Chapter The Final

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Christmas morning was a quiet affair. Jessie's Aunt saw no point in waking before nine - her son wouldn't arrive till later that afternoon.

Jessie, however, was an early riser by nature. She was just pouring herself a bowl of cornflakes when there was a knock at the door. She padded over and peered through the window. There was a courier standing on the doorstep. He noticed her in the window and gestured to the parcel he was holding. The girl unlocked the door.

"Miss Baxter?" The courier inquired.

"Yes..." She was curious now.

"Parcel for you, please sign here." He held out a form and a pen. Jessie quickly scrawled her name and took the parcel. "Merry Christmas, Miss," the man said before heading back to his van.

"And to you too..." Jessie stammered. She scurried back inside and up the stairs. Her cereal sat, forgotten, on the kitchen bench. She closed her bedroom door and set about getting into the heavily taped cardboard box.

When she pulled back the flaps of the box, the first thing she pulled out was a note written on Christmas themed paper.

Jessie,

We all chipped in. It counts for your birthday last month too. :)

Merry Christmas!

Peace and love and season's greetings,

Ringo.

PS. Thought you may as well keep the shirt, seeing as I got your jacket. :)

Under the note was the blue shirt Ringo had lent her, folded neatly. She took it out and smiled. Then her smile disappeared as her mouth hung open in absolute shock. The rest of the box contained a stack of records. Every single studio album produced by The Beatles. It had to be worth hundreds! She'd seen some of their old records on sale for around twenty pounds and she had no idea what their new ones cost!

She carefully took each album out, one by one. Suddenly, she thought back to the letter she'd received at school. George had mentioned the first song on their 1971 album. She found the record he was talking about; Take Two, it was called. The cover was simply the four lads peeking through a clapperboard, like the ones used by movie directors, with cheeky grins plastered on their faces. They were even wearing the clothes that she'd last seen them in, apart from John, who had wisely folded the AC/DC shirt and put it in the back of his wardrobe until said band actually existed.

She carefully slid the shiny vinyl record out of its sleeve and carried it to her little record player. She placed the needle down and her bedroom was filled with a cheerful, upbeat melody. The familiar Lennon-McCartney duo sang,

We got the chance to change the world,

To step out from the dark.

Thanks to her, we've done it,

That girl in the park.

Well when we first crossed paths,

I was careless, didn't see.

She was just a kid,

But this kid knew more than me.

She never even told me,

But still, I got the warning.

Things will be better this time round,

Cos I remember every morning.

We had the chance to rewrite history,

To make a different mark.

We made it, thanks to her,

The girl in the park.

Oh that girl was good to me,

She saw through my disguise.

When she left, she left a better man,

She opened up my eyes.

She gave us the chance to change the world,

To step out from the dark.

We did it, thanks to her,

That girl in the park.

The night she said goodbye to me,

The message left was clear.

I'd have to live to see her,

To show her that I care.

Yes, we have the chance to rewrite history,

We've already made our mark.

Thanks to you, we've done it,

The girl in the park.

Jessie was almost in tears. She grabbed the album cover and found the song listings. She smiled when she saw that it was credited to all four Beatles. She lay on her bedroom floor with the album next to her for a long time, with a giddy grin spread across her face.

* * *

It had been almost seven years. Seven years since her life did a barrel roll and flipped head-over-heels downhill. Seven years since the day that those dearest to her were lost forever.

But one girl who thought she lost everything discovered that there was still good in the world; that she could still have friends and make the best of life.

And she had all the time in the world.- The End -

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