Fearless?

Fearless? - Epilogue

'Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important,'

- Steve Jobs

Epilogue

Azelie walked on the stony path, a cold wind blowing her long brown hair around. She had always hated grave yards, but she had to admit, Bay-view Cemetery was peaceful.

She remembered the first time she had visited the cemetery with him. The day after he had drunkenly admitted that his mother had jumped off a bridge in front of him. They were only beginning to be friends then, and yet he had trusted her to know such a big part of his life. 

Azelie slowly walked down the path, trying to slow her journey to the graves down, enjoying the peacefulness of the grave yard while it lasted. She took a left, remembering the route to the graves perfectly. She held two bunches of flowers in her arm. She spotted the stone graves as her heart clenched in her chest, tears beginning to rise. She had promised herself that she would be strong - that she wouldn't cry. She had promised him that should would be okay, that she wouldn't cry. 

Taking a deep breath in, she walked closer to the graves, not managing to hold back some of the tears that fell. She visited the graveyard every Sunday, without fail. She quickly walked up to the first grave, laying the bunch of flowers on the grave as she stepped back to read the inscription.

'June Grey, loving mother, wife and friend, rest in peace,'

She hadn't known his mother, at one point she had even hated her for leaving him like that, but she had realised that she hadn't been thinking straight, she hadn't been thinking about how her suicide would affect her family and instead thought it would be the best possible thing for her family; just like Azelie had done. It was then that she realised that she had to face the second grave. 

It had been six years since the death but still she hadn't fully come to terms with it, perhaps she never would be. Pushing down the tears, she turned to the grave, reading the writing over and over. 

"Hi," Azelie croaked, sitting herself down next to the grave, looking down at the floor. "Well, I'm back again..." she added, hoping that they could hear her, that they knew that she still thought about them and loved them. "Here to annoy you some more with my babbling! Your father's doing alright, I went to see him yesterday. Made me some of his lasagna, you know that I always loved it," she continued on, the words just flowing out of her. 

"Azelie are you talking to my sister about my father's lasagna?" a voice spoke, light and full of humor. Her heart sped up in her chest, an reaction that always happened with he was around. 

"Yeah so? It's yummy!" She smiled, looking up at Cole, smiling slightly. He rolled his eyes at her as he sat down next to her, his hand reaching over to hers before giving it a tight squeeze. Azelie's eyes scanned over the faint scar on this side of Cole's face, running from the top of his cheek and ending around his eyes. He had his scar on his face, Azelie had her's on her back. Her t-shirt had been soaked in petrol from when she had been lying in the car, trying to get Cole out and when the car exploaded, her back was badly burnt. Their had faded over time, and Cole's was party covered by his messy hair, but that was the thing about scars. They would fade over time; but those memories would not. Not these memories, not Azelie's.

She didn't like to think back to that day, it was always going to be painful for her. Seven years on from the crash and countless therapy sessions and Azelie couldn't talk to anybody about it except Cole. Dr. Gardiner and Cole were the only two people who knew exactly what happened before the crash.