Dark City

Epilogue (part two)

Tom waited outside Alex's window and flicked pebbles at the glass. It was early dawn. The sky was a muted blue and the moon glistened behind nebulous wisps like some holy silver chalice. After the third pebble, he had perfected the method of shooting rocks up at the glass without causing too much commotion, but still there was no sign of Alexandria. After fifteen minutes of waiting in the early morning darkness, he thought he should just leave, but then the sheer rose-patterned curtains rustled and the glass panes glided open. Alex leaned forward, her wisps of messy hair fluttering in the wind.

For a minute they just looked at one another, absorbing each other's existence for the first time in many months. She had changed. Her hair was now cut asymmetrical, short on one side with long blonde tendrils that swayed on the other. She climbed over her windowsill and descended the lattice. Her white blouse billowed in the wind. Upon landing, she folded her arms and came toward him.

He forgot what he came to say and wondered why he hadn't planned out his words in advance.

"Most people ring the doorbell, Brash."

"How are you?"

Alex looked down and shrugged. "I've just been driving myself crazy."

"I know I should have come a lot sooner."

"Why are you here now?"

"I needed to talk. The jury found Lacey guilty for aggravated assault against me. She's going to spend the next five years in prison. I wanted to tell you in person."

Alex nodded. "Can we walk?"

"Sure," he said. They meandered side-by-side through the trees.

"I don't want her to go to jail. I feel like enough people have suffered. I just want to move on and have a normal life. That's what Nathan wanted for me."

"That and so much more," Tom said. "Nobody loved like he did. And he loved you."

"I know," she said. "He loved us both." She smiled, her brow furrowing with sorrow. She grasped Tom's wrist. He knew what she wanted, but he felt so unsure in acting. She was in too vulnerable a place.

"So you're going to college, right?" he asked.

"No."

"You're gonna get a job then?"

She chuckled and shook her head. "I'll just marry well and play house for the rest of my life."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Why?"

"I guess I kinda hoped you would do something amazing with your life."

"What could I possibly do?"

Tom looked over at her. She was smiling playfully behind her wisps of yellow hair, but there was immense sorrow in her eyes. "Whatever you wanted."

"I can't believe he's gone."

"I know the feeling. I just got my own place. I keep having this impulse to call him to tell him to come over. I'm considering getting a cat," Tom said. Alex raised her eyebrows and laughed. The sound of her laughter was like medicine to him.

"Yeah? That's cool, I guess," she said.

"What? You don't like cats?"

"They're ok," she said, rolling her eyes. They came to the infamous clearing that still carried bad memories for each of them. The town had become something of a tourist attraction. At night, neighborhood watch tried to keep people from camping out in Ghost Woods, visiting the site where Jacob's mother had been decapitated and buried. People assumed that the psychotic marine had killed Liam Cayes there as well. It always amazed them to hear the true story, for it had been just as unbelievable without embellishment.

In the clearing stood the tall oak, the oak of legend where the Seal of Solomon had been cut out. Blue ribbons hung down from its branches. A white cross was leaning up against the tree, decorated with an array of colorful fibers and beads. People left more and more blue ribbons all the time, fastening them to the branches of the other trees, trying to bring beauty and light to a place that had once been consumed by evil.

"Tom." She needed some kind of emotional connection. He could feel it.

Tom opened his arms to her. "Here," he whispered, squeezing her and rubbing warmth into her arms.

"I miss him so much," she said.

"Me too."

"He saved our lives."

Tom swallowed the lump in his throat. He loved her, even though he didn't deserve her, even though he failed her and couldn't protect her. He wanted to be transparent. He wanted her to just hear his thoughts and know how he felt, but she just stared at him and finally shrugged and said, "We should head back."

They walked in silence, the wind at their backs.

"Don't disappear on me again," she said. "You were a good friend to me before, and I really need that again, especially now."

"Then let me be honest with you." Tom took a deep breath. "I have feelings for you, Alex. I know that's not what you want right now, and I can be your friend, but I'm worried that how I feel is going to be a problem."

"What if someday it isn't a problem?"

"I'll never be him."

"I know."

"Yeah?" he said. "Just promise me you won't make me watch as you marry some douche bag and play house."

Alex smiled. "I was kidding when I said that. Don't worry about me, Tom. I know what kind of person I want to be... I want to live honorably."

She took Tom's hand in hers. The forest came to life all around them, hidden animals clicking and purring and the wind fluttering in the leaves. The massive trees overlooking them gave him a sense that they were well watched over, that perhaps Nathan was a sentinel of these woods, forever protecting them from beyond the veil.

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Music: Muse "Blackout"

Thank you for joining me on this strange and winding journey.  I hope it has brought you some inspiration and introspection.