The Lost Boys Daughter ✓ [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 16

DAVID

We all stand at the bus stop, waiting for Cerise's bus to come.
It took a week for everything to get planned. Alan convinced his parents that he's leaving, and Cerise and him are going to San Diego, to start a life there.

She's been beaming ever since we said she could go...
But the guys and I... we've been doing our best to hide it, but we're sad to see her go.

She's been a part of us for so long. I sometimes believed that she would always be there,
but realization slowly sunk in for all four of us.

Alan is standing a little ways away, giving us some last family moments.

Cerise sets her bags down, hugging us.
"Promise you'll always visit?"
"Of course," she hugs Marko. "I'll visit as much as I can."
"Good," Dwayne says, getting his hug. "We'll hold you up on that."
She comes to me, and stands still for a moment.

I close the distance between us, bringing her into my arms.
"I love you," she whispers, and my heart stings. "I love you too, Lost Girl."
She laughs, looking up at my face.

Paul sniffles. "I promised myself I wouldn't cry..." But he's already crying, trying to hide his tears.
"Cerise?" Alan walks up. The bus is already here. How did it come so fast?
She looks at me one last time. "I'll be alright, dad," she whispers, before winking.

She will, I know, but will I be alright?

Cerise takes her bags and gets on the bus with Alan.
Alan is a good guy... he'll take care of her, he'll be the one to protect her.
When they are seated, Cerise stares out her window. She waves the whole time as the bus drives away.
We all wave back, and soon, the bus is gone...

And we are alone.

I look at the other three, who stand completely still...
Cerise is gone.
She's gone...

I inhale a breath. "What should we do now?" I ask.
Dwayne shakes his head.
"Let's go home," Paul says through a sniffle. Marko pats him on the back. "The hardest part of parenting... watching your child go..."

He's right...it stung watching my little girl leave in that bus, disappearing down the road. Not coming back...

We all get on our bikes, and in silence, we head for home.

★★★

I'll never forget that day, when I saw that baby, crying in the backseat of a car after her family was just killed.
In that little twist of fate, she became ours.

We were scared, without any knowledge as to how to take of her. But we did it.
And now, she's grown up, and living her life.
She'll die one day...when she's old, and grey haired. But we will always be here, in the cave under Hudson's Bluff.

We'll stay here for eternities...with only the memories of that little girl who changed us completely...