riley's epilogue (one-shot contest)

Riley's Epilogue

Riley's P.O.V

Oscar Wilde once said that the pure and simple truth is rarely ever pure and never simple. It was the truth that I now faced, as I stood on the front step of the Freeman's house in the Vancouver snowfall, four years after having run away from all my confusion. The raw truth hitting me now, was that I was really and truly in love with Mason Freeman. Not Sawyer. To me it was as if he was almost to perfect. I needed someone pure, complicated, someone with flaws. Plus, Peyton has informed me that he has actually found a steady girlfriend, Maisilee and I'm glad. He deserves to be happy.

I'm glad that I still have Peyton, because I had completely cut myself out of the rest of the world after I had moved back to Toronto. But I hadn't stayed for long. Breaking the family tradition of going to U of T, I attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and I studied Psychology.

In Alaska, I met and bonded with Olive, Jack, Leo and Max ("It's a girl's name too!"). But as much as I loved the people in Alaska, I felt like there was still something missing. And I knew exactly what it was. Mason. I didn't want to miss him, because missing him would mean missing Vancouver, which would mean missing the events that happened in Vancouver, which I certainly do not miss whatsoever. I still cringe when I'm around freezers.

I knew, deep down, that I had to go see Mason. Maybe not to be involved romantically, but just to see him. I just wanted to know that he was okay. Sure I loved him, but I knew that he had probably already moved on, started seeing other girls. But I had to see for myself.

And so now, I find myself on the Freemans doorstep, contemplating wether or not I should have come here in the first place. Well, can't turn back now. Slowly, I press the doorbell with a shaky hand. The familiar chime of the doorbell echoed throughout the house. Little foosteps pattered down the hallway and slowed to a stop in front of the door. I watched as the knob slowly turned. It felt like forever until the door finally opened a crack.

"Hello?" a little voice rang out. The door opened a little wider and someone gasped. "RILEY!" The person shouted and I found myself almost falling off of the step.

"ItoldMasonthatyoudcomebackbuthedidntbelievemebutiknewyouwouldimissedyoualotbytheway." I found myself surrounded by a small pair of arms. As they released their grip on me, and hand dragged me into the front halllway. I stepped back a bit, trying to register my surroundings. "I knew it I knew it I knew it!" Liam squealed. For a ten year old, he sure was excited to see me. I thought, he would, out of all of them, forget me, as he was quite young when I stayed with the Freemans. Apparently not.

"Riley?" Linda had walked in the hallway to investigate the noise.

"Um...hi?" I said weakly, waving.

"Riley honey! How are you?" Linda engulfed me in a hug. She smelled like pancake mix. Crap. Have I interupted their breakfast?

"I'm good Mrs. Freeman. I hope I'm not intruding." It felt weird calling her Linda, as I had practically bolted from her house the last time I had seen her.

"Of course not. And Riley, remember, you can call me Linda, okay?" I nodded, and relaxed a bit. It kind of felt like things were slowly returning back to normal. At least as normal as things can get.

"Guys! Riley's back." Liam yelled from the bottom of the stairs, probably trying to get his brothers downstairs. I heard someone running down the stairs. It was Aaron.

"Did you watch Riley? Did you?" He asked me breathlessly. As he stepped back a bit, I took a closer look at him. He had aged well, sort of like a younger, less-attractive version of Mason. Peyton had sent me a picture of Mason now. Don't judge, I wanted to know.