'Paris August, Not guilty.'

'Julian Perreault, Guilty.'

'Ruby Tanner, Guilty.'

Paris could still hear the echoes of the words of the verdict of the Court even after several days after the event.

Paris had never attended two funerals in a day, let alone filled with outrageous remorse.

The community funeral house was bustling with people going in and out for their final goodbyes to Kehan Tanner. Everyone in the town paid their final salutes to the hero of Maldeor.

Paris stood in the back of the room, only starting at the visible casket in the middle of the stage. Christopher, Suzzan, and Sarah sit in the front, paying their final thanks for saving Paris. They were beyond grateful to Kehan Tanner.

The family sends Kehan Tanner with happy tears, but couldn't do the same with Jordan McAvoy. They knew him for too long to do so. It was downright heartbreaking for them to let go of Jordan happily.

They were buried in the same cemetery.

The August family stayed through the burial. Paris stayed till everyone left watching Ruby in a white jumpsuit, digging a few times with the gravedigger.

Her face looked swollen and she focus seemed frazzled by the death of her former lover. Her painted blond hair was gone, replaced by brown frizzy curls.

"I can't believe he's gone." Chloe Baxter says.

Her appearance startled Paris but a bright smile breaks out on her face.

"They released you today?"

Sharing a hug, "Yeah. I couldn't go home yet, so I came here." They settle on the bench that had a whole view of the cemetery.

"She's ugly." Chloe comments, watching Ruby standing beside Julian's coffin.

Paris glances over at Chloe, recognizing the resembling features of Monica. They shared the same caramel blond voluminous hair. Her arms were no longer lanky and her face was glowing under the sun's radiance, sharpening her goddess-like features. Her eyes were an excellent shade of forest green.

Monica was equally beautiful, maybe more.

"What are you gonna do now?" Paris refocuses her attention on gloomy no make-up-on Ruby. They won't let you use makeup in jail?

"Whatever I gotta do to move on." Her reply was instant, giving away her lie to Paris. Chloe would never move on from Monica's death.

"They are burying him," Paris announces before standing up. Chloe doesn't follow her in the suit.

"I am not going to pretend he didn't kill my sister just because he's dead now." They set the coffin into the dug grave, and Paris pays her respect.

Ruby breaks down finally.

A few hours later, Chloe and Paris walked to Chloe's car outside the cemetery.

"I am restarting my Bakery soon," Chloe announces, an unsaid invitation to Paris.

"I'll be there." They say their final goodbyes before Chloe droves away.

Paris walks home, stumbling through familiar places in the town of Maldeor.

Before reaching home though, a grey two-story bungalow catches her eyes. She had taken a long way home, and a different path that had this house on the route. Maybe stumbling across this house was intentional, but Paris rang the bell after thinking twice.

Maratha Stiles McAvoy answers the door. Her tears were not dried yet and looked like she was still crying behind closed doors. She recognized Paris.

"What are you doing here?" Her question might sound rude, but she was only being polite.

"I don't know. Can we talk?"

She invites Paris in.

The interior was designed in sparkling white. It looked clean despite having children around and not being cleaned for the past two days.

"Would you like some tea?"

Paris nods.

Maratha serves the ginger tea that Paris loves the most, and thanks her for the hospitality even when there was no need to be humble in a situation such as this. Maratha even manages a tight and forced smile that she was displaying since morning.

Paris wanted Maratha to not put on a brave face, but they were not close enough for Paris to say anything.

The silence stayed between them, nothing awkward, and only consolidating stillness.

"I don't see the girls."

"They're with their aunt."

"I am sorry for what happened." Paris could barely speak with the lump in her throat. She couldn't cry but felt her heart tightening around her chest.

Maratha only nods, feelings tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"You know I hated you." The tears she tried controlling finally spills. "I thought Jordan died because of you."

Paris understands every word of her as she felt the same a few days ago.

"You don't hate me now?"

"No. I can't hate you for something you never did." She cries.

"Thanks for saying that."

Paris leaves after talking some more with the older woman. She herself felt lighter after that conversation.

Paris realized they'd see each other more often if she decided to stay in Maldeor.

_______

6 months later...

"Congratulations Paris."

"I just read the first page and I got goosebumps."

"It's the thriller of the year."

The appreciation kept coming all week. Paris had released her new novel, describing her tragedy with a twist of fiction.

"Thank you so much," Paris says to the caller before her family comes crashing down on her.

"Congratulations Paris." They sing.

Paris decided to stay in Maldeor with her family, till she really decides on a good plan for life, recovering her New York home back.

Her cellphone rings again, and it was Chloe Baxter this time. Her voice sounded panicked as she says, "Are you watching the news?"

"No..." Paris turns on the news.

'The investigation is still going on but the sources are straight from the inside of the Maldeor central jail. The convict Raby Tanner, the wife of the former Mayor of the Maldeor has committed suicide inside her jail cell by splitting open her wrist...'

The news reporter continues the reports.

"Shit! When did this happen?"

"This morning. Why would she kill herself?"

"I have no idea, Chloe."

Paris really had no idea that Ruby who killed people could actually kill herself. Her penalty was life imprisonment. Maybe the life of non-luxury depressed her or the life without Julian did that to her, it was hard to tell. Maybe it could the both.

Paris couldn't accept the fact but she was glad that Ruby is dead too.

The calls continue for the rest of the day and the night was the only free time for her.

The death of Ruby did not really affect her but her thoughts lingered.

She falls asleep with the last thoughts of Julian and Ruby.

Her nights were no longer sleepless and life no more tragic.

_______