The Family Mission

Epilogue

Scarlett started relaying all the events that transpired over the last couple of weeks to her unconscious father, her voice becoming louder and stronger with every word.

She had kept all of this bottled up for what seemed like an entirely, not given the opportunity to properly speak in her experiences from her point of view, due to the warnings of her mother.

So, to say that it simply felt good to rid herself of this affliction was a huge understatement.

She knew she probably sounded completely insane to anyone walking by, but she couldn't really bring herself to care. Being able to speak freely about this plague of emotions within her was pure heaven.

She realized that the more she spoke on the matter, the higher her spirit flew. She went through the story very quickly, to her surprise, and was very soon at the end.

"...Then we arrived at home, and we found you, and here we are."

A few stubborn tears had managed to escape from her eyes, her father's hand feeling colder than it ever was.

"I'm sorry, Dad. There was no reason you had to be dragged into this. I tried my best to keep you out of it, but it was out of my control." Scarlett muttered through the lump in her throat.

"This is all my fault. If I didn't try to accuse everything, than Barry wouldn't have committed suicide, Holly wouldn't hate me, and you would be conscious right now."

"But, where would that leave you, Scar?"

Scarlett jumped at the sudden voice. She whirled around to find Ben standing there, a bag full of what smelled like food cradled in his arms.

"Wha-" Scarlett racked her brain to try to find a reasonable excuse, but she knew she was busted. "Ho- How much did you hear?"

"I heard it all." Ben stepped inside the room, setting the food down on a nearby chair.

"I-I'm not crazy, I swear." Scarlett stammered, not wanting to cause any more judgement to bubble up. "I k-know it sounds ridiculous, but i-it's the tru-!"

Scarlett cut herself off. Should she risk saying it was the truth? What if he simply believed it was simply just a lie, like Holly did?

'But, he did live more the moments than Holly.' Scarlett's brain tried to reason. 'He has to believe some of it was true.'

But what if he doesn't?

That was just a risk Scarlett decided to take.

She turned to Ben, who seemingly knew she wasn't thinking right at the moment. "So, is that what really happened?" He asked cautiously.

"Yeah, that's the sad truth." Scarlett muttered finally, interlocking her hands and resting them on her lap.

"But, what do you mean?"

Ben smiled sadly and placed a hand on Scarlett's shoulder. "Scar, if you kept all of this to yourself, sure things might seem they'll be better. For everyone around you.

"But,  you would've been through all of the pressure, without anyone to help you lift it.
All it would do is eat you up inside, until you were nothing but a shell full of secrets."

"But that's the thing, Ben. With me telling everyone about it, all its done is brought chaos." Scarlett muttered stubbornly.

"But, I thought you only told Jake and Jules?"

"I did, but still. By only telling Jake and Jules, my dad's in a coma, my sister hates me, and my brother-in-law is dead. If I had kept it to myself, all it would have affected is me."