She Will Persist

Alternate Ending Epilogue

an alternate ending where everyone is alive lol

There were hundreds of glossy photos spread out across Cleo's kitchen table.

A mix of black and white, faded grey, starkly monotone, and brightly colored ones lay in messy piles all over the wooden surface. Cleo was attempting to sort them into families but it was a slow endeavor. Even with Nia, Kaya, Izzy, and Patrick helping, the young teenagers all kept getting distracted. Not because the photos weren't interesting, actually the opposite.

"Woah," Kaya's eyes widened as she ogled at a picture that she'd picked up.

"What?" Cleo barely glanced up from her notebook where she was logging all the photos. Her bright blue eyes flicked back and forth between the image she had and her furious scribbling pencil.

"Why is your Dad low key hot in this one?" Kaya asked.

"What?" Patrick scrunched up his nose at the 14 year-old.

"Jesus Kaya," Cleo snatched the photo out of her best friend's hand but then her eyes got big too. "Oh my god."

Nia came back from the kitchen with her bowl cereal. "Kaya Andrews, you are a terrible person."

"Look!" Kaya furiously beckoned her over to the photo they were staring at.

"It's not a nude is it," Nia cringed. "I warned y'all that we might find one--"

"Just get over here," Kaya grabbed her sleeve and yanked the 15 year-old over, spilling some of the milk out of Nia's bowl.

Nia's dark brown eyes found the black and white picture in Cleo's hand and her mouth dropped a little. "Oh."

"Let me see," Izzy stood up from the other side of the table and hurried around to look. Her blue eyes also went wide when she saw the subject matter.

In the photo was a 20-something year-old Axel. He was leaning his back against the edge of a balcony, hands on either side of the black railing and a burning cigarette between two of his fingers. His head was tilted back, white smoke curling out of his mouth. The photo was black and white, vertical and taken from straight on, Axel perfectly centered, with his whole body in the picture.

And he was shirtless.

"Beeindruckend," Nia murmured.

"That's your Dad!" Izzy exclaimed. "What the hell --that's your Dad!"

Patrick peaked his head around and glanced at it too. "He looks a little like Oliver."

"Please, Ollie wishes he looks like that," Kaya rolled her eyes.

"I--I don't know what to say," Cleo stammered.
Patrick scratched the side of his head, causing the small dark curls to bounce against his nails. "When did your Mum take this?" The Irish boy asked.

"How do you know it was her Mom?" Kaya smiled devilishly.

"Yeah, because guys help their guy friends take shirtless pictures," Nia rolled her eyes.

"I have no idea when it was but we are not looking at it ever again," Cleo quickly shoved the photo to the bottom of one of the piles that were scattered all over the table.

Nia sat down on the other side from Kaya and Cleo and started eating her cereal, flicking through the collection of photos of her Dads together. Patrick stacked the pile he had just made and neatly placed it in row with his others, and then grabbed another envelope of photos from the shoebox in the center of the table. Izzy sat back down and wiped her cheez-it-stained fingers on her jeans before sorting more photos too.