What Lies Beneath

Chapter Seventy-One: Future

Light. There really is no other way to describe the pulsing ray or beam of what looked like sunshine after a lifetime of darkness. The intensity of such a thing forced all in its path to shield their eyes in hopes of not going blind. However, it wasn't just the bright white ray that filled the room, it was also a feeling of love and hope.

It was this light in fact that chased away the darkness that shrouded the room. It burned away the shadows and let the true sun shine through the windows. It erased walls and brought friends back together. Its unlocked doors and set those who were once trapped free.

At the center of the light where none could see, stood Sophie. Her arms wrapped around a manifestation of a house. Tears raced down Sophie's face as she watched her friends who covered their eyes and turned their heads. It was because of them and their love for each other that she found the strength she needed to commit this act. To share her essence, her soul, with this house. In doing this she set them free, she set the house free. She gave them a chance at the life she would never have. Sophie supposed that in the end her love equated to the ultimate sacrifice. She found where she belonged, but along the way she found a love she would hold in her heart forever and friends she would never forget. She was meant to be a soul for the soulless, but that was okay because her friends would get to live this time.

The light vanished almost as suddenly as it had appeared leaving Wyatt and Karen standing alone in the now sun filled dining room. The house was quiet and those who'd fought by their side gone.

"What just happened?" It was Karen who voiced the question, but Wyatt was too busy searching the room for the answer to his own question.

"Where is she?" With tears spilling from his eyes Wyatt turned to Karen. Sophie was gone, not a sign of her anywhere. In the blink of an eye he had lost yet another woman that he loved.

"I think-" Sorrow filled Karen's soul as she looked at a broken Wyatt. How could she tell him what she suspected? Her father had tried to tell her when she was unconscious, but Wyatt- "She's gone Wyatt."

Karen's very words shattered what remained of Wyatt. She was gone. Sophie was gone. "But I love her." The words escaped Wyatt's mouth as his knees buckled and sent him crashing to the ground. Karen raced over to Wyatt's side, but there wasn't anything she could do to stop the tears that exploded from his eyes.

"I know." Karen ran her hand through Wyatt's dirty hair as he leaned on her. It was all Karen could do to blink back her own tears. She loved Sophie too. It was hard not to love someone who had fought by your side and saved you, but somehow the hurt was eased enough for her to function. They were safe, but even still, the house was dangerous. "We need to go."

 It was hard to pull Wyatt off the floor, but Karen had managed it. He now leaned on her as his tears dripped from his jaw onto the floor. This house was filled with so much death and despair, but it also held memories that Karen would never forget. Memories of Paul and Sophie, even the creepy old women. It was in this house that she got to see her father again. She got to see the world differently and learn that death was not the end. This house carried many mysteries that begged to be solved, but for now Karen needed to get Wyatt out.

Hope of tomorrow prodded Karen's heart forward and held Wyatt up. They'd won. Battle scars, both visible and invisible, covered their bodies. They had earned the smiles and tears that now marked their faces. Time was theirs now to do what they wanted. They had futures and lives thanks to those they would never forget.

Karen turned the knob of the front door bracing herself as fear threatened again only to be chase away with the sun that burst through the open entryway. Fresh air wafted through the opening welcoming them back into the world. Birds chirped and strangers stood awaiting their arrival. It was a new world, a new existence. Karen felt her cheeks raise as a smile broke through the snot and tears that soaked her face. Closing her eyes Karen finally let go taking Wyatt with her to the broken wooden porch. It was finally over.