The Wrong Number

Epilogue

Please play the song above if you want the complete experience for this chapter. This chapter is set in the year of 2046.

 Two years. Two years had passed since she was ripped from him and their daughter. He was wandering through the house which was once filled with her laughter and their daughter's giggles. Walking upstairs to the music room, he found her old record. The same player they danced to when no one was around. The room was filled with many records, most of them belonging to their 17 year old daughter, Joanne. 

He sat on the chair beside the piano and dropped the needle on the vinyl. As it played, he was walking through the sweet and brutal lane called "memories" The song that was playing was exactly made for this moment.

*play the song above*

🎶Here I'm waking up/ Still can't sleep on your side🎶

Everyday he waits to be waken up with those soft lips on his but doesn't feel them, not even their ghosts. He tries to not reach for her but always finds himself doing that just to be faced with disappointment and regret with a voice behind his head reminding him how sorry for a husband he had been to her.

🎶There's your coffee cup/ the lipstick stain fades with time🎶

Walking around the room, he crouches down to pick up a box labelled "Padil". Inside it, he finds many polaroids, t-shirts and different stuff which each held a special meaning. But one thing in that box put a small smile on his face. A lipstick stained coffee cup.

"No no no I am not putting that shade. Its too.....red" a 28 year old Amelia spoke.
"But it highlights your features. Especially those lips. Pleeeeeeeeeease. Its just for one premiere" Paddy whined. Amelia rolled her eyes but put it on.
"Just wait a sec I'll be back" And with that, Paddy rushed into the kitchen, returning with her coffee mug. "Let's see if this lipstick leaves a print on this mug. If it leaves one, then you can keep it in that box" Paddy said. Amelia shook her head with a grin. This boy (or man) did know her pretty well.
"Its officially stained!!!" Paddy said in a deep, hype man-ish voice, grabbing the and putting it in the box while Amelia chuckled and continued with her make up.

🎶If I dream long enough / You'd tell me that I'll be just fine🎶

One lazy Sunday, he felt a pair of soft lip on his. He jolted awake, only to find his dead wife smiling above him. "Morning Pads" she said in her usual voice. Paddy was still shocked. Maybe he was hallucinating, or being paranoid. Amelia chuckled. "Love you look like you've seen a ghost" she said. "B-But aren't you gone?" he asked her. She shook her head. "yes baby, I'm gone. But a certain somebody feels like its their fault I'm gone" she spoke. He certainly knew who she was referring to. Amelia placed her hands on both his cheeks and continued, "Pads I know you blame yourself for everything. Don't do it. It's not your fault and you know that" Paddy removed her hands and held it in his. "I don't think I can live without you Mills" She smiled at him. "Love you'll be just fine. Just hold on. Even if not for yourself, be there for Jo" she said before disappearing.

Paddy's eyes opened, only to find that all of this was just a dream. So from that day onwards, he started living for not only himself, but for his daughter too

🎶So I drown it out like I always do/ Dancing through our house/ With the ghost of you🎶

There was one song both of them loved. One song which always made the them both drop whatever they are doing and dance along. This tradition started from when the couple was 19 to when their daughter was 15. Even if Jo occasionally bombs the dance with the fake gagging noises, they used to laugh it off and continue swaying to the music, creating their own little world.

Now every small thing including his daughter reminds him of her. So whenever the song played anywhere, even while travelling, he stands up, hold his arms out, and starts swaying, pretending she is in between them. 

🎶Cleaning up today/ Found that old Zeppelin shirt🎶

He kept going through the box, stopping at an oversized t-shirt that once belonged to her father. An old black Led Zeppelin shirt. This shirt first made him smile at first, but then he was filled with anger. Anger towards himself. This was the shirt she wore when everything started going downhill. This was the shirt he last saw her in before she was gone.

🎶You wore when you ran away/ And no one could feel your hurt🎶

"You were fucking Stephanie behind my back?" Amelia yelled holding up Paddy's phone.
"It was for one night because I was drunk!!" he yelled back. Amelia came closer and stuffed is phone in his chest. "Then how do you explain this, huh?" she asked him, scrolling up to the previous text between him and his ex girlfriend. Paddy look at the ground in silence. 

"Was I never enough for you?" she asked, her voice cracking. He didn't answer. This silence broke her completely. She spent more than half of her life with him, out of which two months was a complete lie. 

"I can't do this. First my job, then Grace is in the hospital, and now this? I can't do it anymore." she said with tears heavily flowing down her cheeks. 

"Mom, Dad, what's happening?" Jo, who was fifteen at that time, asked her mother. She wiped her tears and then turned to her daughter. Acting like nothing happened, she spoke "Nothing's wrong dovey, I'm just going to go for a drive." She grabbed her keys and the coat, giving Paddy one last look before closing the door behind her. 

It was raining in London because of which the roads were slippery. Amelia was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice an injured dog limping in front of her. But when she saw it, she pressed the brakes a little too soon because of which her car hit a nearby tree. The front glass broke and many of the pieces shot to her face and a big one to her throat, slitting it. And the last time they saw her was in the coffin.

"Dad you ready to go?" Jo opened the door a little, poking her head inside. "Yeah yeah. Just gimme a minute" he said as he wiped his tears with the sleeve of his coat. 

Amelia Rose Holland
24/12/2004- 19/05/2044 
"we attack dumbasses"

Paddy smiled at those words which reminded him of the time all of them attacked Tom. Amelia always said that these were the only words she wanted marked in her grave. Walking towards it, he saw Grace and Haz with their children, looking at the  grave in silence. When the duo stepped closer, Grace gave Paddy a small smile, before signaling rest of the Osterfields to go. 

When everyone went, Grace started speaking. "I still can't believe she's gone" she said to Paddy giving a pat on his back, before joining the rest of her family. 

"Hey Mills" he spoke to the grave. "It's been two years. I'm sorry. I know that you want me to move on, but I can't. I promised to spend my life with you and not hurt you but that did not happen. You always say it's fine whenever I hurt you. But this time, it's not fine." He touched his forehead with the gravestone, silently sobbing for his loss. 

A/N- We have reached the end of the book. I had so much fun writing it. First of all, I would like to thank each and everyone (including you reading this right now) for giving me and this book a chance. Second, I'm sorry for ending this book like this, but I'm not very good at giving happy endings. Third of all, if you guys want a happy alternative ending, you can request it down below, no matter how late it is :) If you guys want to read more books by my, hop on to my account and start reading!