something from the archives: whispers in the dark - part 4

all good things come to an end.

here's the epilogue where not everyone gets a happy ending.

Epilogue

*Liz*

I don’t think Max has ever forgiven me.

Neither has Maria.

And it may be hateful of me to say, but quite frankly I could care less.

At first we tried to make amends. We tried to ease the blow. After all it was our first loves and our best friends we were hurting.

I had to follow my heart. And it led me to Michael.

We woke up that morning wrapped in each other’s arms, and since then we’ve never been apart. My parent’s adore Michael, they’ve never tried to separate us. Not even when we decided to drive cross-country after graduation.

I got into Harvard. Michael got into Emerson. We lived in a small one bedroom by the Charles River. We had no money, no time, but we still managed to enjoy our lives together.

We both graduated with honors. I earned my degree in astrophysics, while Michael earned his in Media Arts.

My parents, Isabel, and Kyle flew out for our wedding.

It was a small ceremony held in the Public Gardens. Everything was in bloom. Everyone was so happy. It was beautiful. It was two months ago.

Michael is starting to show his works in the local galleries, and he works part-time as a bartender at the Good Life. I work as a temp, while studying for my master’s degree at MIT.

We may not have much. But we have love.

And that is everything.

*Maria*

I thought living with the guilt would be easy.

But it wasn’t.

I lost everything in that one night I shared with Max.

I became the subject of an after school special.

Doped up on E my decisions were hardly well made. Sex without protection was probably the stupidest thing I could have done.

I got pregnant.

But I couldn’t have that baby.

I couldn’t talk to anyone about it.

Not Liz, who’d betrayed me, who I’d betrayed. Not Michael, who’d betrayed me, who I’d betrayed. Not Max, who would never understand. Not Isabel, who never really cared. Not Kyle, who’d never understand.

So I had an abortion. Got rid of my half-alien baby.

I still think about the child I killed.

I haven’t talked to Liz for years. Or any of them for that matter.

Maybe that is the secret of my success. Maybe my anger, my hurt, and my betrayal, made me the star I am today. Or maybe the fact that no one could touch my heart made it easier to get the record deal I wanted.

Regardless, I’m a multi-platinum, Grammy, MTV moonman, AMA, Oscar-winning songstress. I have more things that I ever dreamed.

Maybe one day I’ll find love.

*Kyle*

It was crazy that night.

The night I began my torrid love affair with a married woman. I tease Isabel about that all the time.

For a long time we hid what had happened between us.

Jesse walked in the next morning and found us lying together on the couch. Luckily we had gotten dressed, so we both pretended utter innocence.

Two days later Isabel came to visit me at work. I was asking her if she thought I should call the girl I’d met at the frat party. Next thing I know we are in the back seat of a De Soto someone had brought in for repairs.

Over the next two years we probably christened every public meeting place.

But the mystery and intrigue got boring after a while. I didn’t want to have to hide what I felt for Isabel. But I was afraid of losing her.

So I packed my things and moved to New Orleans.

Three weeks later, Isabel showed up on my doorstep. We haven’t been apart since.

*Max*

I’d thought that because I’d already betrayed Liz once before, the guilt from doing it a second time would not consume me.

I never really had a chance to find out.

She dumped me for Michael the next day.

I was so mad at both of them I couldn’t see straight. I wanted to hurt them. I wanted them to hurt like I was hurting. I wanted them to understand that I had lost everything.

But the love that they felt was beyond noticing any petty feelings.

They left Roswell behind and didn’t look back once.

It took me a long time to move on. But I did.

I met this beautiful woman at Las Cruces. I walked into my biochemistry lab, and fell in love with my partner. I still am in love with her. Serena and I survived med school, our internship, residency, and now are both attending physicians at Mercy Hospital in Albuquerque.

I don’t speak with anyone but Isabel very often.

But I gather everyone else is fine.

We’ve all found our place I think.

*Michael*

I’m not sure I can explain my life. It’s like the pivotal moment was the night we searched for Enigma, and I got drunk.

Getting drunk, passing out at the Crashdown, sleeping in Liz’s bed, kissing Liz, seeing into her heart, seeing into her soul, were some of the singular events that changed my life.

I can’t explain how happy we are.

And it’s not that our lives are perfect. And it’s not that we never argue.

We’ve had some knock-down-drag-out-me-sleeping-on-the-couch fights. But then we make up. And everything in this world becomes a little brighter.

Sometimes I think we are too lucky and I find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But I’ve come to realize there is no other shoe.

Liz is it. She is love. She is my meaning.

Together we’ve accomplished so much.

*Isabel*

I was an awful human being for a while.

Maybe it was Vilandra. Maybe I needed to betray my husband.

But whatever it was, I did it for love.

I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to explain why I stayed with Jesse, knowing I loved Kyle. Maybe it was that I knew Kyle wasn’t ready.

But as soon as he was, he reacted. He left me. But I followed him.

And we’ve been together ever since.

There’s not much more to tell. Kyle works at the NOPD. I run a clothing boutique in the French Quarter.

But those are the particulars. What’s important is the magic.

Together we’ve made magic.

The End