Psychotic Break-out

Epilogue

The warm summer air failed to melt the freezing chill that Jesse Travis felt in his bones. Just recently having left hospital after a near-fatal gunshot wound and a broken leg, he should have been happy. He had recovered with no lasting scars or wounds, none that were physical anyway. He'd survived when neither he nor his friends had thought he would, this should have been a cause for celebration.

He sat on a plastic chair - crutches tucked under his right arm – next to his best friend Steve Sloan. Mark was also there, Amanda too. The sun cast an ethereal glow upon the luscious grass and the statuesque trees. It was a beautiful day in terms of weather, and Jesse was sure that many people all over Los Angeles were enjoying it. Perhaps going for a surf, a jog, skating, walking, maybe even playing a little baseball or football. But Jesse Travis was hating every minute of this day, and he knew that Steve was too.

He glanced down at his black suit, lamenting at the amount of times he had to wear it. The priest standing by the coffin was wearing his typically ceremonial ecclesiastical garb. In his right hand he held a Bible, and his left was making fluid sweeping gestures as he read allowed a passage from the Holy book. Jesse heard none of it. He was too busy with the concern he was feeling for his friend and too occupied by the images of Yoshe's face that kept etching themselves in front of his eyes.

He was also very much occupied with battling the unmarked scars of his ordeal. The mental injury that had been wrought, the emotional wounds that had been inflicted. Not deadly, but very damaging nonetheless. So Chloe Marsden was dead. He had nothing to fear anymore, but it didn't change the havoc she had created, it didn't bring back to life the people she had murdered, didn't mend the lives she had ruined.

The priest's sermon was drawing to a close, and he invited the melancholy crowd to be upright. Steve stood quickly and then bent down to help his injured friend up from his seat. Once standing, they bowed their heads as a prayer was uttered and then they watched mournfully as the mahogany coffin was lowered.

Steve stepped forward, head bent low, and picked up a small handful of earth. He stood at the rim of the hole and slowly, poignantly let the earth trickle through his loosely clenched fingers. The crowd – made up of a mixture of Japanese and American – held their breath, seemingly entranced by the falling soil until the last grain fell and Steve stepped backwards, hand still outstretched as if he too was in a trance. The he let it fall limply at his side. He stared sombrely down at the wooden casket which held the love of his life. Then he pulled off his ring – his engagement ring – and stared intensely at it, saying a farewell before letting it drop down onto the little pile of earth. The crowd mournfully watched this moving scene, but none were more aggrieved than Jesse Travis.

Steve now turned round and went straight into his father's outstretched arms. A single tear forged a path down his bronzed cheek as he buried his head into Mark Sloan's shoulder. Jesse knew that he had been absolved of all guilt, but seeing his friend like this he felt a renewal of all the shame that he had felt before. Chloe had come after him, and had not cared who she hurt on her way. Jesse didn't think that that sense of sole responsibility would ever truly disappear, but he hoped it would lessen.

Steve, now having broken away from his father was making his way slowly towards Jesse. Upon reaching him he chanced a brave smile, Jesse returned the gesture and received a friendly pat on the shoulder as Steve moved past him towards his car. As Jesse watched him go he sensed a different presence at his shoulder.

"He will get over this Jesse" Mark said before Jesse even had time to see who it was. "It'll just take time"

"I know" He replied, not sure whether he really believed it.

"What about you?" This time it was Amanda, having appeared at his other shoulder.

"Oh, you know me! I'm fine" He tried to laugh it off.

"Jesse!" Amanda scolded gently, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to bottle things up"

"Okay maybe I'm not so fine, but Steve needs me to be strong"

Mark gazed down at Jesse with deep admiration. Here was a man, who looked small and weak, but held great inner strength. After everything he had been through, the terrible ordeal he'd suffered, he was still able to brush his own hurts aside to aid his friend when he was needed. It never ceased to amaze him what the young doctor was capable of, and that included surviving the deadly injuries that Chloe had given him. Indeed, Mark looked upon this man as a second son, and just because Steve was suffering he could not ignore Jesse's suffering.

" Jesse, Steve isn't the only one who needs support. We're here for you if you need us" Mark asserted.

Jesse looked pensive for a moment before forcing a smile at his mentor. "Thanks Mark" He replied softly, and allowed his friends to help him back to their car. Jesse knew that they really were trying to help, but the harrowing experience that he had been through made him feel isolated, like there was a huge gulf between him and his friends. But it was over. It was time to draw a line underneath it and move on. And his friends were just the people to help him do it.

The End.

Thanks for reading!!