Summertime

Chapter Twenty-Five-Epilogue

Ten Years Later

“MUMMY! We’re gonna be late!”

“Can’t you wait five minutes, Cyrus?”

“Nooo! We gotta go NOW!” my seven year old son said loudly. He climbed into the bed and started jumping up and down.

“Okay! Okay! Daddy and I will be up in a few minutes!” I laughed. With a squeak, he leapt off the bed and thundered down the stairs.

“Did he get into your coffee supply or something?” Sam groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“He doesn’t even like coffee. Now get up,” I sighed, climbing out of bed. My husband didn’t budge.

“Come on, lazy ass,” I said, taking a rolled up pair of socks from the dresser and throwing them at his head.

“Ow! Okay, okay…” he grinned, rolling out of bed.

“Why are we getting up this early again?” he said as he opened the closet.

“You remember. Dr. D’s memorial service,” I said quietly.

“Oh, yeah…” he murmured.

Dr. Death-Defying had been killed in the Battle of Battery City. The camp where he was broadcasting the news had been bombed by a BLI plane. He, along with a few other Killjoys, was killed in the explosion. Today marked the 10th anniversary of the battle and Dr. D’s death.

“Baby, you okay?” Sam whispered, taking my shoulders. I nodded.

“Fine,” I muttered. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me from behind.

“C’mon, he’s waiting,” he said, taking my hand. We walked down the stairs and into our kitchen. There we found Cyrus pulling random food articles from the fridge and dropping them into a large picnic basket.

“Cyrus, we don’t need all of this. If we get hungry, we’ll go to a restaurant,” Sam sighed, picking up a head of lettuce and putting it back into the fridge. Cyrus stuck out his lower lip and crossed his arms.

“Come on, now,” I sighed, taking his hand.

We got in the car and drove in silence for twenty minutes. The graveyard dedicated to the Killjoys who fell at the Battle of Battery City was on the outskirts ofBatteryCity—or, I guess I should sayLos Angeles. After Better Living Industries was taken down, everything was renamed in order to completely erase their presence. New leaders arose to power, leaders who had completely different motives from BLI, and it seemed as though everything was back to the way it was before the Fires of 2012.

Los Angeleshad been transformed from the dreary, tall, white buildings ofBatteryCityinto a bright and colorful city. Buildings were all different shapes, sizes, and colors. People on the streets looked happy, not emotionless. Everything seemed to be right again.

I stopped the car in front of the cemetery. It didn’t look at all like you would expect a cemetery to look. The grass was tall, green, and well kept, dotted with brightly colored headstones. Some had flowers or bandanas hanging off them. The sign overhanging the entrance, draped with ribbons, read “KilljoyMemorialCemetery”. I glanced at my watch. The others would be here soon.

“Do you have your letter?” I whispered to Cyrus. He nodded solemnly. I guess even he knew this was a bit of a sad moment. None of them ever knew Dr. D, but they had heard enough stories about the war to know what he was like.

“Terry! Sam!” squealed a voice. I turned around as Star Lace bowled me over in a hug.

“I haven’t seen you guys in FOREVER!” she laughed.