We Come Alive 5

Epilogue: Ethan Hernandez

Ethan Hernandez

Ethan didn't go to college right away, instead having to watch his best friends go on with their lives while he's stuck in the addiction facility. The result of that was him going to therapy to come to terms with one of the biggest obstacles he's faced in life so far, something he would usually replace with some type of drug he could get his hands on. Good thing he stayed on the right path because four weeks after his nineteenth birthday, Ethan got some good news.

Ethan was laying on his bunk drawing in a notebook with a blue pen, careful not to make any mistakes but he heard one of the guards come in his unit and yell out.

"6313, Hernandez!"

Ethan looked at the new thin blue long going through his drawing of a turtle and sighed, sliding off his top bunk and landing on his feet. He walked into the common area and up to the guard.

"Yeah?" He asked, approaching the guard who had gloves on and a paper in his hand.

The African American buff guard looked at him. "Pack your bags, you're being released."

Ethan stopped in his tracks and his jaw dropped. He heard his peers around him start clapping their hands in celebration for him. He quickly turned around, yelling out in excitement, as he went back into his room. Zane was sitting at the window, glancing over to watch Ethan eagerly throw all his personal belongings into the duffel bag he brought with him when he was admitted and took off his jumpsuit.

When Ethan turned to look at Zane with a smile, Zane returned it.

"You've been a great roommate," Ethan told him. "I wish you the best."

Zane nodded his head to him once, his smile staying on his lips. "I hope I never see you again, at least not here."

Ethan laughed loudly. "Ditto, man. Ditto." He gave Zane a quick hug, the first time they'd ever physically touched in the span of the near two years they'd lived in that room together.

When Ethan got to the common area, he saw Craig waiting for him. Craig clapped his hands loudly getting another round of applause started for him again.

Craig walked over and embraced Ethan in a hug. "Congrats, Smash Williams. You earned it."

"Thank you so much," Ethan replied, hugging Craig back tightly. When they let go of each other, Ethan shook hands and high fived the rest of the guys in his unit before being escorted out by the guard.

Ethan turned in his jumpsuit, signed his release forms, finished the rest of his paperwork, and was let out the front doors. The same front doors he would walk in and out of every day to go to school or work, but this time; he wasn't coming back.

Ethan was instantly greeted by his aunt, uncle, and sister waiting outside for him. One of the rules of the facility was that the family was notified weeks in advance that they would be released, but the patients inside would not in case they tried to relapse or misbehave.

Ethan dropped his bag and let his aunt Nina hug him tightly. She rubbed down his hair and kissed his cheek. Nina put her hands on his face and looked at him closely. Last time she did this, his pupils would be dilated, he would lie about what he was on, and an influenced smile would be on his lips. Instead of his eyes being red from drugs, they were red because he began to cry.

"You look healthy," Nina remarked, pinching his full cheeks and running her fingers through his thick and healthy hair.

Ethan thanked her silently as his uncle Sebastian, who was the one who put him in the facility, hugged his nephew. He padded his back where he had muscle covering his body along with some fat.