Under the Moon

Epilogue Part Two

EPILOGUE PART TWO 

"Waaaaahhh!" I heard the first cries of my newborn child. I looked at her face. Her eyes were as blue as Shayne's and she had raven black hair. She looked exactly like Shayne. I was going to name her Shay for Shayne; in honor of Shayne who died seven years ago. Yes, this is Copper's daughter. That is why I'm so surprised by her resemblance to Shayne. When I was seventeen, that same night that Silica died, Snow saw Shayne and I, behind his rosebushes. He wasn't supposed to see us; nobody was. I remember his gray eyes, his penetrating glare as he stated at us. I pulled myself away from Shayne but I knew that Snow had seen us. The next day, I got a message that Shayne had died in a lab accident. I was so depressed and I refused to talk to anyone for months. This was, of course, filmed and aired on Search for Athena. At first, people thought it was sad and sweet that I was weeping over my childhood friend, but then they wondered if there was another story behind it. After all, wasn't he the same person who I came to my surprise party with so many years ago? After a year and a half, Copper began to approach me. He was surprisingly kind, and didn't act bitter about my sorrow over Shayne. I gradually told him everything. He listened but I knew that that was because he knew that I would have to end up with him now that Shayne was dead. The past no longer mattered to him. So Copper listened to me. He was the only support I had for those harsh moments. And gradually, I felt the loathing I had developed for him after Shayne's death go away. I realized that he was really nice. But if I had a choice, I would still choose Shayne. I had known him forever. We were meant to be; that is, if he hadn't died. Slowly, I faced the rest of the world again. Copper was my only friend. I could tell that he still liked me. And when he asked me to marry him on live television, two years ago, I said yes. I had no other option. Shayne was no longer there for me. Copper has been good to me. He didn't mind when I accidentally called him Shayne. He was careful about what he said since he knew that Shayne's death had drastically affected my behavior. He didn't care. All he cared about was that he finally married me. My marriage was a huge, televised event, as the birth of Shay is.  

I looked at Copper who was cooing over baby Shay. "Can we call her Shay?" I whispered. He looked at me and a dark look passed over his face when he connected the name with Shayne. But he masked it with a wide smile. "Of course!" he said. I looked at Snow. He looked ecstatic to have a granddaughter.  

Copper and Snow had left and I was all alone in my hospital room with my baby. She was crying, crying nonstop. I didn't know what to do. I tried everything I could think of. Frustrated, I gently picked her up and started walking out the room. To my surprise, she became silent. I walked down the hall and she was content. Then I turned right. "Wooahhhhh!" she cried again. I turned left and she stopped. What was she doing? It seemed like she was leading me somewhere. Careful that she didn't cry, I started walking. Whenever she cried, I would change paths. I started walking, barefoot, in my hospital robe. We went lower and lower beneath the grounds. This was where the worst criminals were held. The halls were bare except for an occasional light. Why did Shay want to be here? We were at the lowest story. There was nothing below this. In front of us was a set of heavily protected doors. But I could open any door since I married Copper. Being a part of the Snow family, a simple command from my voice could open anything. Shay was crying again. I walked slowly past each door. Then at door 33333, she stopped. What was in there? I decided to go in to see what Shay was leading me to. "Open please," I said.  

"Zoe Zinc Zirconium Snow, you may enter," said a mechanical voice. The door swung open and I went inside. Then, I had a flashback. I was standing with Shayne the night of his death. He handed me a little pill. "What is this?" I asked. 

"It's something I invented. If we ever have a child, she'd never get lost. If she's separated from us she'll cry and cry. It's a tracking system. Through crying, she'll find her way to us. This pill will work if she or he is born next year or twenty years from now. It won't matter," he said. I remember nodding, swallowing it, and hugging Shayne. Of course, back then, we expected that we would be the parents of the same child. I had hoped to marry Shayne and start a future together. That didn't quite work out. But Shayne's pills did. Because what I saw in front of me made me nearly faint. Despite the much older, more manly features, I recognized the person. Right in front of me, chained to the wall was the person who I wanted to be with most in the world. He was alive and breathing; chained, but alive. And I forgot about everything. I ignored my marriage to Copper, the fact that I was holding his child. I ran toward the person I hadn't seen for seven years, the one who haunted my dreams for seven years. I looked at his astonished face. The face I had longed to see for so long. "Shayne!!!" I shouted I sprinted toward him.

-----And the end of the whole book!