The Forest (Complete Unedited)

Epilogue.

ALICE

That's it, but my story didn't end there. Now it's the year 2029, our children are grown and the youngest is now fifteen. We have five altogether. Aiden trained to be a doctor and then a vet. He says he prefers animals to people. He works as a country vet, outdoor only. He can't stand working in an office.

I manage the hotel chain that we started with Mr Nankervis and Matt. We bought up another two manors after Gramps passed away. They are very popular, we also have working farm holidays too. All of the farms around the forest are part of it. Soon I will put our eldest in charge. He loves managing the farms and forest. But the forest doesn't want him as the next forest protector.

It's not for a bad reason, it's just because my husband will live forever. As long as he is close to the forest, he will never die. There's just one problem, I'm getting older and he's not. But it's not so bad, Aiden has replanted much of the forest, though it's not the same as in ancient times.

He now has a large group of followers, they plant native trees where he tells them to. It's suspiciously cult-like, but trees are being planted all over the country. Not only that but he'd started to reintroduce red squirrels into the forest. He'd developed a vaccine against the virus the grey squirrels carried. Other native species were being brought back too.

It was started by that group of students he'd met many years ago. Everything happens for a reason I suppose. He also had the occasional super hero moment, he's amazing. But I'm sad that I won't be able to join him on his adventures much longer. My doctor's report is not looking good and I don't want to worry him.

I'll give you a quick recap of everything that you might have missed. This will be my last diary entry before I tell him the bad news. Maybe Aiden can heal me? You never know right!

Well anyway I'll tell you everything that happened while Aiden was missing. The scariest thing was that I ended up in hospital, I was close to losing my little boy. The shock of losing Aiden had raised my stress levels so high it almost triggered a miscarriage. After a week of rest, I gradually recovered. My child became my life line.

Ian was sentenced to life in prison. After he admitted everything it was found that he'd killed seven people not including Aiden! Not only that but stalking, kidnapping and theft even a little fraud. He was reassessed by a psychologist after being taken into custody. Otherwise he would have ended up in a secure psychiatric unit.

His case was the first to be recorded of natural recovery from a congenital brain problem. It was spotted when his previous scan had been checked. A second confirmation scan a few months later showed no abnormalities.

That guy ended up writing a really popular book about his life. All proceeds went into a mental health charity. He had been so happy, when we went to see him in prison after Aiden's return. It was really strange how differently he acted.

He was relieved that he hadn't killed the man who had cured him. He knew that the prison didn't cure him! It was Aiden who'd convinced me to visit him. I didn't forgive Ian but I understood him better after reading his book. We're still close to his brother and sister.

Enough about him, Tracy's story is much more fun. Yep you guessed it, she was pregnant too. The fling with great uncle Sydney being much less innocent than she thought. When she found out she was expecting twins she finally told him. He was shocked but happy. He proposed to her on the spot.

It turned out that they both felt the same way. It wasn't very romantic as they were talking in his office at the time. Surprisingly Tracy also agreed on the spot too! I went to their amazing wedding, they've been inseparable ever since.