I'll Be Back

A Soft Epilogue

5 years later...

Lisa stands in front of a metal gate. The sign on top is worn now, the seasons having changed and rusted the iron. She stares at the gate for a long moment, remembering the first time she had been in the back of a military jeep with an aching head. When she saw the name at the top and the way her stomach had twisted in on itself. As she reads the name now, that feeling is gone. She knows now when she enters the gates it will not lock in on her. She won't be fearing for her life every second of her existence. She feels a tug on her pants and looks down. She's met with a beautiful eyes. The perfect mixture of her's and Jennie's eyes and a mop of brown hair. The two and a half year old grins up at her with missing teeth. Lisa looks down and smiles at him as he outstretches his arms for her.

"Mama, can I get up?" The little boy asks innocently.

Lisa bends down carefully and hoists her son up. He wraps his tiny arms around her neck and rests his head on her shoulder. The two stare at the gate for a few moments before she feels someone else sidle up beside her. She turns her head and is met with familiar eyes. Eyes she spent years behind those gates with.

"You ready to go in?" Cooper asks.

Lisa swallows and then nods. She looks behind her and sees Jennie with Lia and Aden, both now grown, waiting patiently to enter the gates with the many other former POW's and their families. Lisa gestures with her head for them to follow and Cooper, Lisa, and her latest edition to their family walk through. She feels her baby son gripping her shirt and sigh, the plane ride having exhausted the young boy already. She places a kiss in his brown hair and he lifts his head up to place a sloppy kiss on Lisa's cheek before laying his head back down.

"He's a cutie." Cooper comments. Lisa looks over and nods.

"It feels weird having children being here." Lisa states.

Cooper nods but doesn't talk any further. They make it to the square where the monument has been erected. All the names of the people who died or were in the camp carved perfectly in stone. It's a lot more pristine than the carvings in the tiny shed where Lisa is pretty sure her name is still carved. The camp had been named a historical landmark a couple years before, Weather paying money to have it up-kept and putting a memorial for the American soldiers who were brutally killed and starved in the camp. Over time, the rumors the soldiers had heard during the war about the camp being the most brutal were proved right. Thousands upon thousands had been murdered at this camp, Lisa can hardly comprehend how she managed to escape the surefire death sentence when the final statistics came out.

Jennie comes up to Lisa as Lisa stares at the stone, looking for different names.

"Do you want me to take Ethan?" She asks, gesturing to a sleepy baby gripping tightly to Lisa's shirt. Lisa shakes her head.

"He's fine. I think the trip is exhausting him." Lisa comments.

Jennie nods and turns to look at the monument, it's stone with a woman soldier and a male soldier on it. The woman soldier is helping pull the male soldier up by their hands, below it is the slab of stone where countless names are. Aden and Lia move closer to look for Lisa's name. Over time, Lia has been taught what exactly happened to Lisa for the first years of her life. Before she hadn't known, just that one day Jennie is telling her that Lisa was no longer with them and then she was. Now she understands what had happened. Lisa walks closer to her other kids, Aden now in college and a lot older. Lisa puts her hand on Lia's head and massages her hair for a moment until she turns around and smiles.

"We're looking for your name." Lia tells her. Lisa smiles gently and nods.

"It's right here. Private Lalisa Manoban." Aden says after a moment and points to the small carving where Lisa's name sits.