The Opposite Of Good

E P I L O G U E

TWO YEARS LATER

•••

Writing is something I never thought I'd fall into.

I guess I only became lucky enough to be able to turn the deep flow of emotions in my heart into words. Words that don't make any sense but...when you actually think about them, they do.

While everyone else is in college, writing is how I make money and it actually became one of my favorite things to do. I started a year and a half ago but the fame I've since received is unreal. The overwhelming part is where people say I've had an impact in their lives by helping them get through some of the worst times of their lives.

Better than I thought, my life turned out. I've had time to get through the most difficult part of my life these past two years. It was difficult but the crying, the blaming, the hatred got less as months passed.

I'm now a man believing that life has it's ups and downs. And even though we sometimes have the downs more than the ups, there's still no rainbow before the rain. I have no control over what happens tomorrow. I had to understand that and stop blaming myself for her passing.

Everything changed these past two years. Her passing was like a reminder to everyone that life is too short and can go at any given moment. It was hard to adjust and continue life without her. Incredibly. Levi and Leah got more serious with their relationship a few weeks after Amara's funeral. Even when Leah had to leave for college a few months later, Levi waited for her and is still waiting but he's happy that she came back for Christmas this year.

Kate and Henry broke up, not that they ever dated but they separated and she has been single since then, although I don't know much about her now because she went to college too.

Everyone kind of separated two years ago. I remained in my parent's house for a few months, the most difficult time of my life. I was grateful for the support I received from Levi, Nick and my parents even though I never showed it that time.

Also two months after Amara died, Daisy Banks turned herself in after not being able to be found. The police reported that she seemed to not be in her right state of mind and looked like a person with mental issues so they took her to an asylum, where Bianca was too.

When I heard about this, the anger I felt towards those two people only increased. They should've been locked up in jail instead of some mental facility. One kidnapped Amara and the other killed her. I was more than angry then but what I feel now is just...numbness. I haven't fully made peace with it yet but for my sanity, for my continuation of living, I turned numb.

The first year without Amara was the hardest. I visited her grave almost everyday. I was looking for a way forward, and found it when one day, in my room at my parent's house, I turned the letter she wrote into a book.

I wrote my first and only book about us, using different identities but it was all us. How we found each other, fell in love, faced hard challenges, how life tricked us, the incidents in which we were able to trick life back...and how we couldn't avoid the inevitable by her dying in the end. There were multiple life-ending events in her life, she's survived all...only for her to die a little later. Only for her to die still so young. She had her whole life ahead of her.

Anyways, I have written another book now, an aftermath of the last, which will be out a week from now. How my life...or in the book, Elias's life changed after his first love, Allison died.

"Mr Justin Hazard, good to see you again." I'm taken out of my thoughts by Edward Griffiths, the CEO of Sundown Publishing.

I rise from the chair I've been sitting on and shake his hand firmly. "I'm surprised to see you working on Christmas eve, Mr Griffiths."