Two days later
The snow has let up and begun to melt away, patchy slush now covers the ground in Main Street. The roads are open and everything is back to normal, tourists have started to trickle back into town, some to go skiing in the mountains, but most out of fascination with the case that’s on the front page of all the papers. Cars have been driving up Sycamore to go and check out my burnt out house, the police tape doesn’t scare them off. People walking down Main Street have stopped me to ask where the Ridgemont Murder House is multiple times today, wanting to get a glimpse into the life of the Ridgemont Butcher. I guess Luke is going to go down as a legend, he’d probably be happy with that.
The police are investigating the fire, currently no charges have been laid. They didn’t find any sign of Luke, they're still searching for him, but there's no way he could have survived that blaze.
My mother is alive and well. She was found in town, trying to book a room at a motel for the night, unable to escape while the roads were still closed. The police arrested her and as far as I'm aware she’s sitting in a cell right down the street, currently awaiting trial for my father's murder, probably hoping someone will bail her out. I saw her getting walked up the steps of the police station, I waved goodbye, her dark eyes stared out at me, soulless. I almost feel sorry for her, to think that money drove her to this. Her hard-earned reputation destroyed now that she's accused of being affiliated with a serial killer. As she disappeared into the building I wondered if she’d wished she’d just stayed at Shady Oaks.
My brother is still in shock about the whole ordeal but he's coping. He and Chelsea are preparing to put their house on the market, I don’t blame them. Chelsea is ecstatic, she’s started packing already. Michael’s been dodging calls from reporters, people keep knocking on his door, harassing him at work, wanting to find out more about our family. We’ve spent the last couple of days watching movies and coming up with a plan to tie up loose ends, Michael has promised he'll sort out everything and make sure the victim's of our uncle's crime are taken care of at last.
After staying at my brother’s house for a couple of days Maida has become good friends with Chelsea and Michael, they’re going to stay in touch. Maida's been laid up on the couch recovering, she's looking a lot better. Even after all this, she's decided she wants to stick out her job with Ed. She thinks just as I had a mission, this one is hers.
Agnes came and saw us yesterday, she wasn’t in the house when the fire started, she'd roped the other staff in to help her search for me when I hadn't come back, after both Maida and I went missing she knew something was up. After searching the grounds and outbuildings the staff had come back to the house on fire. The house she’d loved so much was now nothing but a burnt out shell. She wasn’t surprised my mother had something to do with it, she'd never liked her. I asked her what her plan was now, she said she has some money saved up. She’s retiring and moving far away from the snow.
Esther came over the morning after the fire, apologising for everything, she had nothing to be sorry for. I told her I'd be leaving town soon. She told me she’d ended things with Nick and promised she was never going to cover for him again. As for Rachel and Nick, I saw them earlier today at the diner. They'd pretended to act concerned and said they were sorry for the way they’d treated me. I smiled and walked on by, they were going to stay around here forever, die here. Good, just what they deserved.
The sun's starting to set, me and Maida sit on Michael’s porch in matching metal chairs, painted a crisp white. Maida has a drink of hot chocolate in her mittened hands. She sips it slowly, looking out over the town. We have a good view of the lake from here, the colours of the sunset reflected in the water.
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“You know, I’m going to miss you.” She says wistfully.
“I’ll miss you as well.” I say. “You looking forward to doing this all over again?”
“I’m hoping the next time will be a little less dramatic. Like maybe they’ll just need help with something simple, like they left something in their car and need to tell someone.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“Well, that sucks.”
“Thank you for everything, really.”
"Just doing my job." She sips her drink and smiles up at me.
There’s just one last thing I have to do. I get up out of my chair. Maida goes to get up.
“No, stay, I think I’ll do this one on my own.” I grab my trusty blue backpack and swing it over my shoulder.
“Good luck.”
“Say goodbye to everyone again for me, will you?”
Maida half smiles from the porch, she puts one hand up and waves. “Of course. See ya on the other side man.”
I laugh. “See you on the other side.” I turn away with a heavy heart. I walk down the snow covered streets one last time, my shoes thudding on the pavement. I’ve been leaving this one thing till last, I needed a bit more time to say goodbye. I want to walk the streets for a bit, soak it in. It’s more than the people I’m leaving behind. Not only friends, but memories, an entire life. A life cut short. I realise now that I never really lived, I was so concerned with how people saw me, not making a mistake and I realise now that none of that really matters. My mother was so concerned with appearances and money that it drove her to madness. All these worries, all these fears, they mean nothing in the end, I had to lose my life to figure all of that out.
Step by step, memories flood back, my life begins to flash before my eyes. All the good times and the bad but I have no regrets. I feel like I’ve lived more in the past week than I ever did before and I’m okay with that. I feel at peace.
“Hey!” I turn to see Esther running up to me, she links her arm through mine. “I was going to go to Michael's house and say goodbye before you left.”
We go to the police station and I drop off all the documents I’ve found, hoping it’ll help them put my mother away for a long time.
“Come on, I’ll walk you home.” I say to Esther. We walk slowly down the street towards her house. I begin to feel weak and dizzy. I collapse, falling to the ground, there's no pain. I feel like I’m floating, I see stars like I’m passing out. I hear voices, unrecognisable, urgent voices. I lay in the snow, the cold touch of it dissipating under my finger tips, the voices sounding farther away. I feel so tired, so worn out, so dead.
I look up and see nothing. I’m pretty sure I haven’t passed out or fallen asleep. I feel weird, like I’m floating in water. I look around me, I see nothing but darkness, complete emptiness. It feels warm, I listen intently, trying to hear Esther’s voice again. But there are no sensations of any kind. I feel nothing, see nothing, hear nothing. It’s like a world without senses. What is this place?
Suddenly I hear a noise, I can't make it out until it gets closer. “Hello.” There’s a voice behind me, a man. I try to turn but can’t, it’s like my feet are stuck in concrete. I look down at them to see why I'm glued to the spot. But I have no feet, I go to put my hands out in front of me but they don’t exist either. I see a glimpse of light that begins to glow brighter. I can see it getting closer. It swings around and appears in front of me.
“Hello?” I say. The apparition is before me, it looks so familiar. I recognise him. “Dad?”
He smiles at me. “You look exactly the same! I thought I’d never see you again."
“Either did I.”
“We have so much to catch up on.”
I smile back. “Oh, you have no idea!”
February 14th 1998
Maida’s driving back home, the sun shining on her face as she speeds past endless pines, the radio blaring. She'd gone back to the house today to get her car, getting it started with Michael's help, she hadn't been prepared to go back there. She'd watched as people snuck through the forest with cameras to get a glimpse of the house's burnt out frame. It made her feel sick. How fascinated people were with horrible things.
On the drive Maida's mind is racing, she has so much to tell Ed, so much to process. A whole new world had been opened up to her.
She was looking forward to helping people. To changing the world. To fixing things.
She couldn’t wait.