No Escape

Chapter 29

It'd be great to say that everything went back to the way it was, but that's just not the truth. The world wouldn't immediately move on after that crazy whirlwind, it would take time, but luckily, society was advanced enough to go through that process without trouble. The plan worked on a global scale. Women had their freedom back. Ellie Maisie was able to see her brother again, and her mother. She saw all her friends from before and maintained the friendships she had formed in captivity. The women who led the fight were honored and celebrated, and the soldiers on the other end of the fight were put through mental health rehabilitation to help them cope with trauma and erase all the information Keres wired into their brains. He went to jail for life, as

well as Sister Davide, the priest, and Ariana's son Adrien. Ariana reclaimed her position as the president of the United States, which she deserved and Mo and Nanette started dating in peace. Ellie Maisie still felt nervous, on edge, and unsafe, they all did, but she was getting the help she needed and felt a thousand times better than she did before. She was allowed to work again and remained one of the best defense attorneys in the country. Dominic was pardoned for his crimes since he helped stop Keres and was working on helping people who had suffered, which he originally intended to do with his life. He and Ellie Maisie hadn't really spoken since then, but he wanted to talk to her, so they arranged to meet up at the docks in

Hartford. She stood there waiting for him, her arms leaning on the wooden fence, looking out into the sea. She was wearing a wavy white, buttoned-up shirt with high-waisted jeans and large sunglasses, more comfortable than she'd felt in ages.
"Hi," he said. She turned to look at him with surprise. He looked different without uniform and slightly less threatening without his gun. He wore a plain blue shirt and black pants.
"Hi," she said quietly.
"I wanted to talk to you"
"Ok. Go ahead." She wasn't angry at him, lately, her anger had washed away, she was just very neutral about everything, wanting to be calmer and more relaxed about

everyday life. Dominic stared at the sea as well, the sun was shining brightly down on the water.
"How have you been?"
"Alright. Not great, but not terrible."
"Look I just wanted to say I'm really sorry"
"For what?"
"For lying, and doing everything I did"
"In your defense, you were being threatened"
"It still wasn't right, and I'm hoping that you can forgive me."
"You're forgiven, don't worry."
"How are your friends?"

"Great, I don't see them nearly enough, we live nowhere near each other, but I hear from them a lot."
"Okay," he said nervously, not knowing how to continue this conversation, "You know, I live around here, I guess I never told you that."
"No, you didn't"
"Yeah, sorry about that. Do you think maybe we could be friends?"
She turned to look at him. "We already are." She smiled and looked back at the ocean. The silence remained, but this time it wasn't uncomfortable, it wasn't tense. It was nice and pleasant.
"Well, as your friend," he said, "All that stuff you said there when you were yelling at Keres, I get

that you feel like you can't escape from all this messed up history, but you can. Maybe not today, or tomorrow, or anytime soon. But someday."
"Yeah," she said, staring at the sea, reflecting on her life, and the lives of other people who went through hell just for being themselves, "Someday."