THE DARKNESS EPILOGUES

Epilogue 1

The two markers were surprisingly close to each other, making the trip a
little easier. Sai Mouri was memorialized with a stone between those of his
parents, while Rowen Hashiba was honored with a solitary marker not too far
off; his tribute was the most satisfying to the party, left by those that
truly cared about him and close to the resting places that they would
someday enjoy. Flowers and letters of veneration decorated both, and three
of the four members of the party gently cradled more. It was their first
visit to them since the services; their grief was still fresh.

Kento knelt down in front of Sai’s marker, touching the cold stone with his
fingertips. He carefully lowered a bouquet of flowers to the ground at its
base and sighed, trying his best to fend off the tears. “H-hi, buddy,”
Kento stammered, his voice starting to break. “Sorry I haven’t really been
by in a while. Things’ve been busy. I guess Deirdre was here--she left you
a daisy wreath. It’s pretty. They finally finished the new pool at
school--it’s dedicated to you. You’d love it, man, it’s so big.....” He
smiled a little as the first few tears started their trek down his face.
“I’ve been taking care of your fish, just like you did. They’re not overfed
or anything, and I moved ‘em to the living room so everyone will think of
you when they see ‘em. I’m even takin’ care of ‘Yame’s flowers, ‘cuz you’d
be mad if I threw ‘em out.” He laughed a little, pausing to swipe away
tears. “Ya know, as much as I hate her, I hope she’s with you. I mean,
there had to be some good in her...... She fell in love with you,
right?.......... I really miss you, Sai. I can’t just talk to anyone else
like I could with you, and no one else really enjoys the same stuff we
did.... remember ‘Whoops Apocalypse’?............ O-out of all of us, you
didn’t deserve this.....” Kento let a loud sob escape, more tears drenching
his face. “I mean, we all knew you were gonna leave and all, and we shoulda
kept an eye out or somethin’....... I-I promised to look out for ya, and
I’m sorry I couldn’t......” He deteriorated into bawling, leaning on the
stone for support. “I’m sorry..... I’m so sorry......” His crouch sank,
and his knees fell onto the soft, wet ground. A gentle, damp nuzzle on his
cheek eased his sobbing slightly; White Blaze purred against him, his
presence calming. Kento draped an arm over the tiger as he got up, resting
his hand again on the stone. “I’m sorry, Sai. I miss you a lot, that’s
all. T-take care of yourself, wherever you are.” He walked slowly away
from the memorial, giving one final sad glance to it over his shoulder
before leaving for Rowen’s stone. Ryo and Mia were already there, carefully
arranging the collection of tributes around the marker. “Hey,” Kento feebly
offered as the tiger paced over to rest on the fresh grass.

Ryo looked up at his morose friend. “Hey. You okay?”

“Same as ever, bro,” Kento said as he knelt down beside him. Ryo smiled at
the understatement; as pathetic as Kento’s current state was, it was the
best he had been in a while. “Whatja doing?”

“Fixing up the gifts,” Ryo explained, gently putting a flower wreath over
one of the flat marker’s corners. “Can’t see Ro’s name.”

“Who did this one? It’s cute,” Mia said as she inspected a small daisy
wreath.

Kento smiled slightly. “Deirdre Shiga. You know her, from school.” He
nudged Ryo with his elbow.

“I don’t really remember anyone from school. I just wanted to get the hell
outta there,” Ryo responded.

“She was the American girl, Kyosuke’s cousin. She left one of those for
Sai, too.” Kento looked down, taking in all the little items; there weren’t
this many for Sai. “O-once, when she was in swing choir with Sai, she said
Sage should play the horse’s ass for ‘Horse with No Name’. He hated her,”
Kento laughed.

“He should,” Mia said. “That’s just mean.” She carefully placed the daisy
wreath by Rowen’s memorial and started towards the jeep. “I’ll see if I can
talk to him.”

“Yuli was here,” Ryo said as he picked up a folded note in a child’s
scribbly handwriting. “I’m surprised he was allowed to come to the wake.”

“I didn’t notice,” Kento sighed. “Besides, he didn’t leave anything for
Sai.”

Ryo read the note, a few tears starting to dampen his eyes. “It’s for both
of them. I guess he just put it here. Why are you so angry about it?”

“It’s just not right. All Sai has are our flowers, Deirdre’s, and his
sister’s. Why can’t he have all this?”

“It’s nothing we can help.”

“I know. I--........ I just don’t want everyone to forget about him.” A
shadow loomed over Kento’s form, and he stood up, turning as he did.
“Decided to stop by after all, huh?”

“Shut up,” Sage snapped. His eyes were cinched shut, and he folded his
arms protectively over his chest; an expression of purest sorrow started on
his face and managed to encompass his entire figure. “I have no right to be
here.”

Ryo pulled two flowers out of his waiting bouquet and handed them up to
Sage. “Here.”

Sage carefully took the two white and blue irises and just stared at them.
He suppressed a sob and handed them back. “I can’t,” he whimpered. “It’s
not gonna change anything....” Kento and Ryo looked at each other with
muted dread; they knew where this would lead, and there was nothing they
could do to stop it. “They’ll still hate me.” Sage tried to block out the
returning tide but failed; they were back--every terrified look, every
confused plea, every frightened word, every desperate shake or struggle.
Their agonized screams still echoed around him, his name still on their
lips. He wilted to his knees and tried his best to hide his face with his
hands, hide from their betrayed stares and scared tears. They knew their
killer, and their death cries would sound around him for all to know. A set
of arms wrapped around his shoulders, prompting a terrified jump; his
hands fell, revealing his saline-drenched visage. He looked up at his
friends, his eyes consumed by a glow of gentle confusion. He rested a shaky
hand on Ryo’s arm. “I never wanted to hurt them.... I never wanted to hurt
anyone....” He leaned against his friend, his body convulsing with his
weeping. “If I just coulda warned them..........”

“It’s okay,” Ryo said, doing his best to console him. “You didn’t do
anything wrong. They know that.”

“And even if you coulda done something to change it, they wouldn’t hold it
against you,” Kento offered, receiving an angry glare from Ryo for his
efforts. He hastily picked up the two stray irises and held them out for
Sage. “Y’know what would piss ‘em off at you? If you didn’t say ‘hi’.”

Sage plucked away one of the flowers and gently placed it under Rowen’s
name on the marker, caressing it as he did. A faint smile appeared on his
face. Slowly, his friends helped him to his feet and led him to Sai’s,
letting him pay quiet tribute as he placed the iris among the meager gifts.

Kento let his eyes drift up to the baby blue sky, squinting as the sun
threw its rays past the benign white clouds. “You think they’re happy?” he
mused out loud.

“They’ve gotta be happy,” Ryo replied, joining the skyward vigil. “They’ve
finally found some peace.”

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Epilogue 2

Rowen struggled to open his eyes, but he immediately questioned his
decision. He had awakened earlier, when the dim figures of doctors and
nurses frantically raced around him. Wherever he was, he knew it was a long
way from home, and the only person he knew in this strange new place was
last seen convulsing lifelessly under crash pads. He didn’t want to be
sedated for pain, to miss his last friend’s final moments for the sake of
easing temporary physical
discomfort. Still, he had to live, even if he was completely alone in an
unknown land; he could never rest knowing he had the opportunity to survive
and passed it up. The faint sounds of both a young woman talking and a
radio playing “What’s New, Pussycat?” became louder, and he found himself
stretched out in a hospital bed--no surprise there. A strange young woman
sat next to him, his hand resting in hers; a cascade of charcoal black hair
rolled down around her, framing her
bright blue eyes behind their silver frame glasses. He couldn’t help but
stare at her chest, wondering why the word VOLUNTEER across her T-shirt was
in quotation marks. She was oblivious to his revival as she talked; as he
listened, he wasn’t terribly tempted to let her know he was awake.

“...So I’m sittin’ there in study hall, and this little punk-ass creep who
prob’y needs his MOMMY to iron his boxers starts givin’ me grief ‘cuz I did
better than him in Spanish, so I took my
binder and was gonna threaten to shove it where the sun don’t shine, but it
dawned on me those Norman Bates-types like that kind of stuff, so I told him
to sit and spin and moved over to sit with Lala. But Lala was havin’
trouble with this stoner punk who needed an industrial cleansing, and he
started givin’ me shit, and so naturally we had to--” She stopped as she
felt Rowen squeeze her hand and stared at him wide-eyed. “Oooops. Hi.”

“Wha’s yuh shut in cots?” Rowen moaned, his throat hardly able to propel
the words.

“What?” the girl asked. She leaned over him to help ease his attempts,
putting her ear near his mouth. Rowen tried again to summon up his voice,
but only a painful croaking came from his throat. He poked at her shirt,
emphasizing the quotes with stronger jabs.

>SLAP!!<

“What was that for?” Rowen moaned, his weak voice drawn back by the girl’s
forceful bitch-slap.

“Don’t poke my yummies!” she snapped.

“Just wanted to know about your shirt.”

“I’m a volunteer, okay? I’m here to cheer you up in a PLATONIC manner!”

“Damn good thing a nurse didn’t see that,” another girl said as she
entered, her tall heels licking on the floor. She was dressed in the
tightest and shortest clothing Rowen had ever seen, and it was all under a
long maroon trenchcoat with fuzzy fringe around the cuffs and the bottom.
Her auburn hair was kept in a tight bun, hidden from her brown eyes. She
walked towards the first girl. “You wanna tell his friend or just leave?”

“I’ll go tell the nice one. You keep him company--and hit ‘em if he
pokes.” The volunteer hurried out as the girl in heels raised one intrigued
eyebrow.

“So you..... POKE, huh,” she said as she sat down by Rowen’s bedside.

“Shut up. I just wanted to know about her shirt,” Rowen explained, his
voice growing stronger.

“What? Why it’s in quotes? ‘Cuz Kendy’s not a REAL volunteer--this is her
detention. She mixed espresso with Boost, got into the costume closet at
school, put on a little bitty loincloth,
and swung on the gym ropes till she hit the wall and crashed. It was so
funny, especially when her top flew off while she was running through the
halls.” Rowen’s eyes went wide as the image of a hyper Amazon dashed
through his mind. The new girl smiled wickedly. “Bet you feel like a
little poking now, huh?”

“Shut up,” Rowen said, embarrassed by his obvious interest in the thought.
“Where am I, and how’d I get here?”

“Wow, Question Boy. This is Crescent Hills, and you’re in the hospital.”
Rowen rolled his eyes at the statement of the obvious. “As for the how, you
just sorta fell from the sky. Why you and your friend were NAKED, I have no
idea.” Rowen leaned back. Sai...... how long ago had he died? Was he
somehow alive or not? The new girl grew a little concerned and sat up a
little. “Hey, you okay?”

“Is Sai okay?” Rowen whispered, bracing himself for the worst case
scenario.

“Your friend? He’s fine, ‘cept for a broken leg. They were about to give
up on him when just sorta opened his eyes and woke up. Truly amazing.”

“But I saw him.... he was dead.....” Rowen smiled in a mix of relief and
disbelief, glowing despite his weakness. “You’re sure he’s okay?” The girl
nodded.

“....should be glad you didn’t have a skirt,” Sai’s voice said as it echoed
over the thumping of crutches. “And he could’ve spanked you. That’s a lot
worse than poking.” The volunteer girl held the door open as Sai entered,
pale and thin under periwinkle pajamas and hobbling on metal crutches with
his right leg in a cast. He looked at Rowen eagerly and smiled, hurrying
over to him as best he could. “Rowen! You’re alive!!”

Rowen pushed himself up into a seated position and welcomed Sai with a
gentle hug, finding the strength to pat him on the back. “Good to see you
again, too!”

“After the third week, I didn’t know if you’d make it,” Sai said as he
backed away. The girl in heels stood up and offered her seat to him, taking
his crutches. “Thank you,” he whispered to her before returning his
attention to Rowen. “I was so afraid I’d lose you.”

Rowen smiled at him. “Same here. Do you know anyone here?”

“Just Kendy,” Sai said, indicating the volunteer girl. She gave Rowen a
grinning sneer. “She’s been a big help through all of this, and you
shouldn’t have poked her like that.”

“I couldn’t speak! I’m sorry!”

“Just for that,” Kendy the volunteer girl said, stepping towards Rowen with
a wicked look in her eyes, “I get a vengeance poke.”

“What..?” Rowen asked, casting a nervous look at Sai; his friend was a
perfect match for the girl in cruel glee. Before he could react, Kendy was
poking and jabbing his extremely ticklish
stomach. In convulsive fits of laughter and futile struggles for freedom,
he gave his protests and accusations voice. “Sta---stop!.... STOP!! Sai,
you bastard!! Ba------BASTARD!!” He tried to grab Sai’s pajamas, which
were shielded by the crutches. “You TOLD her! You TOLD, you TOLD, you
TOLD!!!!” Sai responded only with a low, scary giggle.

“Almost done,” Kendy said as she stopped her tickle assault. As Rowen
caught his breath, she leaned forward and kissed his forehead, prompting a
surprised blush. “There. Forgiven.” She
stepped back towards her friend. “ ‘Kay, Maurette, let’s go. You boys talk
amongst yourselves till tomorrow.” The two girls vanished down the halls
towards the elevators. As they left, Kendy’s voice echoed back into the
room. “I wanted to do that for SO long....”

Rowen leaned back against the bed, still reeling from the benign assault.
“That was evil.”

“She said to tell me about you so she could talk to you,” Sai said. “She
and her friends are very nice, but I miss everyone. Don’t think we’ll ever
see ‘em again.”

“Sai,” Rowen said, resting a hand on Sai’s arm. “I don’t know if we can go
back to our old lives. I doubt it. But we have a great opportunity here.
We should make the most of it.”

Sai smiled, a few damp tears highlighting his eyes. “You’re right. I
guess I got that second chance I wanted after all.”

“We both did.”