Moonlight Bay ━━ 𝘑𝘈𝘊𝘒 𝘋𝘈𝘞𝘚𝘖𝘕.

epilogue

"That was the last time I saw her beautiful face."

"How come you survived and she didn't?" asked the little boy, who sat on the small rug in front of the elderly man. He had been listening attentively to his story for the past hour.

"Her body just couldn't seem to take it. She should've been the one to live," he sighed, rocking himself softly on the chair he sat in. "If only she had stayed in the boat..."

"Where would you be now if she survived?"

"Happily married," Jack replied with a grin on his face.

"Didn't she have family?" The boy questioned, "Did you ever meet them?"

"Why, yes, actually," Jack said. "One of her brothers is your grandfather."

"You mean Grandpa Jesse?" He gasped, earning a nod from Jack. "How did you meet them?"

Jack chuckled, "We'll have to leave that story for another day. You need to get your sleep, your parents are coming to pick you up early tomorrow morning."

"No, please just five more minutes!" the boy begged, "I still have another question!"

The old man hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Go ahead."

"Do you still have your old drawings?"

Jack smiled, "As a matter of fact, I do." Standing up from his chair, he gestured for the boy to follow him to his room. "Now I only have her drawing left, because my sketchpad was left on the ship. Luckily, I had her drawing in my pocket the whole time, so I saved it. Of course I did make more drawings after that."

Opening up a closet, Jack pointed at a small box on the floor. He pointed at it, "Andy, can you get the box for me please? And place it on the bed." His old age prevented him from moving around like he used to before, unfortunately.

Once the box was on the bed, he opened it up, revealing a pile of stacked paper. All were drawings from after the traumatic experience on the ship, except for one particular drawing. One that wasn't drawn from his own hands, but from someone else. Janiyah.

Tears welled in his eyes as he spotted the familiar tattered up drawing. The inc had stayed on the paper surprisingly well despite being fully engulfed in water for a period of time. He remembered once he found a place to stay, that he quickly took the paper from his pocket, straightening it out on a table, carefully, or else it would rip.

Of course, a couple of times he did accidently tear it a bit, but he fixed it with tape later on. It dried, and even though the paper would never be the same, now all wrinkled up, he was still glad to have saved the only reminder he had of her, of J.

After showing the kid the drawing of the man walking the dogs, he placed it carefully back into the box. He'd put the kid to bed then, since his parents told him to be in bed by a certain time.

Jack knew the kid slept better when someone sang to him, so he began to sing a song, the lyrics he never seemed to forget, as if they were glued to his brain. His voice wasn't what it used to be, but it would do just fine for Andy, as long as he sang him something.

We were sailing along on Moonlight Bay,
We could hear the voices ringing,
They seemed to say, "You have stolen her heart,"
Now don't go 'way."