JUST SAY SOMETHING

EPILOGUE: Home

Caleb Matthews

Heading home…

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Jenny Simmons, Mike Williams, and 15 others like this.

Mike Williams: I’m gonna miss having you here, buddy.

Caleb Matthews: You guys were great. I’m gonna miss you and Mrs. Williams a lot. Thank you.

Marc Harris: Need any help?

Caleb Matthews: Thanks Marc. Dean and I got it covered.

EPILOGUE:

I just put down the last box of things I had in my old room. It looked the same. The bed, the desk, the closet, and everything else were just there like I never really left. I thought countless times that Mom might have stripped down the room and burned everything in the process, but knowing Dad, he stopped her from touching my room. Their divorce was quickly processed. Mom wanted to make a battle out of it, but Dad threatened to press charges. I convinced Dad not to because they would find out the abuse and they would both be put in jail. Dad showed me he changed and I trusted him. She left without another word. I was glad I never saw her again after the wake. Learning the truth about everything put the past couple of months into perspective. We were all in bad places, but we pulled through.

“Are you sure you have everything?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s not like I can never go back to Mike’s house.”

“You’re really ready for this, right?”

“I think I am. My dad can’t be by himself here. Ollie’s gone and he and Mom are separated. We’re all we have left now,” I said.

“I’m proud of you, Leb.”

I smiled. “Thanks Dean and thanks for helping me move back home.”

“Anything for you,” he said.

I sat on my bed and he joined me. I leaned my head on his shoulder. He quickly hugged me and held me in place. I closed my eyes and sighed. It felt great to be home again. There were four boxes in my room, which was not much, but they all mattered. Most of the things in there were from Ollie and I had no plans of losing them.

“I should clear up some this stuff,” I said, getting up.

“I’ll help.”

We opened the boxes and started putting my clothes back in my old closet. Dean rummaged through some of the stuff I was not able to bring with me when I first got kicked. It was a baseball cap.

“I didn’t know you wore caps,” Dean said.

“I don’t. It’s Ollie’s favorite cap. He gave it to me before he left for college.”

“Oh, Leb, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“No, don’t worry,” I said, taking the cap. It was blue and white. There were wears and tears. I held it close to me and it felt like he was hugging me back. I had a framed picture of Ollie in one of the boxes. As soon as I found it, I placed the frame on the corner of my desk. I placed the cap next to it. My hand went instinctively to my chest. The other half of the necklace I gave to Ollie was there. I touched the dog tag lightly.

“I think this is the perfect place for it.”

“Yeah, it is,” he said, hugging me from behind.