HOMEOSTASIS

Epilogue

"Understand that when you leave here,
You'll be clear among the better men,
Alone again."

⦻⦻⦻

The start was a disaster. They weren't used to not having a leader. After trying to convince themselves that they didn't need one, and they could work by themselves- they realized they were wrong. They needed someone to at least get them in order. They decided on Brian. Sure, he barely speaks anyways, but Tim is like his interpreter. It works.

For the first year or so, the letters were constant. It was a system. Kate would leave a letter under the front door of her house in Oakside, and a couple of days later, Tim would take it and leave one of his own. Three months later, she would come back and take that letter for herself, leaving one of hers.

Eventually, time went by, and the letters stopped coming. Tim still left his no matter what, but Kate's stopped arriving. He was conflicted between being worried or happy. If they stopped arriving, it could mean that something happened to her, but the Operator already guaranteed that he had nothing to do with it. If he did, something bad would most likely happen to him. So breaking a promise isn't exactly an option. Still, the Operator isn't the only danger in the world.

On the other hand, it could also mean that Kate got her life together, a stable job, friends, and the ghosts from her past finally stopped being a torment. She moved on. Which is amazing. He likes to believe in that option.

But there isn't a single trimester that passes and he's not leaving his letters in Oakside.

The night she left, he dreamed of Skully again. It still radiated Jay's energy, but it was stronger. It didn't feel so chaotic. Heavy, but not messy. He still whispered things he couldn't understand, but they didn't feel haunting, this time. They felt right. Proud. Like he had found some type of closure.

Then, he vanished.

Tim slept well that night.

Him and Brian had a long conversation about it, as if addressing a very obvious elephant in the room. They talked about Jay and Alex mostly, wondered about Jessica, reflected on Skully, well... they thought about all of them, as they shared a cigarette on the roof of the mansion. They chuckled at Jay's imprudence- "The guy was never scared, no matter where we went"; "I think he had a gun up his ass the whole time"; "It would explain a lot."- Then, they sighed at Alex's motives. They weren't that different from him in the end, were they? The realization that they are alive in their memories was sad, but comforting nevertheless. As long as they're alive, then so are they.

Now, five years after Kate left, Tim is back at Oakside once more, like he is everytime. When he parked beside the big 'LAND FOR SALE' sign, he was expecting to see the absurd amount of letters he left behind that never got to their recipient.

Instead, they were all gone.

Could the wind have blown them away? He heard about a storm that took place two months ago in Iowa. But no. There was a single envelope under the door, and it wasn't his.

He took it carefully, and read the tiny letters in the corner. It was from Kate. He couldn't help the smile that instantly formed. He hasn't heard of her in so long...

He tucked the envelope in his pocket and walked back up the hill. No way he's reading that without the others.

⦻⦻⦻

"Wake up for life, people. We got a letter from Kate."

Helen groaned from the couch. "Kate? Who's that-? OW!"

Jane's heel knocked against his skull and he stood up immediately. "She finally wrote back?"

"Katie!" Sally jumped up and down, pulling softly on Tim's shirt. He patted her head softly, handing her the envelope, but chuckled once her arms flopped down at the unusual weight.