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Epilogue
A man bleeds out from a gunshot wound.
A family of three crashes on a highway in Arizona. No survivors.
A woman drifts off to sleep and never wakes up.
Another opens her wrists and welcomes the outcome.
A child succumbs to smoke inhalation.
One-hundred and fifty-thousand faces. Two every minute on average are baptized to the void and I am the last being they speak to before they’re released from this life into a state of eternal contentment.
Some embrace it quietly. Others need convincing.
It’s not an easy job but someone had to carry that weight.
Fate called on me. I haven’t had a moment’s silence ever since.
Until I saw her.
Suddenly, my existence — thousands upon thousands of years of lonesome agony — changed from one subtle vision of a life unlived.
Fate had brought me a companion. Someone to share my pain with. Someone I could guide and learn from at the same time. She took some convincing, naturally. Fate has a sense of humor like that.
Now, I hear more than the soft echo of my own shoes when I walk the halls of my home. I hear the shuffle of a chair in the kitchen. The turn of a page in the library. The sound of pop music echoing down the hallway.
The voice of my queen as she laughs.
I feel the brush of her hand beneath the covers. The warmth of her smile when she looks at me. The soft tremble of her body when we make love.
But these early morning moments are my favorite.
Sleep is not a necessity for either of us but some mortal rituals are hard to break. She wanted the experience of intimacy and I wasn’t going to deny her that. It surprised me at first how much I enjoy it. It didn’t take long for the habit to stick.
Tannis rests beside me. She lies with her back to me; the bedsheet loosely clung around her waist. The strap of her top has fallen down her shoulder, leaving her milky skin exposed for me to touch.
A man pushes a child out of the way of a speeding car. He doesn’t get back up again.
I close my eyes and rest my forehead on her shoulder. I try to focus on her warmth as I help him up off the street. He seems confused at first. Then he sees his body and he knows the sacrifice he made. The child cries from the sidewalk. Alive. He looks at me and nods as I kiss Tannis where her shoulder meets her neck.
She reacts, slowly turning onto her back with her eyes still closed. She smiles anyway, sensing my touch. I kiss her again. She makes the most adorable noise in the world as a teenager gets stabbed over a new pair of sneakers.
Tannis opens her sleepy eyes, bringing me right back to her. “Hey,” she says.
I smile. “Hey.”
“Are you okay?” She looks around. “You seem…”
“Seem what?”
“Just…” her hand grazes my cheek, “Ari-like, I guess.”
I chuckle and take her hand, playfully moving it toward my lips. “I’m okay now.” I admire my queen. Pink cheeks and bright eyes. “Are you happy?” I ask.
She grins. “You’re still asking me that?”
“Just checking in.”
