise for leaving it incomplete for three whole years), but at least we got there in the end? lastly, i thought i'd give those interested a heads up— i'm currently working on another neil perry / dead poets society story at the moment. it's set in an alternate universe in the year 2060. now i don't want to spoil too much and therefore create discrepancies, but i hope you'll all be around for it! once again, thank you for everything.