Chapter
Twelve: Working Towards the Future
After I handed control to Caroline, Drei and I returned to the apartment
and packed what we needed, leaving the rest. We mailed a key to Caroline, in
case there was something she needed from the last two years. Leaving the
apartment was my choice, and Drei didn’t ask. I was done here, and continuing
to be there…the memories would have killed me more than anything else.
Part of me felt bad for leaving them without saying anything. I could
imagine them searching for us afterwards, unable to find us anywhere, confused
and unsure why we had disappeared. The news crews that had been at the event
talked about how they hadn’t found me to express congratulations or ask
questions. Some people on the site mused I had been an angel, only there to
show them the way, and gone the minute they could see where they were going
again.
But I had done my part, as I had said. Anything that came next was up to
them. They had to take control of their own futures, make their own decisions,
and find their own way. None of them needed me anymore, no matter what they
thought.
Besides, Nick was dead now because of me. I was beginning to understand
the pain Caroline must have felt, but this time, she wouldn’t stop. Ian
wouldn’t let her. And the note I had left with our apartment key assured her I
was fine.
As for Nick, we returned his body to Lily, the only family he had other
than Drei and I. I didn’t go with Drei. Imagining how she was handling it tore
me apart; I couldn’t even stand to map it. It took her four days to calm down enough
to make a decision. His body was cremated and the ashes spread in Winnsboro,
where his family died. At last he could be with them again. In that, I found
some comfort; little as it was, it was something.
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