Silent Storm [ManxMan]

Chapter 39 ~ Forgiveness

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."

- Robert Frost

[Gabriel's POV]

Spring and summer came and went and now it was autumn, the season of falling leaves and warm coffee. If there was one thing this year had taught me so far it was forgiveness.

The days after River's death was turbulent and quite unbelievable. The media was everywhere and there were no end to the questions about the famous boy who suddenly ended up dead. The only thing keeping me from drowning in those questions were Matheus... but even that ended. He disappeared in late spring without so much as a word but at least he helped me get back on my feet after I lost, not only River, but also Seth. So I guess I couldn't be too hard on him. We all have our demons to face and from what I'd seen from our time together Matheus had quite a few.

What about the rest? Well James ended up taking over the company after River died and so far he's managed alright. Tony moved on to work in England and Midas... well Midas took River's death worse than any of us. For a few months he was obsessed with finding the guy responsible for River's death but when he finally caught up with Winter on a rooftop in Los Angeles the bastard chose to rather kill himself than face the rage Midas had saved up for him. I bet Winter even enjoyed taking the opportunity to kill him away from Midas. In the end 'Storm Chaser' had to hunt down the real storm if he wanted closure. But then again... I guess he succeeded because everything the news showed during summer had to do with big shots in the League of Assassins getting taken down one by one.

And now it was Autumn. The season of fallen leaves and hot coffee. I sat at the outside coffee shop on the opposite of River's... or I should say James's company, and I thought that it was strange that autumn is so beautiful yet everything is actually dying. I sipped at my coffee and grunted when I accidentally burned the tip of my tongue. You would think that having drunk coffee for almost my entire grown up life would make it so that I didn't make the same stupid mistake time and time again. But not quite apparently...

Sighing I glanced upwards, noticing how the clouds were gathering around but still enjoying the chilly autumn air. Maybe I'd buy a nice house in the countryside, just escaping this busy city life and get myself some chickens to care for. Maybe that would make me feel better about all that has been happening this last year. Then again... at the end of the day we can endure much more than we think we can and maybe buying a house in the countryside isn't the answer. A friend of my father once said that he had stopped paying attention to the world ending because it had ended for him many times but still begun again in the morning. Perhaps that was the answer; to stop paying attention to every little thing. But no... that wasn't good either because not paying attention is what had caused us all to miss the signs of Seth's downfall. Maybe if we had paid attention the outcome could have been different. Then again... maybe not. And wasn't that what it all came down to? That we didn't know? That we couldn't have known. That maybe no matter what we did this story would have ended exactly the same.

And suddenly the clouds didn't look quite as gray as they did a second ago, because it was impossible to know if changing anything would have helped either one of us and the insight made me... well it made me forgive myself. At least a little. At least enough... for now.

I downed the last of my coffee and pulled myself together. The wind took a hold of the napkin I hadn't used and I watched it go with a quiet mind. There had been a time where I would have run after it but I was older now. At least that's how it felt and I just watched it get blown away. I pushed my chair back and rose, dusting invisible crumbs from my coat. As long as seasons come and go, we will too.

I left the coffee shop without a backwards glance. 

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THE END

Thank you for picking up this story and continuing turning the pages    /SweetSpiceKillers