Portal Jumpers

Epilogue

ONE MONTH LATER...

We were finally settled in. I was eighteen and was able to get guardianship of John and Kash. Everything was good.

Gramm and Avalon took me up on my offer to live with us and they finally figured out what was wrong with Avalon. turns out she was severally anemic. And because her doctors never caught it, it just got worse. They both agreed they weren't going back and I had no problem with that. They both helped around the house and with Ava in school now, she has a better future than she did back home. And Gramm worked with me at the store which made things easier.

"Ava, did you finish your homework?" Gramm asked, the second we walked in the door. Ava had a habit of waiting until the last minute to do it. She nodded as she finished dinner.

"Yes, babe. Now eat." John came in the door as Kash came in the kitchen.

"John, where have you been?" I asked. He shrugged as he walked into the living room and turned on the television.

"Dude, it's almost six and you're just now getting home? Where were you?" I asked. He turned the tv back off and just staired at the black screen for a minute.

"I rejoined the basketball team." He answered not looking at me. I smiled because once we found out mom was dying, john quiet the school's basketball team. Mom was upset but he wanted to spend time with her, what little time she had left.

"John, that's great. I'm proud of you." I said. He made no effort to move. "John?"

"I went to see mom. Coach Adams asked me yesterday if I wanted back on the team, he needed a player. So I agreed. Then I went to tell mom. I didn't hear anything." I looked at Ava confused. "Everyone told me that when someone you love dies, you can talk to them and they talk back. I didn't hear anything." He explained. I looked back up at Ava and Gramm. This was the first time he's opened up about mom dying. So I jumped at the chance to talk to my brother about it. I walked over and kneeled in front of him.

"Johnny, I know that it's hard to understand. I don't fully understand it myself. But when you talk to a loved one that's passed, you don't hear them, but you can still know what they are saying. I talk to her all the time and in my heart, I can her hear. And bud, she is so proud of you right now. She always was when you played." John finally looked up at me with tears in his eyes.

"I miss mom, Ty. I really miss mom." He began to sob uncontrollably. I pulled my brother into my arms as I began to cry myself.

"I miss her too, bud. I miss her too." I suddenly felt hands on my back and looked up to see my ten-year-old brother looking down at me, face also soaked with tears. I grabbed ahold of Kash and pulled him in. We all just sat there and cried. Now that I'm home, we can all move on and live our lives.