Epilogue: Closure

As I pulled my newly purchased car into the car park, I questioned my decision for the thousandth time. Why was I doing this? It’s not like I have to… and yet at the same time it is… When did the world stop making sense?

Oh yeah, at that freaking camp ten years ago. Silly me.

Just that notion in and of itself is enough to force me to shift into park and turn off the ignition. I yanked down the visor and checked my hair in the mirror. Yep, still in the same ponytail, although it was a tad messier now than it was a few hours ago. I pulled it out, and then, noticing the massive kink that my hair tie had left, sighed and scooped my hair back up.

This is so stupid. Why am I so concerned with my appearance? It’s not like…

After giving my hair one final inspection, I steeled myself and stepped out of the car, zipping up my dark blue hoodie against the chilly breeze.

It had been two months since the whole camp incident, and three weeks since I had been released from hospital. Autumn was starting to set in, and my hand was aching. It’s been doing that since it got cold, though it’s worse when rain is coming. I was surprised they released me as soon as they did, but once they determined that nothing was broken, it was just a few weeks of physical therapy once I was able to move my wrist without intense pain.

I closed and locked the door, and made my way towards the building, hands shoved in my pockets. I wished I had time to change after class, but any delay would have meant an opportunity to talk myself out of this. No, better to do it this way.

As I pushed open the door and approached the desk, I felt the butterflies begin to creep up in my stomach.

The woman at the desk looked up at me, a bored expression on her face. “Who are you here to see?”

“Jonathon Tanner.”

I wiped my sweaty palms on my leggings as a guard approached me and lead me through to the visitor’s area. I signed over my bag and phone, then sat down in an uncomfortable metal chair. At least this uncomfortable chair gives me an excuse to keep this short.

After several minutes, the guard returned, Luck shuffling beside him, his wrists and ankles cuffed. He didn’t look up, even after the guard sat him down. For a few seconds, neither one of us spoke.

Then suddenly, Luck said “I didn’t think you were going to come.” He paused, then laughed humourlessly. “Actually, I didn’t even think you knew I was here.”

“I asked around.” He finally lifted his eyes to look at me. I smiled slightly. “Love the blue jumpsuit.” He looked me over and smiled. “Same to you, Chloe.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up. I’ve been teaching self-defence and gymnastics classes at a school in Labresci.”

Luck blinked. “Labresci? You’ve moved to Labresci?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m sharing a place with Alice. She came to see me in the hospital, and we got to talking. There was a room for rent near the lab where she works, and seeing as how we got along pretty well, she asked if I would share with her. The rent’s pretty reasonable for Labresci, and it’s near the school where I’m working now. Someone’s got to keep those nerds fit.”

Luck laughed, then shook his head. “I can’t believe you moved to Labresci.” He looked into my eyes. “I couldn’t see you fitting in with those people.”

I broke off his gaze and folded my hands on the table, rubbing my thumbs together. “It wasn’t as hard as you’d think. I would have worn this kind of stuff no matter where I was teaching physical classes, and Alice has a similar kind of style to me, so…”

“I guess”, Luck conceded. “She was pretty out there too. In a good way.” He hastily corrected himself.

Another uncomfortable pause.

Finally Luck sighed. “So, why are you here, Chloe? It wasn’t just to see me, was it?”

For just a moment, I hesitated. “Actually, it was.”

“Huh?” Luck looked at me strangely. “You actually came all the way from Labresci to a prison, in Daigo I might add, just to see me?” He leaned back in his chair, a cynical smirk on his face. “What, are you into inmates now?”

“No”, I snapped back, then sighed, before continuing more calmly. Dealing with kids these past few weeks had given me great lessons in patience. “No. It’s like I said, I came to see you.” I shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not really sure why. Maybe closure or something…”

“Closure?” He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Ugh, you’re really going to drag this out of me aren’t you?”

His lips curled into a small smile. “Maybe.”

“Fine.” I ran my hands over my hair and pushed some wayward strands back away from my eyes. “While I had my new life in Labresci, I couldn’t stop thinking…about you, being in here…” I sighed. “I felt sorry for you. In spite of everything you did, I couldn’t stand the thought of you being in here all by yourself. I felt sorry for you having to do those horrid things for your dad, and I’m sorry about what happened at the camp ten years ago.” I let out a short laugh. “Man, I can’t believe I just dumped my feelings on you like that.”

Luck smiled. “Neither can I.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “You’re different, Chloe. I can tell.”

“How?” The word blurted from my mouth before I could stop it.

He tapped his eye. “Less eye makeup for a start.”

“Oh, yeah.” I reached up and touched my eye reflexively. “Well, working in a school, it’s better to look a little professional, even in a tracksuit.” This elicited a laugh from Luck. “Aside from that, I used it mainly to hide, I guess, and now…” I shrugged. “I feel like I don’t have to anymore. I mean, I escaped from Gotums and I have this new job and friends, and I’m actually happy for the first time in, like, forever!” I could feel the smile on my face as I spoke.

“I’m happy for you, Chloe. I’m glad that you got a chance to be happy.” He smiled as he said it, but I saw the sadness in Luck’s eyes. “I’m just sorry that I couldn’t be a part of it.” To my surprise, he reached across the table and took my hands.

“You know this place won’t hold me forever.” He looked at me, his eyes asking the question rather than his voice.

“Like I told you, I’m not into inmates.” I slid my hands out from under his. He held my gaze a moment longer, then nodded and motioned for the guard.

“When you get out of here, I won’t help you.” As the guard opened the door, I whispered, “but I won’t turn you in either.”

The guard pulled him out of the chair, and we stood facing each other.

“Goodbye, Chloe.”

“Goodbye Jonathon.”

As I walked back to the car, I was surprised to notice wetness on my cheeks. I honestly hadn’t expected visiting Luck to affect me like this. I guess I cared more than I thought. I wiped my cheeks, but the tears kept coming. Opening the door, I sat on the seat and buried my face in my hands.

This is ridiculous! Get a grip, Chloe! You’re an emotional wreck! Why do you care?

The sound of my mobile ringing startled me. I took a raggedy breath, trying to force myself to calm down as I pressed ‘answer’.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Chloe.”

“Dylan, hi. What’s up?” I heard my voice break and was all too aware of my heavy breathing.

“Are you okay? You sound upset.”

“I’ll be fine, it’s nothing serious. What do you want?”

“Chloe, you’re crying. I think that counts as serious. Where are you?”

“Uh… Daigo Prison.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. “You weren’t, by any chance, happening to visit a strangely charming and extremely lucky yet slightly insane killer, were you?”

I had to laugh. “Yeah, I was.”

Another pause. “So, how did it go?”

I laughed again, then wiped my face. “Now that I think about it… good, actually. Huh. I guess a good cry was what I needed. Girls and their emotions, right.”

“Something like that.” He paused again. “You didn’t tell him anything about what we’re doing, right?”

“Dylan, I’m not an idiot. I just told him about the after school gymnastics stuff. Why would I tell him I was working with you guys? I’m not an idiot.”

“Did I say you were? Anyway, I had to ask you something important. Is now a good time, or would you prefer me to call back later?”

I shook my head. “No, now is fine, what’s up? But bear in mind, if you start explaining something technical to me, I will need you to repeat everything later.”

“Oh, then I’d better wait till you get back and just tell you in person. How long will you be?”

I fastened my seatbelt and started the car. “Couple hours.”

“Fine, meet me at the lab.”

…

When I finally got home that evening, it was almost eleven. Though I didn’t regret accepting Brian’s offer, I was definitely not used to the late night, early morning starts, although I was beginning to get used to the routine. It helped that I was making enough money to send out to my family. While I don’t think we’ll ever be a solid family unit, I think this gesture went a long way to repairing things between my mum and I. Jack has just started university up here in Labresci and lives on campus. He and I catch up occasionally, and he seems to be doing well. Dylan tutors him in chemistry, and so far Jack is enjoying it. It’s just nice for life to be going along smoothly for once, especially considering all the demented things that happened at camp. I haven’t told anyone, but I still get nightmares about what happened.

I headed to the letterbox, which was stuffed full of mail. Clearly Alice was still working or she would have checked it herself. That girl stays out even later than I do, yet she’s still so cheerful in the mornings.

I sorted through a pile of bills and junk mail to find a thick envelope with my name written on it. I turned it over, there was no return address.

Ripping it open, I tipped the contents into my hand.

A pair of handcuffs.