Colors of Paris ◇ Elijah Stevenson

Epilogue

Fifteen Years Later.

The camera flashes as the actors pose for the cameraman. The bystanders watch when they sit down in the grass. The man puts grapes in the young woman's mouth as she tries to spit them out at him. The crew shares a laugh as the cameras roll. The final product would be edited sometime later that week but for right now they do several takes of the scene. 

I cling to the note book as I click the pen and then put my thinking cap on. I go to the director and then make a suggestion, "maybe he should look at her afterward. We can do a little sequence of them staring at each other and he leans in."

The director, Arnold, looks at me with sincerity and thought. He nods and replies, "yeah that's a good idea. Kids."

He gets the couple's attention and then he tells them what I just thought of. They nod their heads in agreement it was a good idea. 

"Harper," I glance over my shoulder when I hear that and roll my eyes as Greg promised to me he wouldn't just barge in the set. He comes up and hugs me.

"Surprise," he says with glee and backs away from it. He takes my pen and notebook away and then shakes his head. "I thought we agreed you would only put six hours in."

I nod and then look as the actors were doing my idea, "yeah I know. I know. I am just taking my time today."

I cross my arms over my chest as I look straight ahead, "you know what today is?" he asks me and I sigh. 

"Yes," I reply closing my eyes, "I remember."

"Are you going to tell them finally?" 

He is implying my children. He thinks I should tell them about their father and about what happened finally. Whenever they ask me about it I have always stood them off but today is their fifteenth birthday. 

I follow Greg back to the car and then sit in the passenger seat. Greg finally traded in his hunk of trash a few years ago for a Range Rover and I believe it suits him well. 

I tap my leg as I bounce it up and down. I am nervous to finally tell them everything starting with that first day I met Elijah. His mysterious character leaving little hints about what his past was actually like. What he was actually like. 

I can still see him in the halls of that old high school. His hair flipping from on side to the other as he walks up to me. His deep green eyes that I couldn't ever get out. His lips turning into a side smirk. 

I can still see him bending over to inside of my hood and checking to see what was need to be done for my car. 

I remember everything about those weeks almost twenty years ago. I still remember those months that seemed to me, to be the best months of my life. 

And just like those months Elijah Stevenson left my life fully. He left his own life without any warning. 

That night he died, Richie went down with him, and my heart was broken to see these people. This guy lost his life because his father figure was to obsessed with him. 

That night Luke advice me to not talk about it with anyone again. He comes and goes but when he is here, he is known as Uncle Luke to my children. I tell them that their father was close to Luke. 

Luke went on and enjoyed acting under another name. He lost touch to Greg and me for a couple of years but when he came back he was sobbing. His life had changed when Elijah left. 

Shit all of our lives changed. 

My mother and I reunited after ten years. The first thing she did was hug me. Didn't tell me what I did was wrong. Wasn't unhappy with my choices. She was and always will be this forgiving mother. She wasn't there for my children's birth but she was there when they turned five.