The President's Son

Epilogue

A/N

Pain by Jimmy Eat World

I suck at writing epilogues because I always think that they come out too short and not very descriptive.

Yes guys, that really was the final chapter. I'm vv sorry if things didn't go as you expected them to. That's just the way it has to be. Blah blah blah tbh I'm sad too, like believe it or not I cried hard with you guys.

Epilogue

I took a large sip from the bottle of whiskey, its flavour burned its way to the back of my throat. It ached. Sip after sip, until sips became long-fulfilling drinks. One after another I tossed empty bottles to the side, their interiors damp with brown liquids. I drank until I was blind, my mind foggy, the sounds around me a never ending whirr of highs and lows.

Cold air had no affect on my skin, even though it prickled from the wind, leaving bumps in its wake. At thirty-two degrees it felt like a sauna thanks to the alcohol. I remember reading an article on how alcohol could make you feel warm when you were really on the brink of becoming a stick of ice. Metaphoric in a way.

I kept thinking that the drink in my hands was in fact, alcoholic, but it was nothing of the sort. Nothing like multiple bottles of apple cider to do the job. When I thought about it, the flavour no longer burned, it was sweet per usual. People probably think I'm crazy when the see me at the shop, fantasizing about apple cider with a twist.

The ground beneath me consisted of the softest-known grass and leaves aged to a perfect crisp. It was Spring, or was it Fall? Either way the leaves changed its colours and the skies leaked it's oversized tears, landing on everyone's head as a public display of despair. The clouds cried like mothers who lost their young, musicians who lost their talent. The clouds cried like me, girls who lost their one and only's.

I chucked the next bottle of juice, still full onto the base of a tree, not bothering to watch if it shattered properly, or if it missed entirely. Harsh winds now awakened from the dripping sky, flapping my hair in every direction; but here I lay. On the soggy grass, my hair coated in a fine layer of dirt and plant.

Thin legs dangled off the edge of a cliff, my plain eyes stapled to the thighs long enough to realize that those legs belonged to a half of my body. I swung them, left, sometimes right. Thinking about what it would take to gather enough courage to jump, dive, plunge. An act of cowardice maybe?

Or was it hope?

I'd find out what was at the bottom once I did, jumped that is. But I was never going to. I couldn't, oh no. Rock, water, more grass maybe waited for me nonetheless. All I had to do was jump, dive, or fall. Trip, skip, or fly. When I arrived I hadn't bothered to look over the cliff, I never did. Just closed my eyes and sat down against the stone fashioned into a rectangular slab.

His name engraved in bold, right smack in the middle. It didn't belong anywhere else but my heart, but here it was. Right about a date and an endearing message.

"Loving husband, loving son."

Roses, all different kinds of roses were kindly placed next to his tombstone. Nearly a hundred, maybe even a thousand candles had been here before I took my time throwing them over the cliff. Connor didn't believe in God, so why was his face all around his stone burning a light? He would have been mad, I thought. Knowing that all these people came here to wish him a goodbye but not bother to remember that he believed in the after.

There was a picture, of him and me, a large, elegant Christmas tree in the background. We were smiling, happy, in love. Everything that we used to be was exactly what it was. Past tense. Our last moment together had been our kiss, and his request for my hand in marriage. My fingers sloppily found it's way to the ring on my left hand, toying with the fancy diamond. I kept poking it, prodding it, pulling it, in hopes that it would fall off even break, and release me from this nightmare.

I'd wake up back in my bed, Connor's chest beneath my head as we slept after an eventful night. We'd shower, make breakfast and part ways to go to work. After our shifts we'd meet at the diner and have a nice dinner before coming home. We would start the nightly routine all over again and live our lives in peace.

However, wishes of such sort weren't anywhere near likely to be granted. You couldn't rewind death, it just happened. Whether you liked it or not. There was no way I would have known to go pick up Connor earlier, or just spend the entire day with him. There was no warning, or sign that would have led me in the right direction.

Some people, quite a few actually, told me that he died for a reason. That Connor's death would live on. I laughed thinking, how could death, live? It just simply wasn't right. But I only understood until after they left, upon hours and hours of thinking I realized that I would never forget Connor, nor would I forget the way he died. I wouldn't. I couldn't.

How could anyone just simply forget their own soulmate? Their other half? It was never heard of and I doubt that it will be.

As the sun dipped down low beneath the cliff, my eyes were a dull screen as I gazed at the array of colours lining the sky above. Pinks and blues shone brighter than anything from up there.

I placed a kiss on the stone, and whispered to Connor that my time was up. Some may think I'm silly, talking to a stone and a decomposing corpse, but a part of me actually believed in that ghost crap. I knew he was listening, watching, smiling at me from wherever he was.

"I'll be back, same time tomorrow I promise. You'll wait for me right?"

Silence.

"Oh of course you will, you've never let me down before. I'll see you tomorrow, I love you," I grabbed the photograph of his smiling face and brought it to my lips and put it into my backpack.

The wind blew, like it always did after I said those three words. And I instantly knew that Connor was close. He was here, he'd never leave me. With my skateboard beneath my feet, I gave the stone one last glance, not bothering to look over the cliff. I figured it would be a surprise.

I looked down at my stomach that bulged noticeably beneath my coat, a wonderful surprise.