(Spoiler alert: don't read this if you didn't play Heavy Rain until the end. This stoy is based on the epilogue "A new start", not in "A new life")
Father and son in peace
Summer. Father's Day. Shaun Mars got out of his mother's car. They went to the shopping mall to buy a present for Ethan. Shaun was now 11 years old and, like his father, he was often attending to his psychologists sessions.
Shaun arrived in his new home with a wrapped gift, a letter and a photoframe inside a bag.
- Dad! I bought a present for you! – he said when he was entering the house. The kitchen and the living room were slightly separated by kitchen counters.
Ethan was watching television and when he heard Shaun's voice, he turned his neck to look to the entrance. He got up and said:
- A present for me? What is it?
- It's a… - Shaun stopped talking and then said: - It's a surprise!
- And where is your mother? – Ethan asked.
- She's gone. She didn't want to come in. – Shaun was a little sad. He pulled the present from the bag and gave it to his father, already smiling this time.
Ethan took the present from Shaun's hands. His intuition was saying it would be clothes. He opened the present and "bingo!". It was clothes. A black jacket of false leather.
- Did you like it? I chose it! – Shaun was excited.
- Of course, son! – Ethan put the jacket on himself. The jacket fit well. But he couldn't stand to be with it because of the summer heat in that day. – This jacket makes me look good. I think I will always wear when the cold comes. – he smiled.
- There's something more, dad – Shaun said this while he was taking an envelope made of notebook paper, folded and glued in a way that was visible to notice that Shaun made that all by himself. – I wrote a letter to you, dad.
- Ok. Do you want me to read or will you read it? – Ethan asked while he was suggesting his son to sit on the sofa, as he had done.
- No… You read this later when I'm not around.
- Ok, ok. – Ethan said. He gave a smirk and thought "He is almost a pre-teen. In a few years, he will change a lot".
- Dad, I'll be right back. I'm gonna put the photoframe I bought today in my bedroom. – Shaun took the photoframe from the bag – I'm gonna put that photo of us in the newspaper – he smiled very shyly.
Ethan didn't say anything, just answered "yes" with his head. Shaun went to his room, took one of the many newspaper clippings with articles and photos about the day he was saved thanks to his father, Madison and Jayden. So many newspaper clippings, so many articles, headlines… He took one with a picture of them hugging each other in front of the hospital in the day after he was saved by his father. In a small caption beneath the picture was written: "Moment of relief: Ethan Mars hugs his son Shaun, the only survivor of the Origami Killer".
Shaun put the clipping inside the photoframe and put it on top of his dresser. He stared for a minute and left his room. When he reached the room, he noticed that Ethan didn't open his letter yet.
- So, what is our plan for today? – Ethan asked.
- Let's go to the amusement park! Please, dad! I want both of us going on the new roller coaster they made!
- Ok, let's go. I'm just going to take a shower and change my clothes. You should change your clothes too, Shaun. – Ethan got up with his two presents in hands. He went to his bedroom and put both presents on his bed. Ethan wasn't a curious guy. After the surprises he had when he needed to open each origami figure with his trials, he really had no hurry to open letters and other stuffs. Besides if Shaun asked him to not read it in that moment, he would respect his son's order and he would only read when Shaun is sleeping.
When Shaun and Ethan returned from the amusement park, Shaun went straight to the bathroom to take a shower. Soon after that, he locked himself in his bedroom to play videogame. Nothing more, nothing less than Uncharted 1. A birthday present he earned from his father.
They had a great time, they took a lot of pictures… They weren't haunted by memories of Jason which always started with "If Jason were here now…"
Ethan took a shower and went to his bedroom. He sat on the bed and slowly put his legs on the bed too, ready to read Shaun's letter.
The letter said:
"
To Ethan
Dad, in this first Father's Day after that whole nightmare of the Origami Killer, I want to thank you very much to have you as my father. I know I'm going to the psychologist to not keeping remembering of all that, and to get over my rain trauma, my claustrophobia, but I know I'll never forget of all that. I hope one day to remember I can't remember of all the horror that I went through, or the face of that fat killer, but only you.
I know I bought a cool present for you, but I know that no gift I buy will be compared of what you did for me. I hope a lot to prove to you how much I love you in the same way you proved to love me when you had to pass that whole nightmare to find me."
At this time, Ethan had tears in his eyes. He closed his right hand and moved it to in front of his mouth.
" Dad, I'm sorry for all the times I said Jason's name and made you cry. And forgive my mom for saying in your face several times that it was your fault Jason died. Now I'm completely sure that you tried your best to save him.
When I look to those newspaper, I feel a brightside, which is to know that a lot of people will know about our story and nothing was in vain. If I scream in the street saying you're the best father in the world, no one would believe me! But in the newspaper everyone believes it!
I love you, dad. I hope one day I can say that to all the people I know. And I hope to make something good to you,a proof of love. I still don't have any idea, but I will have.
Keep this letter with you forever. Or maybe until I have no more fear of rain. Or maybe when I have 23 years old. I think after 23 years old this paper will be bad, and you will want to throw out. Or maybe I will be embarrassed. I don't know…
Shaun"
Ethan didn't know if to smile or to cry. Some tears was falling from his eyes to his chin.
"Shaun, those words are already a present to me" he thought.
Ethan wiped the tears from his face. There wasn't beard in his face. No more depression. There was some traumas like agoraphobia, bad memories on a rainy day, and other things being treated with his psychologist. But he didn't have that depression anymore. The equilibrium of Ethan and Shaun of Jason's death had been already restored. Ethan would never forgive Scott Shelby, the Origami Killer, if Shaun died. But there was a dark thing in all this. Ethan could see a Brightside. He used to feel so guilty for Jason's death that his brain thought he was having a second personality disorder, but he wasn't. When the Origami Killer kidnapped Shaun, Ethan did what he could to prove he would do anything to his son, so we wouldn't have the same fate as Jason. Making all that effort to save Shaun made Ethan have his confidence back that he is a good father; he didn't need to blame himself anymore. Not only him, but Grace, his ex-wife, no longer mentions Jason's name or blames Ethan for Jason's death.
Jason wasn't there and he will not ever be again, and this is something Ethan, Grace and Shaun will have to deal it for the rest of their lives. But their lives were better than before Shaun was kidnapped. Now there's no more Scott Shelby to spy Ethan's steps, no more depression, or a house with a sad appearance in the suburbia of Philadelphia. A new start.
Ethan decided to spy Shaun a little, to know if he was already sleeping or not. He went to Shaun's bedroom door and opened it slowly. Shaun was sleeping. He entered the room, looked to the videogame, looked to the TV, looked to the dresser and then he saw the photoframe. He approached and saw the newspaper clipping Shaun used was that photo of them hugging each other in front of the hospital. He felt a strong emotion and couldn't hold his smile. Maybe if Shaun keep that photo with him for a long time, it would be a reason to Ethan smiles whenever he seems it. But Ethan is a father, and father and mother love a child unconditionally.
The end.