The Perks of Being a Freak (Editing)

105. Epilogue: October Thirteenth

October thirteen wasn’t normally a happy day for the five of us.

Since Lia died, it’s always been a painful reminder. Emily usually would vanish into her room, and only the sound of sobbing would let us know that she was still alive. Mitchell would try and comfort her, while fighting tears himself. Sometimes he had to work, or go to class. Sometimes all of us had to go on with our lives, even though there was a hollowness within us.

Jaeb would get angry. Sometimes she would go to the gym, and return with bloody knuckles. Other times, we would find broken plates, and shatter vases around our house.

Simon was the worst. He would go to her house and sit in her room, holding a little ring and staring at the wall. He wouldn’t move for hours, and it was the same every year.

As for me, sure, I was sad. It hurt so, so much when Lia died. She had been the first girl that I loved, and besides that she had been my friend. I cried on her birthday too. Lia got too few years. She only got seventeen when she should have gotten so many more.

I think it was worse for Emily and me, because we had been inside of Lia’s head. We had seen how much she loved Simon, how much she was looking forward to a life with him. We knew how much she had always wanted to be a doctor, just like her mother. We knew how much she had always wanted to have kids of her own, but also how afraid she was that she might neglect them like her parents did. We knew how much Lia had looked forward to prom. We knew how much she wanted to do, to accomplish, to experience. We knew that she wanted to swim with sharks, and sky dive, even though with wings it was like sky diving. 

And now she would never get to.

Although, it was probably just as hard for Simon. He would never get to have a life with her. He would never get the chance to grow old with the woman he loved, have kids and grandkids and great grandkids. He would never be able to hold her again, to see her smile, or laugh, or wipe away her tears.

I never saw Simon even look at another girl.

It had been six years since Lia died. Six years of flinching every time we heard the name “Juliana,” or “Julia,” or “Leah.” Six years since our angel went back to heaven.

Simon had a cane. His fall with Tony had broken so many bones in his body that it was a miracle that he survived. Apparently Tony’s fall broke his chip, but not before it sent an electrical charge right to the closest other chip. Lia’s. We all went into comas, but the three of us, Rajeev included, pulled through. Lia didn’t, and sometimes I wonder if she wanted to die. If she saw Simon fall, saw him splayed out like a broken toy, maybe she thought he was dead and wanted to join him.

At the funeral, Simon seemed calm, seemed so sure and so positive. And then afterward we got home, we went to Lia’s house and he just.. broke. Shattered into pieces.

But six years is a long time to mourn.

So we tried not to mourn anymore. We tried to live.

Emily and Mitchell got married only three years after Lia died. She was twenty, and he was twenty-two. It was a beautiful ceremony, and there was an open seat right next to me. She had reserved it for her best friend. Simon was Mitchell’s best man, and Jaeb was Emily’s maid of honor.

A year later, and Jaeb and I followed their lead.

Sure, sometimes we fought, but I loved that little spitfire. She and Emily spent most of their pregnancies together, seeing as it was around the same time. Jaeb gave birth to our baby boy, Sam, who could change shapes. Let me tell you, that was a really, really weird thing. One moment I would be holding our beautiful boy, and the next I would be holding a puppy of the same age. I was a weird thing.

And then Emily had a baby girl. Despite Simon’s protests, she was named Liana. 

Cody and Seth didn’t really hang out with us. I guess we reminded them too much of their baby sister. Lucy Davis, on the other hand, loved us. She babysat Sam and Liana. She looked after Simon as well. Thankfully, she looked nothing like Lia had, but it still hurt Simon to be around her.

He had really, really loved Lia, and losing her had broken him, maybe beyond repair.

But that’s something we all learned. Even though we lost the center of our universe, the world kept spinning. Lia may be gone, but we’re all still here. We’re all still alive and so instead of continuing to mourn, we needed to live.

And so, for her sake, we did just that.