The Mask Man In The Woods

42.

EPILOGUE

"Oh, did I tell you that last week, I caught Drakon walking home from school with a girl?" I said, dipping my spoon in my yogurt.

The man in front of me raised his bushy grey eyebrow and smirked. "I knew my boy was going to be player."

I scoffed and took the spoon out of my mouth. "In your dreams. I've been teaching Drakon to be respectful of a girl's heart since I came back and so far, he has been acting on it. Or at least to my knowledge." I added under my breath.

The man took the toothpick out of his mouth and leaned back on the crates. He was old and weak, which made Javon easier to possess him without having to kill the person. Possession took a heavy toll on a person's body, so Javon made sure to pick on people who were close to dying so he didn't have to worry about killing someone who still had a whole life ahead of them.

It had been a year since I had come back to the living world and while it had been difficult to adjust to what had changed in the world, it didn't take me very long to catch up.

When I died, Tristian discovered my body. He told me he took Drakon out of the house before he could see what had happened. He lied to Drakon that the shadow monster had taken me and he needed to be somewhere safe before it came back from him. Drakon stayed in Tristian's home all night while Tristian went back to the house. He told me that he never cried more than when he wrapped up my body in some sheets and buried me somewhere in the woods; the same place where I found myself after I was back in the living world.

"It took me all night to bury you." He said to me, squeezing my hand tighter as if he was making sure I was there physically and not some illusion.

Tristian didn't want to keep my death a secret, so he told Drakon after he came home, covered in my blood. He said he never heard Drakon scream or cry that loud before. It took Drakon months before he would get out of bed willingly. It took him even longer for him to talk, to ask questions of that night. Tristian told him everything; about our past life, the deal, the witch. He said he didn't want to keep anything hidden from him, that he had the right to know, to understand so he could heal and hopefully move on.

After some time, Tristian and Drakon decided to move away to a new town. It took Tristian a lot of courage to leave his place he had to call home for decades, but with Drakon encouraging him, he managed to do it. The new town was almost identical to our old one and was only four hours away. When Tristian was enrolling Drakon in school, he was going to disguise himself as his uncle but Drakon called him his stepdad. That part put a smile on my face for days.

On the weekends, Drakon and Tristian would come back to Tristian's old home to find anything that could reverse or break the cruse to bring me back. They found nothing. When I found them in that clearing, Tristian and Drakon were back to the old house to see if they could find anything new. I was lucky to have come back on a Sunday morning.

"We usually head back home around six. Any later than that, you would have missed us." Tristian said, his arms around me tightening. I smiled and buried my head in his chest, listening to his soothing heartbeat.

While it took me a while to hear all the stories and what had been going on in the world, it took me weeks to get over the fact that I was dead for nine years. It certainly didn't feel like nine years had passed. I figured the time would work differently, but I never imagined the difference would be that huge.

"I bet you ten bucks he'll break that girl's heart the next time I come around." Javon joked, bringing me out of my thoughts. I chuckled, running my spoon over the sides to get the last lick of the yogurt.

Since I came back, Javon had only visited two times, this being the third time. The first time, Javon informed me that the witch allowed him to be the one to bring her an innocent soul every month. The second time, he wanted to hear what had been going on and if Drakon was doing okay. This time, apparently he was placing bets on whether Drakon was going to be a player or not.