Epilogue

Charlotte

Six Months Later

From my spot on the bleachers, I looked down to where Karla was sitting. She was between Blake Settler and Ryan Storran — mentally, I cursed our assigned seating. This was a momentous time in our lives, and it wasn't fair that I couldn't sit next to my best friend.

Pushing the thought away, I looked out at the onlookers watching us from folding chairs. They were spread out across the lawn of East Coast High and were looking up at our graduating class with excitement and pride. I tried to listen to the speech Emma Georgia, our valedictorian, was giving but my eyes kept wandering to the crowd.

I found Mrs. O— she was sitting with Liz, Summer, and Brittney. All four of them smiled up at me, excitement evident on their faces. Since the arrest of Mack and Danny, things at Hillside house improved tenfold. In the last six months, my relationships with Liz, Summer, and Brittney blossomed. Summer, feeling safer with Mack gone, began opening up more and being herself. She became the closest thing I had to a sister—aside from Karla of course.

Liz was still her bad-arse self. With Mack gone, she was the new the Queen Bee at Hillside with Brittney following her faithfully as always. It wasn't that bad though— even though Liz still didn't take crud from anyone, she wasn't a bully anymore. Rather than picking on any new kids that came to Hillside House, she would take them under her wing and try to teach them how to defend themselves. I joined in a few time—as much as I hated physical violence, I now understood the importance of being able to defend yourself.

Liz and Brittney were tad overprotective when it came to me. I think they blamed themselves for what happened...and what happened to the girl before me, Jasmine.

I was still haunted by the events of that day. It was hard to close my eyes and not think about it. Sometimes, I had panic attacks that made it hard to breath and struggling to breath made me panic even more. The counselor told me I was having PTSD attacks from all those times Mack strangled, suffocated, or drowned me. It was hard to deal with, but I was seeing a counselor for it and things seemed to be getting better with time.

It was especially hard for the first couple months when news of what happened was all anyone talked about. Mack and Danny had tortured and murdered four other girls before me, all of it recorded on that same camcorder they used on me. With such damning evidence against them, Mack and Danny would be locked up for a long time.

After speaking with the investigators, I was able to find out why Danny was helping Mack. The first video, that was dated two years ago, wasn't like the rest of them. On it, Danny was forcing himself on a girl—she tried to fight back and get free, but he grabbed her and threw her to the ground. She cracked her head open on a rock.

Mack, hidden in the bush unbeknownst to Danny, videotaped the entire thing. For years she blackmailed him with this, getting him to do her dirty work. Either way, they were both sick and twisted individuals that deserved to be in jail. Danny wasn't a serial killer like Mack, but he was in no way innocent.

Looking past Mrs. O and the girls, my eyes settled on a familiar form standing away from the crowd. Clad in black jeans and a black t-shirt, Rayden stood in the shade under a large, looming oak tree. He was leaning up against it with his tattooed arms folded together, a smoke hanging from his lips, and a prideful gleam in his eyes. When he noticed me looking, he brought his hand up to salute and then winked teasingly. I returned his wink with an amused scowl.

Rayden should've been graduating too, but he spent far too much of his time and energy focusing on street racing. Rayden was smart—he could've graduated top of his class and went to university, but he was convinced he was going to make a living with street racing. I told him numerous times that it isn't exactly living if it ends up killing him. But, alas, he kept doing it—sometimes I wondered if he was trying to intentionally get himself killed.

Sighing heavily, I scanned the rest of the onlookers.

It wasn't long before I reverted back to looking at the opposite side of the crowd. The same place my attention was consistently drawn to throughout this entire ceremony, or at least whenever I wasn't called up to accept an award. It didn't matter how much time I'd spent with him or was held by him or touched him, my heart would still flutter and breath catch every time I looked at him. He was watching me with that devilish, trade-mark smirk of his and I couldn't help but smile back.

Christian Steele.

Even six months later, I could still remember so clearly  how terrified I was when he was shot. It was as if nothing else mattered in the world—I could have been tortured for a life time and it wouldn't have been as bad as it was thinking I might lose him.

Alas though, it was a shoulder wound - it went almost right through and they were able to dislodge it easy enough. He had a lengthy stay in the hospital involving numerous bouts of physiotherapy, but the persistent man surpassed the Doctors expectations and was released much earlier than expected.

He liked to tease me by saying I was his sole motivator to get better as soon as possible because he couldn't bare to wait any longer to have some privacy with me. Apparently, merely snuggling on the hospital bed was not enough - he often teased that if he didn't get out soon, these doctors would get a in person demonstration on how babies are made. A part of me didn't doubt it, and if I was being completely honest, I too was eagerly awaiting his hospital release. The memory of us together on his private beach still caused butterflies in my stomach.

When he finally was released from the hospital, I spent an entire weekend hidden away at his house. Nothing short of an apocalypse could have convinced us to leave his house that first weekend. We definitely put his physiotherapy success to the test.

And, might I add, we continued to test that success every chance we had since.

I was smiling sheepishly thinking about it when Ava, the girl next to me, nudged me with her elbow.

Finally averting my gaze from a far too amused looking Christian, I looked at Ava quizzically and whispered, "What?"

Ava cleared her throat and nodded her head toward the front of the stage. I looked up and realized that everyone was looking at me. Our Principal was standing at the podium with an award in his hand.

"Miss. Locke," he said expectantly, waiting for me to come accept the award.

How embarrassing.

I was so distracted by Christian, I didn't even hear him!

I scurried up to the podium to accept my award knowing full well that my cheeks were as dark crimson as the stoles on my graduation gown. After that, I tried to keep my attention on the ceremony, even if it seemed to go on for hours.

But eventually, our principal stood in front of our graduating class with a proud smile on his face, "Graduates, please stand." Cheers erupted around us as we all stood up. The principal continued, "Graduates, school board members, parents - I certify that the graduates here today have met the requirements necessary through the East Coast School Board for the completion of High School. Graduates, at this time, you may turn your tassels."

More cheers erupted as we all turned the tassels to the other side.

"It is my honor," the principal continued, "To present to you this years East Coast High's graduating class!"

Grabbing my hat, I tossed it up into the air with all my might. It was as of that hat symbolized all my high school experiences, and I was finally free from them all. It was invigorating, freeing, and oh so exciting!

I ran down the bleachers toward Karla, and she ran up toward me. Grabbing each other into a big celebratory hug, we both started jumping up and down with excitement.

We graduated!

"We graduated!" Karla cried out, voicing my own thoughts. "Next stop - College!" Karla had that gleam in her eyes that foretold of questionable choices and regretful decisions in the future.

But that was a worry for another day, because I wasn't going to let anything ruin this day for me.

That was the precise moment that Cecilia decided to grace us with her presence. "Don't delude yourself into thinking that College will be any better - you will still be ... you." She hissed from behind us, "Those orphans should have done us all a favour and finished the job."

I can feel Karla stiffen but as she started to turn toward Cecilia, I pulled her back. "Don't give her the satisfaction of a reaction." Grabbing Karla's clenched fist, I started down the bleachers with her in tow. "She is not worth it."

Karla let out the breath she was holding and forced a smile. "You're right - I guess. Maybe karma will get her one day."

"What trouble is my dear cousin trying to get you into now, Charlie?" Nate came up from behind us and wrapped his arms around our shoulders.

"No trouble," Karla said innocently, "Just contemplating the demise of my archenemy - Cecilia."

Nate chuckled. "Hey, we graduated today! Screw the evil witch - you'll probably never see her again after today."

"Who are you screwing?"

I looked up and saw Adrian looking at us with an amused glint in his eye. I looked past him and saw the whole Steele family.

Karla's parents were looking at Karla with overflowing pride. Karla's aunt and uncle were looking at Nate with maybe a mixture of both pride and relief, and Kale was standing behind his parents looking bored.

Then my eyes landed on Christian.

I couldn't contain my excitement.

I ran toward him laughing happily and jumped into his wide open arms. Tightening his arms around me, he chuckled that throaty chuckle of his. "Congratulations, my little nerd," he whispered in my ear.

Even after being together for over six month, my heart still leapt. I looked up at Christian and I instantly felt at home. He was my safe place.

Grabbing my chin, he tilted my head up and then came down with a kiss maybe a tad inappropriate with his parents and other family around.

I didn't care though. I was too far lost in the moment.

The deep clearing of a throat brought us back to reality.

We broke apart and looked to where the sound came from. There was Rayden watching us with folded arms and a crocked smirk etched on his face.

"Well, Charlotte - looks like you are officially a graduate." Rayden pulled me away from
Christian and gave me a half hug before kissing the top of my head. "Proud of you, kid."

I pulled away from him and looked directly into his eyes very pointedly. "And you should be a graduate too! You should have graduated earlier today with Liz, Summer, and Brittney at Linshore High."

Shrugging nonchalantly, Rayden said, "Schools not for everyone."

Just then, Mrs. O and the girls came up behind him. Mrs. O looked at Rayden with a sullen almost disappointed expression. "No, she is right Rayden Albert Keller! You should be graduating too - if you spent half the time on your studies as you do on tinkering with that bike of yours, you'd be the top of your class."

Beside me, Christian burst out laughing. "R-Rayd," trying to catch his breath between laughs, "You're - middle - name - is - Albert!"

"Whatever, pretty boy - I bet your middle name is something like Bartholomew," Rayden taunted back in good humour.

"It's actually Harry," Nate piped in, adding fuel to the fire.

It was Rayden's turn to burst out laughing. "Christian Harry Steele?!"

"It's a family name," Christian defended.

I decided to leave the boys to argue over who's middle name was more comical and walked over to where Karla was standing with her parents, aunt and uncle.

They all said their congratulations to me, and Karla's parents in particular pulled me into big hugs in the process. Eventually Karla grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the adults and led me to where Liz, Summer, and Brittney were standing.

"So, are you guys coming to the big Graduation party? It's going to be huge!" Summer said excitingly.

"Of course!" Karla squealed. "A big party for both the Linshore and East Coast graduates? This is going to be the party of the year!"

"I won't be going," I said shyly, and they all whipped their head in my direction. "I'm sorry, but I just don't really like parties - you all know that." With quickly flushing cheeks, I added, "Plus, Christian said he has something special planned for us tonight."

••••••••

A couple hours later, Christian was leading me through one of the trails on his property. It was a trail I wasn't particularly familiar with, but the thing I did know was that we weren't going in the direction of the beach.

I was very familiar with that trail by now.

"Where are we going?" I asked for the umpteenth time.  It was very dark, and if it wasn't for the flashlights on our phones, we wouldn't be able to see anything.

Christian chuckled with a hint of amusement. "You really aren't a fan of being kept in the dark about stuff - pun intended."

"I don't read hundreds of books to be uninformed," I replied matter-of-factly.

"True enough," he said, the amusement was even more evident. "But, regardless, we are almost there, so your torment will soon end."

"How can you even tell? It's pitch black out here."

Just as I said that, we walked out of the forest and into a meadow. Or I could only assume it was as the trees around us vanished into just grass as far as our flash lights touched.

It was a new moon, so it was such a dark night, and with Christian's property being out in the country, there was very minimal light pollution. Even though I knew we were in a meadow, I couldn't see anything beyond what our flashlights showed us.

"Turn off your phone," Christian said while shutting off his own flash light and putting his phone in his pocket.

"What?" I asked, "It's so dark though. We won't be able to see anything!"

"Do you trust me?"

"Well, I-" cutting myself off, I took a deep breath, because I did. I truly, and undoubtedly trusted him. Reluctantly nodding, I shut the flash light off and we were enveloped into darkness.

I couldn't see Christian who was standing a mere foot away from me. Panic began to take root inside me, and my heart pounded against my chest, but then I felt Christian's hands enclose around mine. I instantly felt safer. My heart settled as he lightly squeezed my hands reassuringly before leading me forward further into the meadow.

He walked slowly and very careful which I knew was for my benefit. I was clumsy enough when I could see my surroundings.

By the time Christian had stopped, my eyes had become more used to the darkness and I could vaguely see our surroundings.

There was a blanket spread out on the grass with far too many cushions and pillows, and a couple fuzzy looking throw blankets in the mix. Beside the blanket was a spread of various snacks and drinks.

But what really drew my attention was the large telescope perched on a tripod next to the blanket. My eyes widened in excitement. There was a red gift bow stuck to the side of the telescope.

"A graduation gift," Christian whispered in my ear.

I was speechless. Gaping, I stared at it unable to formulate the words to say thank you. "C-Christian-" I began but he cut me off.

"And that's not even the main surprise - look up."

I did - and my breath caught.

How did I not look up before this?!

Between the new moon, the clear skies, and the lack of light pollution, the night sky was phenomenal. I could see the Milky Way more clearly that I had even seen in my life. The stars, galaxies, and nebula were brighter and more vibrate than I thought possible.

"Christian ... this is ... beautiful." I could not take my eyes away from it.

I felt him grab my arm and lead me toward the telescope. "I can't believe how much I lucked out - I don't think I could have asked for a better night to bring you here." He said, equally mesmerized by the sky.

As we reached the telescope, Christian motioned for me to go look through it. "You know, they say the nebula called Messier 57 is best seen in May around 9pm. It's May and just after 9pm. I have it fixed in the right direction. Have a look."

And I did.

I looked through the telescope and could instantly see the nebula. It was a blue ring with a red outer layer. It was insane how clearly I could see something I could never have with the naked eye.

"Wow, that is so beautiful," I breathed out while not averting my eyes from it. "I cannot believe how well I can see the rings detailed in it. Messier 57 also know as the ring nebula. I've never seen anything so beautiful..."

"I've always considered Messier 57 to be the nebula of love. The rings of the nebula symbolize eternal love and commitment like that of a wedding band..."

I furrowed my brows. Christian's voice didn't come from where he was just standing behind me. It came from down lower.

Confused, I turned around to face him, and there he was.

Kneeling on one knee with a shimmering diamond ring in his out reached hands.

"Charlotte Locke, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" I didn't hesitate, and jumped down into his arms with sheer joy. I didn't need to think about it - I didn't even question it, because I knew how much I loved him and I knew how much he loved me. He didn't need to make a prolonged speech about how he felt, because I knew and he knew I did. "Oh my gosh, yes times a trillion!"

Christian pulled away slightly and guided my hand up so he could place the stunning ring on my left ring finger.

I didn't even realize I was crying until he reached up and wiped the tears off my cheeks. He was smiling down at me like a person who had just won the lottery and my heart leapt to realize that I would get to wake up to that look every morning for the rest of my life.

As he wiped the last of my tears away, his hand glided down my face and under my chin. He tilted my head up toward his, and whispered, "I love you, Charlie - all the way to GN-z11 and back."

I smiled up at him lovingly, "Haven't you heard - HD1 is now the most distance observed galaxy in the universe out distancing GN-z11 by over one billion light years."

"And I'm sure they will soon find another galaxy even further away than that one, so how about, I love you to the end of the universal and back and back again indefinitely."

I grinned sheepishly, "That's better." But then candidly added, "Although, that is presumably improbable because if you-"

He shut me up with a kiss and it was all the evidence he needed to win this argument.

After a time, I pulled away, both to catch my breath but also to say, "Fine - I concede. I also love you to the end of the universe and back again and again indefinitely."

He laughed, but then rewarded me with another kiss.

The end