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Happy Endings are a myth.
Maybe God handpicks some people to give them the best of endings. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of those people.
It had been some uneventful months. There had been desperate efforts to restore calm and order in the town and rushed attempts to heal deep scars that won't go away easy. Nevermore was more of a prison now, stricter checks had been put in place to ensure no student or teacher would bring harm to the institution or those who lived within it's black walls.
There were hushed whispers about forbidden topics - the Hyde. Everyone including me seemed to think that Tyler Galpin had disappeared into the wind like the air we breathe and there was no catching him. Or at least that's what I had been trying to convince myself, for far away from the school, in the confines of our living room - I had been hearing the discussions Dad had on tests and behaviors that the Hyde exhibited. A lot of people in the outcast community felt like they were doing noble deeds, carrying forward the unfinished works of the legend Nathaniel Faulkner.
I dreaded the day they would send Tyler to Nevermore, he had managed to convince people that he had been a victim throughout. While he hadn't been dismissed as a total threat , he was going to be put in Nevermore for a week initially to see how he would adjust to it.
I had some theories no one was willing to entertain. Tyler had been right, when I tried to tell Dad what had happened at the crypt, he had me increase my therapy sessions.
I couldn't help but feel that the master and Hyde theory was a bit flawed. While Tyler's Hyde required a master to put him in control, he had gradually learnt to gain more clarity of what was happening. Eventually, with the connection of the master being severed, Tyler was in control, not the Hyde. He had become the master and he relished having that control.
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It had been a chance meeting, I had been hoping to avoid him till the day I die, which is why I had avoided going to Nevermore since Tyler had been back. But that one day, when I had to go meet the new headmistress for an event that dad was conducting, I had bumped into him. What I found incredible was that with time, people had stopped blaming Tyler - and he had been classified as another victim of Laurel Gates and Joseph Crackstone. It was like he had been publicly absolved of his crimes. If only people knew that Tyler made Joseph Crackstone look like a goody two shoes. His features displayed a boyish charm, nothing gave away his murderous intent.
"Hi Rose, missed me?", if only I could punch the cocky motherfucker would I be able to tell him exactly how much I missed him. He was back from being a Guinea pig in the lab to a bitch I wanted nothing to do with.
"I have kept my end of the bargain Tyler. I didn't tell anyone so I need you to back off", I tried to walk off after saying this but he pulled me into the secluded hallway and pushed me against the brick wall.
He put his one arm around my waist to pull me even closer, leaving no space between us while his other hand played with the tendrils of my hair.
"Oh, but you did. You had frantic discussions with your father, didn't you? I told you, you shouldn't waste your time with this but you didn't listen. You never do Rose."
I couldn't absorb the fact that he knew it, he knew.
"You do remember what I said I would do if you snitched."
I shuddered, losing my composure.
"Or maybe I will spare people, just for you. We will have to wait and watch. But just remember Rose, it's a game of Hyde and seek and the Hyde always wins. Always."
He released his hold on me to whistle a merry tune and disappeared into the crowd.
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I knew Tyler sans the Hyde, the Hyde which was now a part of his being, the way he talked, the way he interacted and the past few weeks, the way he had mercilessly killed.
Seeing Tyler at Nevermore caused all my walls to crumble. If I could, I would have cursed him to eternal damnation; leaving behind a world which was better.
When I came back after the encounter, I had shut myself in my room; turning to music to calm down my mind, and prepare in advance for the blow my heart was about to receive.
I shuddered.
Tyler Galpin had left wounds that weren't easy to heal.
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FIN