(Chapter Epilogue: house of lies)

Julia shot up, she was in her bed, in her room; in the house she always wanted to get away from. The small little space she spent her days in, for nineteen years of her life. She rubbed her face with her hands, and stood up; was that a dream? Did she really see all that?

Looking to her hands, that shook from stress, but also surprise.

Her hands, still burned and scared along with the hair tie given to her around her wrist. Lifting up her lime green hoodie, Julia noticed the stab scar on the lower back in the mirror that faced her when she sleeps.

It was real!

Every thing was real!

"I have to get back!" Julia mumbled to herself. "I-!"

She walked out of her room, and looked around. Wasn't her parents arguing the night she left? Julia carefully walked down, and the words started flying again.

There they were just as she remembered. But she wasn't scared, not one bit. It's time to end this.

What where they arguing about? Julia couldn't care less, but mother always took the brunt of it. Luckily they only ever throw things, never hands. Dad was always against hitting a woman with his own two fists.

All he has was hot air to blow; and that was just it. Julia quietly grabbed an umbrella from the stand and walked her way to her parents. She tapped it down on the floor to grab their attention. Let them know she was here.

"Julia, what are you doing! Get to bed or you're going to be late for school tomorrow!" Her father yelled, but she didn't flinch. She wasn't going to stay in this house any more; not with him.

"I'm leaving." She stated. Eyes looking straight at him. "I'm tired of this, I'm tired of you always bossing me around and telling me that I'm not good enough."

"I'm just speaking the truth." Her father huffed "if you spent more time with studying books instead of being stuck in a fantasy world with your make believe friend, you'd be out of college already!"

"I am doing the best I can! I am not a cold hearted machine!" She shouted back "I'd be doing better if I was no longer here!"

"Oh, this is the thanks I get for giving you love and care-!"

"This! This is not love." Julia growled, something stirred in her, raging to get out "there was never love in this house! My love disappear when grandfather died!" The energy around her was a bit to much to handle; the outburst broke and shattered every light, leaving the house without power.

Taking a moment, her father stared into her eyes, glowing bright ghostly green "All you do is make noise. You can scream and shout all you want," Julia crouched down as her father stumbled over "but that only matters if people heed your words. You're nothing if people don't hear you."

"And I know from experience." Julia ended off her speech with that, but not after saying, "whatever I don't take with me, feel free to throw away."

So she returned to her room and grabbed anything of self value. Her old baseball trophy and Bat, her pictures, her MP3 player; everything that had brought her joy over the years. As she walked out, she noticed her mother doing the same thing. She was leaving too.

Julia slightly smiled, singing a tune;

"I said make me love myself, so that I might love you.."
"Don't make me a lair, cause I swear to god..."
"when I said it.. I thought it was true."

In the deep dark void, a voice sang out, echos bounced around every non existent corners;

Time is running out,
Though, do not be afraid;
The curtains may have fallen,
But it is not the end; oh, no! there's always next play!
So rise and clap your hands for now, because the story is only beginning.

Oh, yes- Wait for them rise again.