by Nicole Thorn
“Double standard.”
“Not fair.”
She rolled her eyes. “Can’t you just be happy with the knowledge that it really is our bed now?”
I thought for a second. “Maybe.”
She eyed me again and took my jacket in her hands before pulling me down on top of her.
I finally felt better, being there with her like this. I could see her, feel her, know that she belonged to me, and that I got to keep her.
We were okay now. Nothing to worry about except how to fill eternity. That wasn’t a real worry. More like an adventure that we’d share with each other.
Epilogue: The Weight of Living
Anastasia
Ezra and I each had one of my boxes in our hands as we popped down to Hell. We were in the middle of moving my things into our house in Scotland. I hadn’t been there yet, but Ezra spent the morning hyping it up.
“Ready, Pet?” He smiled at me as we stood at the bus stop that had once terrified me. It was empty now. Thankfully. I hated seeing all of the scared souls.
“As ready as I can be.”
We shifted through time and space or whatever, and we stood in the middle of a bright green field. The moor that he told me about. There was absolutely nothing, as far as the eye could see. Nothing but a house in the middle of all of the green.
It looked like a one story, but still huge. The house easily contained half a dozen rooms of a good size. It had been made of stone and the door was painted black. Our home stood out beautifully against the gray stones. The door had two tall windows on either side, but you couldn’t see the inside of the house from them. They looked tinted.
“Shall we go inside?” Ezra said in my ear.
I smiled and nodded. He put his box down and unlocked the door. Then he took my box, and set it down as well. I shot him a confused look before he picked me up without warning.
Ezra held me in his arms and said, “I have to carry my wife over the threshold. Of course.”
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t get him to stop calling me his wife, and I began liking it.
We went through the house, and it somehow looked prettier on the inside. There were books everywhere. Every wall had a bookshelf. The rest of the area looked unlived in. Not surprising. Ezra told me it would be this way, and that it wouldn’t stay that way long. All of my things would be moved in, and he wanted it to look like a real home.
I saw a staircase leading down about thirty feet away, so I guessed it had two levels.
The colors were all neutral and toned way down. There wasn’t life in it, but we could fix that. Make the house feel warm.
Ezra set me down and we carried the boxes into our bedroom. All of the furniture was black, as well as the bedding on the huge bed. The room had one window, and it spanned most of the side wall. The curtains had been closed, but I went to open them.
Light poured into the room, and I saw what the backyard looked like. A lot more green, but we also had a porch. The other door led out to it.
“I can’t believe you built this place.” I turned to look at Ezra. He leaned against the bookshelf across from where I stood.
“Took a long time, but I think it was worth it, now that I have some family.”
Me too.
I’d lost my parents, but I got something that made up for it. Ezra would be enough to keep the pain at bay. When I eventually lost Poppy and Oswald, I’d still have him. I’d get to keep him forever and ever, and I still couldn’t wrap my head around the idea.
“We have more things to move. We should go.” He pushed off of the wall.
“About that…” I twisted my fingers together and tried to figure out how to ask what I had to.
“What?” he said, cautiously.
“Once we get everything moved, can we stay in the loft for a little while? Just a week or so? I want to make sure Poppy and Oswald are okay before I take off for the other side of the world.”
Ezra relaxed. He must have thought it would be worse. “All right with me. The rent lasts another three weeks.”
We left to start moving the rest of the boxes, but we left our suitcases at the loft. Once it had all been moved, we started unpacking. Ezra had a half empty book shelf that I used for the few books I owned. I put up some pictures of my family and friends. I still had a lot of Elisa, but none that I put up.
Looking at them hurt. Not only did it remind me of what I did to her, but it reminded me that I’d be killing people again. Bad people, but still, people.
“What are you going to do with them?” Ezra asked while I looked at one.
I sighed. “I don’t know. Was she always the girl that killed me? The evil one? Or did she used to really love me? I guess I’ll never know.”
Ezra sat beside me on the bed. “I know it’s painful, Anna. Poppy and Benjamin will be there for you in a way I can’t, but for everything else, you can fall to me.”
“I’m glad,” I put my head on his shoulder. “Given everything that we’ve been through, and what we had to do to get here, I’m so happy I found you.”
He laughed lightly. “I think I found you, but I feel the same. Just had to get through those rocky days where I was supposed to kill you. Nothing that other couples don’t deal with on a daily basis.”
“Yeah. Totally normal.”
“We’ll be all right. I know we will. Even with all that comes with what you are now. Anything you have to do, you won’t be doing it alone. I’ll follow you anywhere.” He kissed the top of my head and put his arm around me.
“And I’ll follow you too.”
