The Wretched

Epilogue

It was a rainy Thursday in October. A ginger ran on the sidewalk through the heavy rain, his arms wrapped around his schoolbag, in an attempt of shielding it from the water that tumbled down from the sky. Finally, he got to his house and in one jump he was past the stairs and on the porch, ready to get in. He shook some of the water off his jacket and stomped his feet in order to get the water off his sneakers, then tried to get inside the house. Weirdly enough, the door was locked. This was suspicious. He thought his mother was home, but by the looks of things, she wasn’t. The house was in complete darkness. Sighing, he turned his pockets inside out in search of the house keys, which he soon found in his jacket’s pocket. Slouching in defeat, he dragged his soaked body to the kitchen, hoping that his mother left him something to eat before she left. He was wrong. The kitchen was spotless, no traces of food lying in plain sight. Grumbling to himself, the ginger left the kitchen and dragged himself upstairs to his room, tossing his drenched backpack into a corner and changing into dry clothes. But his stomach yearned for some food, so he ran downstairs again. But as he passed by the living room door, he though he heard some movement. Scared shitless, the kid slightly opened the door as his hand was searching for the light switch. But as the light shone through the room, three voices shouted at him.

“Happy birthday, Danny!” the chorus of voices echoed through the empty house, as the ginger sat there dumbfounded.

His right eye twitched and his knees trembled, his mouth wide open. “I thought you forgot” he mumbled.

Theodore laughed and walked over to him, patting his son on the back. “How could we forget? It’s not like you’re the only one who’s being celebrated today”

“And it’s totally not because you’re turning the venerable age of sixteen today, Danny” Octavia laughed from across the room, setting down on the coffee table a tray of steamy muffins.

The ginger stood there for some more time. “But dad, you were supposed to be stuck in traffic”

“I left work early today. Officer Duane was in rare form today, if you know what I mean. So, because he didn’t want me to be a snitch and tell the higher-ups, he let me come home before rush hour” Theo bragged.

Danny cracked a smile. He liked that his father became what the internet called a ‘troll’. Of course, he regretted it when he was the one trolled by his prankster father, but it was fun to hear about his parents’ superiors falling for such jokes.

“Happy birthday, big brother” a girl’s voice echoed above the older ones’ chuckles.

Danny looked down at his fifteen-year-old sister, who smiled at him brightly, addressing him like they do in animes.

“Thanks, Alice” the ginger replied, hugging the teenage girl, but quickly pulling away, keeping her at arm’s length. “Alice! Are you wearing my Avenged Sevenfold shirt again?” he whined, sensing his scent and noticing the band shirt the girl was wearing.

The brunette rolled her eyes. “Put a sock in it, ginger” she laughed. “I’ll let you wear my Slipknot shirt whenever”

“Kids, behave!” Theo pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he was always doing when his children were bickering. “Do you really have to fight over that shirt every time? I thought you agreed you’d share it”

Except for the short fights between the ginger and his brunette sister, the Drews were a united and happy family. Octavia and Theodore never grew out of their musical preferences; therefore, their children inherited the same tastes. They sometimes sat down and just listened to music, enjoying the ambiance and each other’s presence. They saw eye-to-eye almost everything. The age gap between the parents and the children meant nothing, as they all were young at heart. They found joy in the same things.

“Guess what we’ve got you, ginger” Alice beamed, as her hungry brother attacked the muffins Octavia laid on the table.

“What?” Danny raised his head, spitting muffin crumpets on the carped as his mouth was full.

Theo went behind the couch and lifted a big rectangular box nicely wrapped, handing it to the red-headed boy. Danny immediately ripped off the wrapping, revealing a plain brown box. Taking the lid off, his moth fell agape as he took the content out.

“Oh, my God” he gasped and jumped to hug his family.

In the box there was this guitar that Danny wanted for a long time, but never could afford to buy out of his own money. It was a beautiful black Gibson electric guitar with two hummbucker coils and rosewood fingerboard, perfect for the music he wanted to play on it.

“Thank you so much, guys” he exclaimed and ran up to his room to fetch his amplifier and power cords.

Returning to the living room, he found his father with the guitar strapped on his shoulder, walking around the room tuning it, and his mother and sister fumbling with a set of brand new guitar picks. Danny set down the sound equipment and plugged it in then Theo handed him the tuned guitar.

The ginger’s fingers ran over the fingerboard with ease, playing what sounded like an original composition of his.

“Thank you, guys! I’ll play this Friday night” he squeaked excitedly.

Octavia raised an eyebrow. “What’s happening Friday, Daniel?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

“Didn’t I tell you?” the ginger tilted his head, watching his family shake their heads. “We have a gig. We’re opening for Rammstein at Madison Square Garden” he grinned like a madman.

Danny had a small band that until then only had a few local shows. They never toured or anything. Wanting some more attention, the band members decided to apply for opening for Rammstein, a German industrial metal band that was on tour and had a show in New York. That day they got a reply from Rammstein’s tour manager, telling them that they got the job.

Theo, Octavia and Alice blinked a few times before they managed to process the information.

“Danny, that’s awesome” the mother squeaked.

The ginger grinned proudly. “And to top that, we have an hour long set, can you believe that?”

Theo and Octavia watched proudly as their two kids sat together and made plans for the upcoming concert. Though they were sad that they had an important meeting to attend on the night of the concert, they were still psyched for Danny. He achieved at the age of 16 what Theo wanted to achieve when he was 16. He was initially a sacrifice for the salvation of the world, but when that weight was lifted, he followed his passion like no other. The ginger absorbed everything he could from his father, bugging and pestering Theo to teach him ever since he was old enough to go to school. He was six when he got his first guitar, a little three-quarter classical.

As for Alice, she never showed an interest for instrumentation. She was the one who’d pursue her mother to take her to work, and teach her some techniques, and then at home she’d pester Octavia to teach her medicine.

The two older ones were proud of their children and proud of themselves for raising such wonderful kids and for lasting sixteen years together without much fighting or dispute. They were one happy family.