Epilogue

(Twelve Years Later)

It was a normal September day at John Hughes High School in Heatherfield. Eighteen-year-old Andrew Lair, now a senior, was heading to the cafeteria for the lunch period with some of his friends. He sat at one of the outdoor tables, enjoying the nice weather. A few minutes later, a senior girl with brown hair came up and sat next to him.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" she asked him. "No, go ahead." Andrew replied happily.

"I'm Claire Jackson." the girl said, introducing herself. "I'm Andrew." Andrew replied.

"So...how is school here?" Claire asked. "Great, my teachers aren't really bad." Andrew replied.

"Yeah, I just got out of US History; I heard that there was a group of Navy pilots that kicked major ass in the North Korean war nineteen years ago; their group was called the Shadows, and they were the best." Claire replied. Andrew sat wide-eyed as he thought about what Claire had just said.

No way, she's learning about what my parents and their friends used to do! he thought. "Yeah, my parents were two of those pilots." Andrew replied.

"No way, really?" Claire asked in surprise. "Yeah, they flew the lead plane in the squadron." Andrew said.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Claire replied in astonishment.

Just then, they heard a loud roar and they looked up to see an F-35C Lightning II passing overhead. "Yeah, and if they stayed in longer, they would have likely been flying those." Andrew said.

"Yeah, and I also learned about that war in Iran. That was insane how it ended." Claire added.

"Yeah, my father flew in that one, too." Andrew replied. "Wow, your father must have been proud to be a two-time war hero." Claire replied.

"Yeah, he was also pretty tough and resourceful. For example, despite being shot down twice in his career, he always managed to survive until he was rescued." Andrew replied.

"Yeah, I heard that a terrorist group took someone hostage after the North Korea war." Claire added.

"Yeah, my father told me about that, and the hostage that they took, believe it or not, was my mother. He and his friends armed themselves and went in to save her." Andrew replied.

"Wow, she was lucky to have had your father around." Claire replied. "Yeah, and most of that stuff happened before I was born, even before they got married." Andrew replied.

"But you were around during the war in Iran." Claire said in response. "Yeah, I was six at the time that it happened." Andrew replied.

Just then, the bell rang for the students to begin heading to their next class. "Well, gotta go, see you later!" Claire said as they got up and waved goodbye.

Wow, my parents are now in the history books! It's almost hard to believe that thirty-four years ago, they were just typical high school seniors just like me! Andrew thought as he headed to his physical education class.

He was always proud of what his parents and their friends did as fighter pilots in North Korea, and his father doing the same thing in Iran twelve years ago, and hoped that, someday, he would be able to follow in their footsteps.

The End