Epilogue

.

.

.

The sound of pouring water dominated the sounds of her sobbing as they strived to wash away the woe inside her perishing cognisance. She held herself and moped under the cold visage of the transparent liquid, hoping it would wake her senses and make the pain stop. The girl wondered of what she had become, the crimes she had committed just to deceive everyone—even herself. The illusory of histories that she had engraved in the hearts of many to prove something that wasn't real, she had executed them to prove that he never ceased to exist. Nevertheless, the truth was too bare to be concealed. He was gone, he wasn't coming back. Her subconscious couldn't accept that fact; convincing her it wasn't real by replacing the reality with a destructive lie. The girl held herself tighter and her sobs began to deafen her own ears, flooding the room with echoes of anguish and regret.

She could fool herself once again and consider everything as a bad dream... but she thought that she was done.

She was done fooling herself.

Flaky then felt a warm flush had started to dominate her cold cheeks. "I'm trying to remember how you looked like before you left,"

The dim light cast the shadow of one as she walked alone in that deserted street, holding onto nothing but her own hands.

She let out a hearty laugh and said, "You never change,"

Never change.

Never change.

Never...

Becoming aware of the truth only made her heart clench in pain as the memories of her solitude made her realise the irony of her acts. The mocking sounds of voices that laughed at her dying sanity proved her guilty. She wanted to scream in order to deafen herself from hearing those maddening noises. They only said what she already knew. Why do they have to say it over and over again?

The girl locked the door behind her and laid on the velveteen sheets, fondling the smooth skin of her own body as she moaned under the delicate touch.

She went out of the bathroom without even bothering to cover herself with any towel as she left puddles of water, tracing the footsteps that she made. Flaky felt something warm in her cheeks before she could notice that she was crying again. The sight of his bed and the memories it brought her only gave her solitude for they won't happen ever again. She was alone.

Tracing her fingers as they collided with the warm fabric, Flaky imagined it was his touch. Then she clenched on it and lifted it for her to smell the fragrance it left behind. The scent was as faint as his smile, yet it proved that he was there. He was once alive—and he was once with her.

The door had been opened, letting an amount of daylight flood the somewhat dark room. Soon, there emerged a girl with red hair who looked somewhat dismayed and fatigued despite the fact that it was still early. Her eyes caught his favourite chair and coffee mug, sitting silently in the other end of the room. She smiled in thought as she went closer to lean her head on the chair, feeling the calming breeze that managed to make their way through the open window brush against her red hair.

Collecting her water drenched hair with her hand while fixing her recently worn clothes; her bare feet ventured the living room and saw the same chair illuminated by the moonlight as the unwashed coffee mug lay resting on the side table beside it. The image of Flippy sipping hot coffee from the mug prevented her from going any further, wishing the hallucination was actually real. Almost hesitantly, she went to pick up the mug and stroked the ceramic with her fingers. It was cold, she thought. There were dried traces of brown liquid as the awakening aroma still remained. She smiled at the thought of how she tasted the coffee in his lips whenever she gives him a peck before leaving for work during the morning.

She sat on the veranda with a stick of cigarette between her fingers, calming her senses after waking up from another bad dream. As she inhaled the bitter sweet poison into her lungs, she felt like she was inhaling his breath instead—reuniting with her own.

Flaky went to the kitchen and took the lighter from one of the counter's drawers. She held it tightly and stared at it, seeing her reflection in the metal plate.

"We're here... the only thing that should matter is us," the words her subconscious evoked hypnotised her fragile state of mind.

Founding a few gasoline cans in his garage, she took one of them and unsealed it.

"It's hard to keep a promise, isn't it?" the voice sounded like it was from inside her head.

After spilling the flammable substance around the house, she went outside and stood not far from the doorstep as she stared at the structure for the last time. She took the letter from her pocket with the lighter in her other hand, and she couldn't deny that what she was about to do would be the hardest thing she had ever done. But that's when people grow; when they have learned the art of letting go.

With a single flicker, it ignited the fire and was now burning the letter. The words were turning into ashes. Gone.

Flippy sneaked through the crumbling structures, marching forward as he was trying to flank their route. He crouched and took a small peak through the broken window, and saw the enemy regrouping as they were struggling to push heavy artillery with their bare hands. He narrowed his eyes and took cover before anyone could see him. He let them move forward, granting access to another structure where he could hide before finally charging towards the enemy.

She didn't want to cry anymore as she felt that there was nothing more she could secrete. As her crimson eyes mirrored the dancing inferno before her, she took her eyes off the letter and threw it to the gasoline drenched pavement.

He exhaled an amount of air and savoured the way it smelled. With gritted teeth and solid might, he aimed his rifle with every enemy he saw and shot them as fast as he could whilst running towards their line. A few of them were able to embed their bullets into his body yet he forced himself to ignore the pain. As he was running out of time and bullets, his hand reached for the string that was tied around all of the grenade pins. Flippy watched the world in slow motion, enjoying the chaos he had caused all around him. Their expression. Their panic. Their deaths.

With one smirk, he pulled the string as the grenades began to get cooked.

With all her might, Flaky threw the letter in front of his door, creating a fast spreading blaze with the help of the gasoline.

After a few seconds, a large explosion echoed throughout the horizon.

The fire gave warmth as it dissolved the northern wind with its power, illuminating the darkness of the night. Snowflakes had begun to fall from the clouds and had threatened to extinguish the flames, but the latter proved itself stronger as it melted the snowflakes instead. The direction of which her hair was blown resembled the withering trees as they were blown away by the cold zephyr. She felt a whirling cyclone of emotions drenching her fragile heart and the flames danced in rejoice of her courageous sacrifice. Flaky smiled after all the sorrows, feeling that she had finally done something right.

And then, she walked away.

-The End-

Author's Note: I lied when I said I'm going to edit the last four chapters... 'cause I haven't, YET. I will... someday. And oh yeah, I don't know why but Fanfiction . net is getting evil on me. Won't let me log in for the past 48 hours and I only got the chance today.

Also, I said I'm going to explain a few things about the story but I decided to leave those things to your own perception. Seriously, this is not my laziness talking, I'm serious. Seriously, I'm serious. Hahaha. Yeah, I was supposed to explain why Flaky killed everyone and why she burned the letter and his house yada yada. But I know that you guys are smart and you're capable of interpreting those on your own. This is why we all go to school.

Reply(/ies) to Review(s):

Pressure .N. Prestige, Regarding your confusion towards the new characters. I don't give them names and sometimes distinguish them just by adjectives. It's because they're not important and do not play a significant role in the story.

Cherry-chu, I was actually waiting for someone to beat me into it but I guess that would discourage me to keep writing and actually finishing the whole story. Nonetheless, your speculations are interesting. Other than that, thanks for reading.