EPILOGUE: THE LETTER
The door of the hospital room opened. The sisters turned in unison at the door expecting a miracle, instead came a nurse. However, the events that followed could only be described as a miracle.
"Good afternoon, you all have a visitor today, she's from St. Agnes Home for the Aged" said the nurse. The sisters were baffled. They had never even heard of that place before.
A young woman entered after the nurse had left. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and she looked to be in her late thirties. She had with her an old shoebox which she held as though it contained the precious Crown Jewels.
"Um…good afternoon," she seemed quite nervous, though most people were, in the presence of the rich and famous, "I have a package for Ms. Christine Calvert"
"Yes, from whom?" Christine asked.
The woman approached Christine's bed.
"We had a patient once, an old man," she started, "he died a long time ago, before you were born. He never married and so he died alone. Before he died, he became quite…psychic" the woman looked unsure of what she had said.
"He became aware that he would die soon, and so he prepared a few things and kept them in this box," she gestured at the shoebox she was holding. "I was his nurse, and he told me that his dying wish was that on January 1, 2010, I send this shoebox to a Ms. Christine Calvert."
She stopped as she took in Christine's awestruck look. Christine gestured for her to go on.
"At that time, we all knew who the Calverts were, but you had not been born yet. So to appease the dying man, I agreed thinking he was going mad in old age. But then, a few years later, you and your sisters were born, and I knew that he meant you, so I did what he instructed, I am here now, to give you this box" she finished and handed Christine the shoebox.
It had Ralph's name on the lid and Christine caressed the lettering gently. A flood of memories and emotions rushed back.
"Ralph…" it was barely a whisper full of love and pain but the woman heard it and knew she had done the right thing.
"Thank you, Ralph and I both thank you very much" Christine said to the woman and surprised everyone by getting off the bed and hugging her. The woman left that room quite confused but happy and proud of what she had done.
"Open it, Christine" Victoria said in a quiet voice.
Christine opened the box. Inside were old pictures of Ralph and everyone else on the island. There were pictures of them in the Navy Ship that had rescued them, pictures of them back with their families and there was one particular picture that Christine quite loved. She motioned for her sisters to come see.
This was a picture of Ralph, Jack, Simon, Piggy, Roger and the twins, all wearing proper clothing and smiling happily. They were all much older here now, possibly eighteen or older, and they had all grown up quite well. At the back of the picture was an inscription for the sisters. It read:
"We're older now, though not necessarily wiser. We'll never forget you. Also, there won't be any pictures of us older than eighteen in this box. We don't want you to see us old and wrinkly.
From: Ralph, Jack, Simon, Piggy, Roger, Sam and Eric
P.S. I Love You, Victoria
P.P.S. I Love You, Christine
P.P.P.S. I Love You, Sophia
P.P.P.P.S. Best Friends Forever, Oliviananna"
This got the girls to laugh and the sorrowful mood lightened. Then Christine spotted an envelope under the pile of old photos. It was addressed to her and it was from Ralph.
Dear Christine,
I hope it won't be too weird for you to receive this letter. I know that by the time you get this, I will be old and/or dead, but you need to know a few things.
The first thing is that I am in my thirties now, as I write this. I'm so lonely without you. It's not going to be hard for me to promise that I will never love anyone else again. I always dream of the day we first met, even though it was weird. I dream of your hair, your eyes, your lips, and the way they feel against mine. I will always dream of our happy memories together. I will never forget the short-lived moments we shared.
I'm sorry about Angela. Simon will forever be indebted to your family, she saved his life. I'm ashamed to have been a part of that brawl that caused your sister's death. We should've known that there was no beast. In the end, Simon told us, of course, but it will always be too late. When Simon came running up to us, we were all scared and confused, and when we started attacking him, only Angela saw everything as what it was. She protected Simon.
That fire you started to send you and your sisters back to your time? It saved all our lives. It saved our sanity. The smoke from the fire led a British Naval Ship to us.
I miss you so much. I wish you were here. I wish we could spend our lives together. Maybe someday, sometime, our lives (or our timelines) will finally be in sync, and then we could live happily ever after. Until then, I will live vicariously on my dreams and memories of you, and when they fade, I will welcome death with open arms, because there we can finally be together.
With Love Forever,
Ralph
P.S. Remember when you told me that Piggy's real name was William? Well, he wrote a book about our stay at the island. Of course, he switched it up a bit. You and your sisters couldn't be in it. It would ruin the laws of time and space. I plan to get you a copy soon, if you haven't read it yet.
Tears misted Christine's eyes as she clutched a worn and battered copy of the Lord of the Flies. She wished she had died instead of Angela.
THE END
