Beware of the Neighborhood.

29 - Epilogue

It was seven in the evening when I took one last glance in the mirror, straitening my dress. Then I stopped and looked a second time. I twirled around in my brightly printed floral Nieves Lavi dress, which mom had gifted me for my birthday last year, as I wondered if I really recognized the girl who was looking back at me from the mirror. Sure enough there were the thin lips, long and wavy brown hair which were neatly pinned up with a large butterfly clip with two lose strands lightly falling over the dark brown eyes. I twirled again and my reflection in the mirror did the same. But still it felt different. It felt like the girl in the mirror was me and not me at the same time.

And the clothes I wore didn't help either. The dress hung loosely over my pale skin. I had lost a lot of weight since my time in the hospital.

"Ashley? Stop admiring yourself in the mirror and get downstairs. The party starts in an hour and you know I hate being late!" I heard my mom shout from downstairs.

"I'm almost done mom" I called back.

"Let her take her time." I heard dad say. "Ashley, could you just come out for a moment?" he called and I headed out the room, pausing at the top of the stairs.

"I have an idea" dad said appearing at the bottom of the stairs. He was casually dressed up in jeans and a simple plaid shirt with a blazer over it. His usually messy hair was neatly combed back.

"Your mother doesn't like being late so I was thinking, I'll go with her now, I'll drop her off at the party and then I'll come back to pick you kids up. Is that cool?" he asked.

"But, you'll do that? I mean, driving back and forth?" I asked.

"Of course. That's not a problem. So you go on and take your time but just be ready by the time I return. Okay?"

He asked and I nodded, heading back to my room.

It had been a month since the events from the hospital. It was 31st of December and the local café, wheeler mealer, which my mom had to design, was finally fully renovated and was opening from the next day. So since its renovation was complete, the owner of the café Mrs. Rose had thrown a huge New Year's Eve party and can you guess who the guest of honor was? The designer of the new renovated café, a.k.a. my mom!

I turned back to the mirror, examining myself. Sure enough one month's time had been enough to heal majority of my injuries, but still my body continued to look like a mini museum of injuries. I stared at my reflection. Most of the minor scares, like the ones which were on my hands and legs had vanished but only slight pink marks remained. The only two ugly scars which refused to vanish were the one on my neck from where Lohan had cut it and the second one on my forehead where Dexter had smashed his gun in. Even today whenever I closed my eyes I could feel him swinging his gun with full strength and crashing it into the side of my skull. The doctor had said that it'll be a while before those scars disappeared. Or maybe they never will.

I shrugged. A reminder for that misadventure is always going to be with me, I thought and winched. My shoulder, although no longer plastered, was still wrapped up in brown bandages and hurt every time I moved it or even thought of moving it for that matter.

"It's over." I muttered to myself, thinking of all that which had happened in the last month.

After I returned from the hospital, mom had been very clear that I was not to attend school unless I was completely well. And somehow in the following week from my return, Candace- Angela's sister- had decided to be my tutor and was visiting me every day after school to help me catch up with all that which I had missed.