Don't expect too much from me
Perfection is no test for me
Because the best I'll ever be
Is just like you: A human being
You won't offend, I need to know
Please, my friend, show me your soul
SHOW ME YOUR SOUL
Epilogue
Libby was standing in the middle of a graveyard in Boston looking at one of the gravestones silently. It was a very chilly December morning, but she couldn't care less about the weather at the moment. She was burning with anger, he face flushed and even though she looked fairly calm, in reality her heart was racing so fast she could hear the blood pumping in her veins.
A man walked up to her and stood beside her, both facing the same direction.
"I hear you wanted to see me", he said without any expression.
"Why did you do this?" she said rewarding him with a scornful look.
He continued to speak with complete indifference.
"You wanted your parents to be alive. They are alive now."
She snorted looking him up and down.
"Screw you."
He looked at her and tilted his head a bit.
"I understand your anger. But the universe needs balance. Someone had to go."
She didn't know what to say. She just wanted to punch him in the face and knock that stupid hat off of his bald head. She swallowed and put her hands in her pockets trying not to scream in anger that was almost at the boiling point at the moment. She was shaking.
"It's been fifteen years... what am I missing?" she was breathing heavily suppressing her rage, her eyes looking around madly.
The man looked away again staring into space.
"You know that there is only one way for everyone that you love to be alive and prevent such things from happening again."
Libby fell silent once again. The pain inside her chest was getting worse, she felt like yelling at the bald man, but she knew perfectly well that it would make no difference.
"What about Henry?" she asked a minute later trying to calm herself down.
"He will meet his fate soon, too", the Observer told her. "What was written will come to pass."
She turned away from him, unwilling to accept his words, only to see a car pull up at the graveyard. As she recognized it the emotions completely overwhelmed her and she broke down letting herself go. Tears were running down her cheeks now as she kept staring at the car, her lips trembling.
"Just like nothing ever happened..." she whispered.
September tilted his head again.
"So be it."
He turned his head to his right where the girl was standing, but saw no one. Just like he had expected. He tilted his head again. A man and a woman got out of the car. September quietly walked away before they could see him.
The man took his wife's arm and they walked down the familiar path, the one they'd been walking down for almost a year now. She was bravely holding back her tears, but as she set a white tulip upon the gravestone and her husband did the same she broke down and turned to him to hide her face away from the world. She wasn't ashamed of her tears, she just didn't want her daughter to see her mother cry again, because she knew she never liked that.
"I... I w-wish... it w-was m-me in-nstead..." she sobbed quietly as her husband wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
"There's nothing we can do, Livia", he answered wishing there was something else he could say to comfort her, but that was the only truth he knew. Their daughter wasn't coming back, there was nothing they could do to save her, no one could replace her and the only thing that kept them going was their memories.
Even though she was just a little girl she was a lot like her mother. At least, that's what Peter had thought. Olivia, on the other hand, used to call her "Daddy's little girl", because sometimes little Libby did silly things and didn't think about the consequences. She was this kid that everyone loved: her grandfather Walter, "auntie" Astrid and "uncle" Lincoln, her real aunt Rachel and her cousin Ella of whom Olivia was strongly reminded every time she put Libby to sleep late at night telling her bedtime stories about monsters and fairies, or when her daughter would wake up early in the morning and loud noises of kitchen utensils hitting the floor were followed by Peter's croaky curses as he would get out of bed, half-asleep, and go downstairs to clean up and explain to his daughter that it is really cute that she wants to make her mommy and daddy some toast and bacon for breakfast, but mommy and daddy could really use some sleep instead.
"You can't imagine what it's like to lose a child", Walter told her once. And little did she know that her fate was to not only imagine it, but to actually experience it. She wished she was more responsible. If only she'd been more careful that day... Nothing would've happened.
But now she and Peter had to deal with this and when she finally calmed down and turned back to the gravestone looking at the flowers they'd just put there with her puffy and red eyes she realized how beautiful they were. White tulips. She knew the meaning behind these flowers perfectly well. A message of forgiveness. Something she couldn't express with words anymore, not that there was any use to it.
"I wish things were different", she whispered and they simply held on to each other knowing that the only thing they have left was memory and the gravestone that said:
Elizabeth Marylin Bishop
Beloved daughter of Peter and Olivia Bishop
25 Dec 2011 - 25 Dec 2020