Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Dénouement

It's funny how happy endings can leave you feeling empty.

I know I should have been overjoyed at the prospect of surviving the whole nasty mess, but it was hard when there was still so much I struggled with.

Like my new friends, for example. I was grateful none of what happened spilled out into the normal world so that we weren't forced to move again. I finally had some friends and I was finding I enjoyed that very much. But, the fear lay around the next corner, at the next crisis. I knew we could be forced to run and I would lose them all. I really wanted to commit to them but I held myself back and I know they felt it.

Still, I was grateful to Alison for keeping it together and giving me a safe place to go and be ordinary. All of the bullying died off. I was starting to enjoy school for the first time in my life. Imagine that.