EPILOUGE

11 YEARS LATER

A darkhaired woman hummed to herself as she walked along a riverbank. The cold, silvery water barely touched her sandaled feet, the waves not yet high enough to reach the rim of her long lilac dress.

The woman was in her late twenties, with a kind smile and deep blue eyes. There was a scar across her cheek, so faint you could barely see it. As kind as she looked, you could clearly tell she had gone through a lot, judging by her tired eyes, filled with years of mourning.

In the distance was a tree, a willow tree. The long branches swaying in the light breeze, the light green leaves brushing the rosy, pink flowers along the soft green hill.

If you looked closely, you could see two gray tombstones, the names engraved not quite visible from her distance. They had more flowers growing around them, as if nature was honoring the two.

Hanging from the tree was a beautiful wooden swing, clearly handcrafted, with initials carved in the seat.

'C. V + A. R.'

The initials were almost eleven years old, two different handwritings.

"Kay! Come on bud, we're gonna see Momo." The women called, voice soft and full of affection.

A dark-haired, dark-skinned boy, probably four years old, scampered over a rock, being slow enough not to get hurt. He had a wooden woven basket with him, almost too big for him to carry.

"Let me grab that for you, bambino." The woman said, chuckling softly as the boy stumbled into her arms.

The boy, Kay, handed the large basket to his mother, grinning softly. "There you go Mama."

The mother smiled, although not a real one, grabbing the hand of her child, guiding him to the hill.

The two walked up to the tree, the woman helping Kay get up the emerald grass without slipping. As they got closer to the tombstones the mother set the basket down, lifting up the wooden lid and grabbing a red checkered blanket, lying it down beneath the tree.

It was a traditional picnic, one the two would have every year on November nineteenth.

There used to be more then just two on that picnic. Three other people, as unique and special as the woman in the lilac dress herself.

Over time those four had grown apart, but recently they've started to drift back together again, regaining the close friendship they had ten years ago.

While Kay rolled around on the grass, catching bugs and picking bouquets of flowers, the woman in the lilac dress shifted over to the tombstones.

Both tombstones were around the same age, the left one being about a year older.

On the left the words read;

Cleo Valentina Viotto

1999-2017

Beloved daughter, twin, sister, friend, and hero

Descansa en Paz

She was the sister to one of the most beloved people to the woman, the one on the right.

The woman pressed a kiss to the top of the right tombstone.

"Hey Cali, its Ayla." Ayla whispered. "I brought Kay like I was telling you last time I visited. He's really excited to meet you. We love you."

The writing on the tombstone was pretty similar to the left one's, also being very different to Cleo's.

Calista Julietta Viotto

1999-2018

Beloved sister, twin, daughter, girlfriend, friend, and hero

Descansa en paz, gran héroe

After brushing another kiss to her late girlfriend's, tombstone, Ayla looked up at the sky, and smiled.

A real one.

After eleven years of grieving, of faking smiles and laughs and pretending to be okay, she finally let go.

Let go of all of her grief, and suffering, and scars.

Let go of her internal pain that haunted her nightmares.

And to be honest?

After eleven years, eleven years of being miserable, she was actually okay again.

It had been a real long time since she was okay.

So once again, crouching down next to the gray tombstone, her lilac dress cascading around her knees, Ayla looked up at the sky, and smiled the most genuine smile she had smiled in eleven years.

A few tears fell out of her soft, deep blue eyes as she felt her grief disappear, as she felt real happiness.

And though she will never forget her beloved Calista, Ayla knows that she will be able to move on.

Which is a sentence Ayla never thought she would hear, because after becoming a legacy, nothing is ever the same.

Little did she know that the one Ayla had longed to see through out those eleven years had been right beside her the whole time.

Cause no way in hell would Calista leave Ayla alone.

Calista will always guide Ayla, whether it's on the ground beside her or in the spirit realm watching her.

But now it was time for Calista to go.

Ayla could feel the force of the spirit leaving her, and as much as she wanted to hold on to that hand, stare into those soft, brown eyes and kiss her lips, she knew she had to let go.

Ayla closed her eyes for a moment.

She was okay.

She sat up and moved towards her son, scooping him up and plopping him on the blanket.

Kay handed her a bouquet of yellow daisies, grinning.

"These are for you mama." He said quietly.

Ayla took the flowers, lying them down on the blanket and grabbing food out of the basket.

"You know," Ayla said quietly, picking the daisies back up. "Momo really liked the color yellow."

Kay smiled.

"Can you tell me a story?"

"About what?"

"About you and Momo."

Ayla smiled, another large, genuine smile. There was many, many stories she could tell.

About hardships.

About death, and pain, and suffering.

Her son was too young to know about those things yet and would most likely find out when he was older.

But even through all the suffering, there was happiness.

There was joy.

There was lessons.

There was friendship.

And there was love.

And Ayla decided she would start from the beginning.

"Well, it all began one basketball practice..."

The end

So this is from the last book in the book series I'm writing (I'm only in chapter one of the first book, this is just a rough draft idea), and the story behind this is that Aylas gf Calista died 11 years ago, and Ayla has finally reached the acceptance stage of the five stages of grief

Also the last six words are the first words in the first book in the first chapter.

So yeah, give me some feedback! I hoped you liked it.