The Unknown

Epilogue

SAM

Music: Everlasting from Gradius III SNES

Nobody really slept or did much of anything after Linda's defeat. We spent pretty much the entire time mourning Mia's death. The barrier disappeared right after Linda died. According to Avalon, Linda had placed a curse on the building that caused that barrier to exist, keeping the "lower-class citizens" who the Darwins looked down upon prisoner as punishment for her and her husband's losses. The rain also faded out shortly after.

It isn't until 6 AM in the morning when we finally decide to call our parents and get them to come and pick us up. Julianna had lost her phone while she was exploring the mansion, so Avalon offers to give her a ride home. Avalon has told us that she has a place of her own to go to, but she does take the liberty of calling an ambulance for Mia. Not that it matters anymore, of course. A construction crew has also arrived to tear the mansion down, and there are several investigators scouring the place for any remaining bodies, of which they've already identified a couple. One of them is actually the body of that Mason guy Avery told us about.

Avalon and Julianna are the first to leave. Elle and I approach Avalon's car right before she drives off, and Avalon rolls down the driver's seat window so we can talk to her. Julianna is in the passenger's seat, still tear-streaked from the night before.

"Hey, um... we're sorry that you two had to witness that," I tell them. There really isn't anything I need to be sorry for, but I can't think of anything else to say. Neither of them have been with us before, and having one of our own get killed is not something that normally happens. I'm really only doing this for my sake anyways; I'm not going to feel better unless I somehow make amends.

Julianna sniffles and replies with, "It's fine. Don't worry." Her voice is wavering, but her response sounds genuine.

"Yeah. Believe it or not, I've actually had to live through worse," Avalon chuckles. Before either of us can ask for more details, she waves to us, rolls down her window, and drives off. She's a mystery, but I have a good feeling about her, that's for sure. And Julianna, too.

Next, we walk over to Avery, who's being hugged and comforted by Brielle. Elle and I wait for them to release each other, then Elle asks, "Hey, Avery. How're you doing?"

Avery's response surprises both of us. She sharply turns to face us and gives both of us a nasty glare and a red, watery face. Then she storms off towards Brielle's car. Even Brielle seems a bit taken aback by Avery's reaction. She looks at us and says, "She just, uh, needs some time," not sounding very hopeful.

"You sure?" Elle asks.

"Nope." Brielle lets out a sigh and walks back to her car. I share a worried look with Elle. Avery was one of the most skeptical about being around us before we had to rescue her from captivity a year and a half ago, and even since then she's had her doubts about being with us. And if there's one event that'll surely drive her away from us for good, it's going to be this.

Some ambulance workers are lifting Mia's body onto a stretcher, then moving the stretcher into the ambulance. Mackenzie tries to run after them, and her parents are holding her back. "No! Let me go! I want to be by Mia's side!" she cries out.

"Mackenzie, you need to let the paramedics do their job," her father replies softly but sternly. Mackenzie eventually gives in and lets her parents drag her to their car. The ambulance flashes its lights, blares its alarm, and drives off, with Mackenzie's parents' car close behind. If I had to guess, they're going to be making a pit stop at the hospital.

Sean and Shanna are sitting on a patch of dirt far away from the house, awaiting their parents' arrival. Neither of them are crying anymore, and they both have their heads bent down and their gazes fixed on the ground below them. We walk over to them right as their mom's car drives onto the scene. "You two gonna be alright?" I ask.

Neither of them look up at us, and only Shanna gives a response. "I don't know," she grunts.

"Shanna--" Elle starts to say.

"I don't KNOW!" Shanna shouts. Their parents' car has reached us by this point, and Shanna hastefully gets up and takes a seat in the back. Sean gives us a somber look before climbing into the backseat with Shanna. We both watch as the car drives off into the distance.

My mom's car is the last to show up, and she's taking both Elle and I home. Before we go inside, I take a look at the only other person remaining, Heath. He gives us the same solemn look Sean gave us, then walks away. Elle and I grumpily climb into the backseat of my mom's car, and she drives off. When she asks us what happened, both of us refuse to talk about it.

Right as we drive back into the woods, I take one last look at the house. Then I look at the stretcher, with Mia lying on it. I wonder about Mia, about what would happen and what she's thinking right now, if anything at all. I wonder about Mackenzie, and how she's going to get past this, if at all. I wonder about Elle, who spent most of last night complaining about how much she treated Mia like shit. I wonder about Avery, and if she'll be able to stick with us or abandon us. I wonder about Sean and Shanna, two of the closest people to Mia, and who would definitely be the second and third most affected people behind Mackenzie. I wonder about Julianna and Avalon, hoping that this wasn't too bad of a first impression of us to them.

And I wonder: Did Mia really deserve to die? Did she deserve to be ended this early? No matter what, she was a great person. She had her faults, but so did the rest of us. We all loved her and none of us wanted her to leave us this way.

There's something else on my mind and is bugging me, too. And it's Elle who gets it out of me. She notices my contemplative state and asks me, "Sam, what are you thinking about?"

"Elle... remember that prediction Sean made after Luke moved away?" I ask. For the uninformed, Sean's prediction was that after Luke moving away marked the beginning of our group splitting apart and going our own ways. There's this prophecy involving our full group that was "fulfilled" during our last adventure together... it's too much to explain here.

"Yeah... why?"

"I have a feeling that prediction's going to wind up being correct."

I don't need to say anything more, and neither does Elle. We both sit in silence for the remainder of the car ride.

Well, here we are. At the end.

The end of a life, the end of a story, the end of an era. All the same.

But the end of one is always the beginning of another.

The End