Finding the Unknown

Epilogue

Epilogue

2 years later

I walk beside a police officer as I travel to the door at the end of the hall.

We stop a few feet in front of the door and wait. After a moment a ‘buzz’ and then a ‘click’ sound is heard. The police officer opens the door and walks through it, and I follow him.

I look at the wall that has large glass windows with phones that line the separators on the sides. There are about twelve booths in this prison.

I take a deep breath and slowly walk up to the fourth booth.

Upon reaching it, my breath hitches. There, sitting opposite of the glass is Keith Kekkins. The man involved in the murder of my Uncle, my dad, Ruth, and also Zoe’s family.

There is no denying the fact that I’m afraid, but I suck it up, and sit down across from him.

I pick up the phone that hangs beside me, and he does the same. For a moment of long, painful silence we stare at each other.

“What are you doing here?” Keith asks.

“What do you think I’m here for?” I retort.

 “Hmm.” He mused. “You probably came here to tell me how bad of a person I am. How I ruined your life and now you can’t find a reason to live anymore, and it’s all my fault. Or maybe you came to tell me how now you can’t sleep without nightmares plaguing your dreams, and again, it’s all my fault. Right?”

His words were bitter and angry, full of contempt as if I had done something wrong.

“No,” I say. “I didn’t come here to tell you that.”

“So none of that happened because of me?” He says, raising a mocking eyebrow at me. “Just like I’m not here because you put me here?”

“Nightmares did plague my dreams for a while,” I say, choosing to ignore his last sentence. “But not anymore.” A look of confusion crosses his face, but he quickly composes himself. “For a certain time in life, I couldn’t really find any reason to live; sometimes I’ve wondered why I even tried. But I don’t feel that way anymore.”

“And let me guess, it’s because of the many hours you spent in therapy, right?” He says, sounding bored.

“No,” I say. “No doctor could ever heal me. They could have helped me a bit, I suppose, but never could they have healed me, and that is what I needed. Over time, God healed me. It’s taken two years for God to, but He has.”

“So this is what you came to tell me?” He says mockingly. “How touching.”

I ignore his last statement. “No, I came here for one of the last parts of my healing.” I pause for a moment, thinking of the right words to say. Keith looks at me curiously.

“Keith, I forgive you.” I say.

He looks taken back by my words. His jaw drops and his eyes go wide.

“How can you forgive me?” He screams at me. “I’ve taken everything from you! I’m a terrible person! What I have done is unforgivable!”

I shake my head. “I’m not going to deny that you’ve done wrong to me,” I say. “And I know I won’t forget about it. I know that any other person would hate you for what you’ve done, but I don’t want to do that to myself.”

Keith looks at me and blinks a few times, as if trying to comprehend my words.

I sigh. “Hating you would only be bringing me down; I’d bring misery on myself. I’m not saying I’m going to forget what you’ve done. I’m just done hating you and holding onto what you’ve done to me. So you’re forgiven, whether you want to be or not.”