𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 [𝟏𝟖+] ✔

Epilogue

Three Years Later

Eric Osprey

Dan has my balls in the palm of her hand.

Figuratively, unfortunately.

While I shove on my hoodie and hunt for my trainers, finding them in a bright pink toy box, I kiss her moody head and leave the house.

To hunt for a jar of fucking pickles.

Love her. Hate this fucking pregnancy.

It's the middle of the afternoon and the house is quiet, yet instead of dragging me to bed and riding my face as I suggested, she's sending me out to look for food I'll unlikely find. If I didn't love her, I'd tell her to go fuck herself.

Yet here I am, walking around the market and searching shops until my eyes land on the largest glass jar I've ever seen. If I don't get a blowjob for this, I'm going back to Scotland. I pay the cashier using my points from work and head back home.

Home.

The place that I get to share with her. Where I get to raise my kids and wake up next to the love of my life every morning. I get to trace her freckles and run my fingers through her ginger hair. I get to kiss her, fuck her, and hear her moan my name. Home, for me, is where nearly every wall is full of pictures, even the ones of my sisters that I kept safe in that black box. It's where I try to teach Dan how to cook and fail. It's where each room has a meaning. Honestly, I feel like I'm living in a dream.

Maybe I'm trapped in the neurock.

I don't give a fuck if I am.

I'm happy.

It's still weird to think that I was hours away from wrapping a cord around my neck when the vehicles appeared outside the dome. Me, Richie, Gary, and a few others got drunk and spoke about our lives before all agreeing that we wouldn't let the lack of oxygen take us. Fair to say I kept some information about my past to myself. Only Gary and Richie know the shit I've done. The rest don't need to know that I'm basically a serial killer or that I tortured countless people in an act of revenge.

I'd do it again. In a goddamn heartbeat.

Richie was the one who spoke the most. About how he met Elaine, how they accidentally fell pregnant at the age of sixteen with Dan, and how she made their lives complete. He regrets being an absent father and wanted to try to make up for it. He ended up breaking down and I carried him home.

Gary stayed with me every night. Annoyingly so. He told me shit I didn't need to hear about Ainsley. He admitted that he flirted with my girlfriend when he first met her, then begged me not to kill him with my bare hands when I snarled at him.

We had a time set to end it all. We'd all meet at the town square where we'd say our goodbyes. I told Gary he could come with me to the area I once took Dan. Where I set the water system on and lay in the mud with her and watched the stars. I wanted to feel connected to her in some way in my final moments.

Richie wanted to be on his own for when he met his end.

Thank fuck they showed up.

I was losing my mind thinking about Dan and Orla. I was even worried about Ainsley and her sprog. To pass time, Gary and I worked constantly to get him back on his feet. We'd exercised, swam, and even fought to try to get his balance and coordination. The day he took his first few steps unaided, I felt so fucking proud of him. The way a big brother would be.

I even hugged the wanker.

When he ditched the chair, we worked on building his stamina through light jogs and leg workouts. Eventually, he was running beside me, working up a sweat and back to his usual, annoying prick self.