Unloved, Married and Pregnant... at 18???

Epilogue

Behind my smile is everything you will never understand.
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~Five Years Later~

???'s POV

   "Look Maria, there's your mommy and brothers and sister." I said, looking over Kayleigh, Sean, Tatum and Kayleigh's youngest son, Owen.

   "Mom still cries every night." Maria said, watching them.

   I smiled. "I know sweetheart." I replied. "She needs to trust someone, but she can't."

   "She won't even trust Timothy and Hettie." Maria said.

   "No." I said sadly, watching Kayleigh play with the kids.

   "She doesn't even know how to love Tatum, Sean, and Owen." Maria said, looking at me.

   "Honestly, I think she's halfway to our world. I'm glad Owen and Sean are legally Timothy and Hettie's children." I commented.

   "That way, when she comes to join us, they will be taken care of." Maria said.

   I smiled. "Exactly." I replied.

   "I don't think anyone even sees how much she's hurting. They don't know she's lost all emotion." Maria said.

   "They don't know she hadn't slept through the night for years." I added.

   "They don't see all the red lines on her arms." Maria said.

   "Remember a couple years ago, when those lines were just scars?" I asked.

   Maria nodded. "She keeps laughing and smiling like nothing's wrong." She said.

   "No one knows that anything is wrong. No one knows she almost took her own life last year. No one sees how close to dying she is." I replied.

   Maria turned back to me. "Why is she so depressed?" She asked.

   I sat down. "Well, she had to pretend to have a miscarriage with Sean. She didn't meet him for two years. Then, your father killed you, and that cut deep. And my father killed me, and she was hoping that we'd be able to meet again." I said.

   "Auntie Saige, why is the world so cruel?" Maria asked.

   "Because, Adam and Eve sinned in the garden." I said.

   "That's why the world is evil." Maria said, nodding.

   "That's why we are here, instead of there." I said, looking at my niece.

   "Tell me again why you didn't live with my mom." Maria said.

   I sighed. "Our mother cheated on Kayleigh's father. As soon as I was born, she handed me off to my father. I was abused for eight years before I found an orphanage and met my sister for the first time there. I stayed there for four years before my father came around. Then, for three years I was on the run until my father found me and..." I trailed off.

   "And now you're here with me." Maria said.

   I smiled at the six year old. "I'm here with you. And we are here watching over Kayleigh." I said.

   Maria sighed and looked back at Kayleigh. "I wish we could help her." I said.

   I sighed and looked at my niece. "I do too." I said. "But all we can do is watch over her, and make sure trouble can't get to her."

   Maria smiled sadly.

~End of Saige's POV~

   Kayleigh lived on in misery longer than anyone would have thought. Eleven years after Owen was born, she passed away due to a heart attack.

   Her boys missed her, but they had Hettie and Timothy, who were there for them and loved them. Before too long, Kayleigh had grandchildren, then great-grandchildren.

   After awhile, the people who knew Kayleigh passed away. Memories don't last forever, and unfortunately for us, time is the greatest killer.

The End.