The Despairing Tribulations of a Doomed Boy

Epilogue

There was a collective gasp from everyone in the park.

"Oh no!" Amelie said as she yanked herself off of Otto. But it was too late. The button came back up with a soft click.

There was a deep rumble inside the earth that shook the buildings and knocked everyone to the ground. In panic they tried to run away, but could only crawl. The rumbling and shaking of the earth was so great that it threatened even that.

Otto could do nothing but watch in terror. He lay propped up on his elbows, gaping at the scene of hysteria in front of him.

Amelie sat on her knees, shaking her head and repeating, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Then the earth broke open like a cookie crumbling to bits. The fissures tore deeper and wider than the ones before, ripping the crawling crowd apart. They broke into islands separated by canyons too deep to measure.

Hot steam blew out of the canyons with enough pressure to clear the clouds above them in the evening sky, pulling them apart and blowing them in all directions, creating its own swirling mass of weather.

The pressurized steam eventually stopped and behind it shot up fireworks and streamers, exploding in brilliant flashes of color, brighter than the fading light of dusk. The sparks danced and ran in the twisting wind above the people. Streamers fluttered and fell like the most beautiful snakes, littering the terrified and bewildered crowd with color.

And then there was silence. The people, now divided into distant islands, pulled themselves to their feet. They were alive.

On one island, Otto and Amelie sat on the grass; a brick wall at their backs. The canyon around them was too wide to jump across. They could only just make out the people on the other islands. The pieces of land spread as far as Otto could see.

"Do you think this happened to the whole world?" Amelie asked.

Otto was about to answer when there was another rumble shivering through the earth. "Oh, no," Otto said and braced himself what came next.

A flood of water rushed through the canyons, filling them to their max and splashing the islanders in salt water. Fish were carried along in the currents, desperately flailing against all odds to control their course. An octopus flew through the water near Otto; its body on the surface of the water and its tentacles waving in all directions. It grabbed on to Otto's wrist and started to pull itself up on land to save itself from the rush of water. Once on the grass, it collapsed in a limp puddle of jelly-like flesh.

Otto lifted his wrist and the tentacles slipped off of him—no strength to keep hold. "I'm guessing it's all over the world," he said to Amelie.

Amelie made a small little gasp and covered her mouth with her hand. "Is it dead?" She asked.

Otto shrugged and poke the octopus with his finger. "I don't know," he said.

The water eventually slowed to a gentle current just as the sun disappeared. Otto slipped the octopus back in the water, hoping it would revive. Its body sank into darkness, but just before it disappeared, the tentacles pulled together and moved in a coordinated push.

Otto looked around the new face of earth. In the last rays of light he could make out the shape of Frida's wheelchair.

On another island he saw Nurse Vickers standing hand in hand with Mr. Detroy. On the island closest to his, Otto saw the still form of the sleeping Pieter curled in an egg shape. He was all alone except for Teddy,which had curled itself up next to his chest. Its antlers tickling his face.

"This makes sense," Dr. Piero said from where he stood with a few other shadowy forms on an island further north. "This explains what we saw in the dust. Now if only we can discover what Pieter's button does."

"Just drop it, doctor," one of the shadows said.

The islands fell into silence.

"Well, all things considered, I think it turned out rather well, don't you?" Dr. Piero said.

"If you don't stop talking, doctor, I'm going to shove you into the ocean. In Kansas."

Author's Note: Hey!! You made it through the book! That makes me so happy! I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing it. Like I mentioned in my last two notes, I do plan on revising all of this some day and would love some feedback on what parts need some fixing or expanding or cutting. I have a little list going. So please, feel free to tell me what has to change. You will not hurt my feelings.