Epilogue
Two days later, Micah was sitting in his bed, eating a bowl of ice cream, and there was a knock at his door.
"Come in," he hollared at it. The door opened, and Shawna poked her head in.
"Hey, sleepy head. How're you doing?"
"I'm alright. Gettin' better every day, darlin'.
She smiled at him, and sat down on the edge of the bed, and rested her hand in his. They looked at each other for a few minutes, neither saying a word. Neither of them needed to. The just looked at each other.
He looked at her beautiful blue eyes, and she ran a finger over his smooth brow. They smiled at each other. His thumb slid up over her hand and rubbed the back of it. She squeezed his hand.
"So..." Micah ventured, after a few minutes of silence, "where.. uh... where does this put us?"
She looked down at the bed, still holding his hand. "I... I don't know. Where do you want us to be?"
Tell her that you want to be a couple. Tell her that you love her, and that you want to be with her, always.
Don't tell her that! That'll push her away. It's too fast. Tell her you don't want to be a couple.
Screw you. I want to be a couple.
"I want us to be a couple. I want to be with you for always and ever. I've wanted to be with you since the first day I saw you at school. When you told me that you loved me, that day, after graduation, my heart soared. I flew through the clouds, and you were my wings. From that day on, you were always with me. I always held you close to my heart.
"God, I never even realized it, but since you never saw Jessica, I guess I should tell you. Jessica, looks almost exactly like you. She has the same black hair, and she has green eyes as opposed to your blue, but she looks like you. I didn't even realize it until I saw you again. That was why I stayed with her. Because she reminded me of you. Because you were the only girl I ever wanted to be with. I loved you then, and I loved you now, and I will always love you. You meant more to me then than anything or anyone else I have ever known. You mean more to me now then my own life, and I want to be with you forever.
"God, listen to me. I sound like some sort of obsessed psycho, but I'm not. I promise you, I'm not. I'm just very much in love with you. I always have been. I always will be. So, that's the answer to your question. I want to be with you, and I want us to be a couple."
There were tears in her eyes, as she looked at him. She bent down and wrapped her arms around him.
After a couple of months, they were engaged. It happened on January 1, 2000. It had been a very interesting affair. Two months before, they had seen the Stage play, The Phantom of the Opera. Shawna had loved it. Micah had bought her the CD soundtrack of the London Production. She was absolutely in love with it.
Which was probably where Micah had gotten the idea.
The party was a large one, with most of Micah's friends from work. they, of course, were all in it. Shawna was one of three people who were there that didn't have any idea what was going to happen. They were extra important, because they had no idea that they were gong to be used.
The party was going well. and fifteen minutes before midnight, the party was raching a climax. Micah and Shawna were slow dancing, holding each other. Suddenly, Micah slapped his hand to his forehead.
"Oh crap! I almost forgot! Hon, I gotta go home, real quick, but I promise I will be back before midnight. I swear to you, I will. Alright?"
"What? What'd you forget?"
"Something very very important. I can't talk about it right now, but I promise I'll tell you as soon as I get back." She looked at him, blinked.
"What? Can't you tell me?"
"I will. I promise. I'll be right back." Before she could respond, he turned and ran out the door. She watched him, and then crossed her arms beneath her breasts, and walked over to the refreshment table.
A few minutes later, there was a clinking sound as one of Micah's buddies clinked a fork against a champagne glass.
"Ladies and Gents, a toast!"
Silence fell all around.
"This is one of the best parties that I have been invited to in a long time. For a long time, I have been a kind of lone wolf, keeping to myself, but Jack here," he waved his glass in the direction of the party's host, "made friends with me, and got me in with other people. Pretty good people, and without him, I wouldn't be here at this party tonight. I would probably be at home, watching the ball drop, eating frozen pizza, or something. So, here's to-"
Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered out, and darkness fell.
The toaster stood where he was, and looked around. "...The hell...?"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a spotlight hit the door of the banquet room that the party was being held in, and it opened, slowly. Fog, or smoke, some sort of vapor, anyway, came roiling out, and covered the floor of the banquet room. It kept filling, until the enitre floor was covered in a knee deep layer of fog.
Then, through the door, strode a man. He was dressed in black, with a black cloak, and his face was hidden by a mask. He strode slowly through the room, observing everyone, noticing everyone, looking over all the women. Music began playing somewhere, but it wasn't any sort of music they had heard earlier. This was a different sort.
He continued around the room, and stopped in front of one of the ladies who had no idea what was supposed to happen. He held his hand out to her. "May I have this dance my dear?" He asked her. His voice had a faint English accent, one which women found so charming. She smiled, but didn't take his hand.
He continued to hold it out. The music continued to play. "My lady, you are truly one of the more beautiful visions of feminimity tonight. Please, I beg of you, dance with me."
She smiled, blushing, and took his hand. He led her around the room a couple of times, waltzing slowly with her, leading her in time to the music. The music was almost recognizable to Shawna. It was right on the tip of her brain, but she couldn't get it to step into the light.
The man and the woman waltzed for a few seconds while everyone watched, spellbound by the lithe graceful movements of the man. He looked over her shoulder at the man stadning behind her, and gave him an almost imperceptible signal;. The second man stepped forward, and the Phantom spun her off into his arms. He took her, and waltzed her off into the crowd, while the Phantom stepped around to another lady.
The music continued, but in a slightly different vein. Shawna had been just about to figure out what the music had been, when it switched to something new.
The Phantom continued to walk around the room, and asked another lady to dance with her. This was the second person who had no idea what was going on. He held his hand out to her, and she took it, smiling. No hesitation on her part. He waltzed wth her for a few minutes, and then he passed her to another man who came up behind her.
Then, he approached Shawna, and asked her for a dance. She, by now, had an almost vague idea of what was going on, but wasn't really sure what it all meant. This was a set up for something, but what?
She took his hand, deciding to play along, and they waltzed. His hypnotic green eyes looked into her blue ones. His impassive face remained fixed on hers as they waltzed.
Suddenly, the music stopped. The Pahntom stopped his dancing, and stood before Shawna.
He reached back behind his cloak, and pulled something out.
Shawna couldn't see what it was in the light, but she got an eyeful when the Phantom got down on one knee and opened the lid of the jeweller's box. When the box opened, a spotlight hit it. A tightly centered spotlight, that reflected out at everyone from the diamond in the center.
Shawna looked down at it, and felt her eyes watering. The man in front of her was Micah, she was sure of it, even though she couldn't see his face.
"Shawna," he said, "I love you, and I want to be with you forever. I'm here, no one will harm you. My words will warm and calm you. Let me be your freedom. Let daylight dry your tears. I'm here, with you beside you. To guard you and to guide you. Say you want me with you here, beside you. Say the word and I will marry you. Say you need me with you here, beside you. Say you love me-"
"You know I do," she said.
"Shawna, this is all I ask of you. Will you marry me?"
She smiled, and wiped her hand across her cheeks, wiping off the tears. She took his hand, and he rose to his feet.
"God give me courage to show you," she said in a whisper, sliding the mask off, "You are not alone."
Then, she kissed him. Not just a small, light I-Love-You-A-Bushel-and-a-Peck-and-a-Hug-Around-the-Neck kind of kiss either. This was a full blown, knock down, drag out, lose circulation in your lips kind of kiss, just as the clock struck midnight.
And Micah wouldn't want it any other way.
They were married in March, and it was the happiest day of Micah's life. Over the next few years, they had four children. The oldest, a daughter, was named Jill Miranda. The second oldest, a son, was named Kris. The third, another son, was named Sean, and the fourth was another daughter, and they named her Jennifer.
I
Oh my gosh. I'm actually done. I don't even believe this. It's one of the best feelings in the world to finish a story that has been alive in your own mind for a year or so.
This story, believe it or not, was originally intended to only be about fifteen pages long. I'll wait for you to stop laughing, and explain my reasoning.
I thought there would not be that much to write. In some idiot part of my brain, I thought It would all be about fifteen pages long. So, I sat down and started to write, and as I did, I got ideas for what i wanted to do, and where I wanted to go.
If any of you have ever tried to write a story, you have learned that if a story wants to be long, then there is very little you can do but go along for the ride. If a story wants to be a short story, don't try and stretch it into a novel. You won't succeed. Trust me on that. A story is what it wants to be. It's not up to the author, believe it or not.
If a story wants to be a screenplay, then you have to write it as a screen play. If it wants to be a novel, write it as a novel. If it wants to be longer, write it as a two book series.
Stories live, and it's up to the authors to tame them.
Where did the idea for this story come from? Well, this is one of the four stories that came about because of my time at Winn Dixie. One day, I was out getting carts, when I saw a lady getting out of her car. She looked almost exactly like one of my friends from California. For a minute, I thought it was her, but it wasn't. Then I got to thinking. If it had been her, how would she have recognized me? She would have known me by my shoes, of course.
I actually had at the time, been wearing shoes that I had had for about four years.
So then I got to thinking. What if that actually did happen? Wouldn't that be interesting?
it sounded like it might be interesting. A guy a and a girl know each other in high school, and they each like each other, but they don't let the other know. then they meet ten years or so later, and they fall in love and get together, and we're all happy.
That was my idea, and that's what I started out to write.
Then came the advent of Gutter. I'm not sure where he came from, or why I added him in. I guess cause every story needs a bad guy, but I don't know for sure. Gutter was a real jerk, and it was pretty fun for me to write as him. I've never experimented with his type of persona before, and I must say, it was kind of fun.
Not that I'd ever be like that in real life, you understand. Now, Gutter was a senior when Shawna and Micah were freshman, so I couldn't have him as the antagonist the whole time. That's stretching credibility. Enter Jonny Levere.
The charming Jerk.
Originally, there was no rape scene intended. It would just be that she would realize he was a jerk, and then break up with him. But that was boring. Besides, in my experience, if a girl is going out with a jerk, she's the only person in the whole entire world who doesn't realize it, so that seemed an unlikely course of action.
Jonny of course, being a SkyWriter, just wanted to get into her pants, and so the rape scene just sort of came about naturally.
I think that's about it. I still can't believe I'm done. I want to thank all the people who knew I was working ont his story, and were very patient. I want to thank Jeff Jarvis who constantly nagged me to get on with my stories, cause he wanted to read me more; Jill Beebe, for being my first test reader for this story, and letting me know that it was really good, and she wanted to know what happened next- This one's for you, Jill; I want to thank Shawna Pope for the use of her name. It was greatly appreciated. Thanks darlin'.
I think that's about it.
So, until next time, I hope you wanna be like-a Micah, and not like Gutter, or Jonny, or Jason, and if you see someone who you think you know, find out. It may lead to the love of your life.
-Mike Cuellar
-9:09 a.m. January 5, 2000.
191234 Characters
35401 Words
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93 pages
1 Section
(Including the word count and this notice)
