Chosen

Epilogue [Hunter's POV]

Epilogue

*Hunter’s POV*

Life is not measured by the breaths that we take;

But by the moment which take our breath away…..

……

Did I want brown or white bread?  I didn’t even know anymore.  The one girl I actually cared about was now gone.  Steve said he had got there too late, shooting my mother in the head before going to inspect Beck’s limb body.

I never even had the chance to get to know her better….

It crumbled my heart the day Steve returned empty handed; we were all released from prison as the company went belly up.  Now trading insolvent, the government soon saw what the company really was about behind its advertising front.

I did love Beck; I really did; even though I never showed it.  I was always chasing my tail when it came to her, maybe if I’d done things differently I never would have met her and felt this strong pain I do right now.

No charges were pressed on any of the employees though after the government had carefully and thoroughly gone through my mother’s file only to deem her on the brink of insanity and therefore unable to be charged even though she was now dead.

The few girls held against their will on the underground levels were sent to rehabilitation clinics were they were to be brought back into the community as normal teenagers to live out the remainder of their life.

In the first couple of weeks, many people who had worked for my mother put a bullet to their head; no longer feeling the need to bottle up their feelings, I didn’t realise how many people were actually guilty about what had happened.

As investigations were still underway Steve had told me, we weren’t allowed to hold a funeral for Beck since the government had decided it was better to just erase any evidence of the company’s existence since creation.

Still staring at the bread, the lady behind me grunted in annoyance that I was taking so long to make my selection.  It was bread after all; who really gave damn, she could wait another twenty minutes.

Steve and I now ran our own security company, which employs some of the better guards that worked for my mother.  Many of the men followed by Steve’s example so he saw it fit that he offer them a job; after all who would hire you after you worked for murderer?

We now looked after many businesses, installing security measures, whilst also acting as body guards whenever necessary for celebrities and such. 

It would never change how I feel though, I’m a sucker under the thumb, fallen for a girl who barely knew I existed or maybe she did?

‘Sir, if you don’t mind I just need to get a loaf of bread…………’

That damn woman, turning around my face filled with fury for her interruption, I soon backed off when I saw a short elderly lady frowning at me.

‘Ah…..sorry, I’ll just ah move over here’.

Taking a step to the side, I grabbed the nearest loaf I could find, now walking back down the aisle.

 Holding the loaf to my side, I quickly walked over to the self-serve checkout; feeling unable to meet the eyes of another employee here after knocking over their tower of baked beans earlier.

Scanning the item, then banging it against the sensor to show I’d put it in the bag.  I walked out fists clenched as I walked over to my old red mustang, climbing in the driver’s seat and throwing the bag into the passenger foot well.

Now feeling the need to buy some drugs, I headed over to the nearest chemist; keeping my head down as I stomped in, needing some desperate pain relief.

Stopping at the aisle with Panadol and its lookalikes, I slumped my head against the shelf, sighing at the lifeless packets staring before me.  Why couldn’t I have been born a Panadol tablet, it would have been such an easy life?

Still stuck in my thoughts, my phone vibrated against my jean pocket, making me cringe at the sound.  Quickly slapping it to my ear, I tried to talk in a normal voice, holding in another sigh ready to escape.  

‘Hey Hunter, I’m assuming this is a bad time as usual but you know me, I couldn’t give a damn’.

Of course it was Steve; really he had been there for me since Beck had been gone but now he was just making me sound like a love sick puppy.

‘What do you want Steve’?

Steve paused and I could hear him thinking about how to proceed.  ‘Well today’s your lucky day buddy, where are you’?

Sighing, Steve always made a point of it.  Ever since we’d started our business, we had our own trackers installed so we knew where each of us was at a given time.  Steve was now just playing games with me.

‘You know where I am Steve, please stop, I’m really not in the mood’.

Steve clicked his tongue, ‘well boy, if you stop staring into the shelf of anti-depressant tablets, you might see something you like there, anyways I’ve got to go, some lady lost her dog, I can’t believe I’m helping her but anyways, have a good one’!

Hearing someone approaching, I was just staring at various drugs barely even aware now why I was here, just what I needed someone else to hit on me…………

Focusing the on the woman as she approached, she stopped literally right beside me as I felt her eyes staring into the side of my skull.

‘Excuse me, can I help you sir’?

It couldn’t be, could it? Looking up her eyes met mine and the moment they did; I saw what I thought I would never see again.  Lost for words, I simply put my hand out for her to take as she stood there patiently, seeing how it would pan out.

‘…..Nice to see you again………Hunter’.