Chapter 27 - The Aftermath

Finn felt like his world had been ripped in two. The pain he felt was worse than anything he had ever felt before. It was worse than ever the worst day of torture. Because at least then, he had a reason to still be fighting to survive. Now he felt empty. Finn didn't want to drive home. He couldn't deal with that right now. He needed to get away. He decided to head to the spot where he knew nobody would look for him. He drove his beat up Chevy into the middle of the woods, and ended up sleeping at the back of his pick-up truck. He stared up at the stars. What had he done to deserve this? Why did God hate him so much? From when he was 6 years old, every bad thing on the face of the earth had happened to him. Tears started to roll down his cheeks. He silently cried for the next hour, before sleep overtook him. The next morning, he woke up at dawn. He heard the birds singing a nearby stream gushing and he couldn't help but smile. Despite everything that he had been through in the recent past, nature never seized to amaze him. Finn was feeling hungry, so he poached two eggs from a nearby nest and fried them on the engine of his car. He ate with his hands, and then rinsed them in a nearby stream. He then went into the driver's seat of his car, and checked his phone for the first time in more than 12 hours. It had blown up with messages from Kurt, and one message that he never expected to receive. Kurt's messages read.

I heard about what happened. R U OK?

Shortly after…

Where r u? IK ur not at Quinn's and ur not home

Then…

Don't do something you're gonna regret later! If ur with a girl, leave b4 it's too late.

He didn't send any more messages that night, but an hour ago, he sent one more.

Nobody's heard from u in over 15 hrs. 9 More and I file Missing Persons Report.

Finn's eyes widened, so he responded to the string of messages.

DON'T CALL THE POLICE! I'M FINE AND I'M NOT WITH A GIRL. I SPEND THE NIGHT IN THE WOODS. I MIGHT COME BACK TONIGHT, OR TOMORROW MORNING

A couple of minutes later, Finn's phone lit up with a response from Kurt.

Ok brother. Come home soon though

Finn threw his phone in his truck and spent the rest of the day, enjoying the scenery. He went swimming in the stream and thought deeply about everything that had happened to him. The message on his phone that wasn't from Kurt had the potential to change his life. After he swam for about 3 hours continuously, he made his way back to the car and changed into his spare set of clothing. Finn was overjoyed and relieved that the entire time he was swimming, his left arm didn't act out once. He started to drive back home and arrived at 6 pm. He walked inside. Nobody had noticed him walk in, so he went straight to the bathroom and took a shower. When he walked out, Kurt immediately walked up to him and Finn went straight into his room. Kurt followed him. Finn sat on his bed and grabbed his guitar. Kurt sat on the armchair opposite him and started talking.

"Finn, I'm sorry about what happened."

"It's fine, it wasn't your fault."

"For what it's worth, I'm completely on your side. I'll stop speaking to Quinn and ignore her…" Kurt stopped talking when Finn raised his hand.

"Kurt, you're not going to do that. You're not going to ruin an amazing friendship just because me and Quinn broke up." Kurt nodded.

"OK, I won't. But I'm still completely on your side."

"Thanks, man. The weird thing is that I don't hate her. I did a lot of thinking last night and I realised that I don't wish any harm to her. I just don't have any feelings for her anymore. It's like the past few months gave me a new perspective. I hate the bastards who shot me, stabbed me, and tortured me. Quinn's irrelevant compared to them. She just hurt me, but these terrorists and drug lords hurt a lot of innocent people." Kurt nodded and changed the subject.

"So Finn, now that you've been discharged from the Navy, where are you going to go? And what are you going to do?"

"Well, I kind of want to try and become a singer-songwriter. And I already have somewhere to start. When I checked my messages this morning, I had a message from the X Factor. I sent in an audition a few months ago, and they responded last night. They want me on the show! Probably, because I was on the news a couple days ago, and they want someone like that on the show." Kurt jumped up and gave his step-brother a huge hug.

"Finn, that's amazing! I'm sure you'll do great."

"I'm not. There are so many amazing competitors on the X Factor."

"You underestimate yourself. You're a great candidate. And I'm sure, even if the X Factor isn't your big break, you will find a way to make it into the music industry. You're resilient, Finn - to a nauseating extent. You will make it."

"Thanks, Kurt. That means a lot to me."

The next two weeks went by extremely slowly. Finn was flying to New York for the X Factor soon and he was getting nervous. He had practised his audition song so many times, that he could sing it in his sleep. He had purposely avoided all of Quinn's calls and texts, and whenever she came over to spend time with Kurt, Finn made sure that he never saw her. Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, he was on a plane to New York. He was extremely excited to make it to New York, for so many reasons. Now that he was somewhat of a news sensation, being the first POW in over a century to make it back alive; and the story of his mission was released to the public by Captain Brady, he wanted to be in the big city, where not everyone wanted to stop him for questions, photographs and autographs.

When Finn landed in New York, he was practically shaking with excitement. He had made it. And even if he failed miserably on the X Factor, he would find a meaningless job in NY and stay there until he had made it as a singer. Finn took the subway to his hotel: another benefit of being in a major city. He checked in and threw his bag on his bed. He spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Manhattan. He hadn't been there in almost 6 months, and even then, he never got time to explore the city. Time was mainly spent with Kurt and Quinn. He went to a small pizzeria and had a slice of proper New York Pizza for dinner. It was divine, but he didn't stop there. He spent the evening walking around, buying food from many different cuisine places. He had mexican, greek and chinese, as well as a traditional New York City hot dog cart. Finally, at around 10 pm, he made it back to the hotel. After every mission he had been through, and all the times he had been shot at, he wasn't scared at all of being mugged. If anyone even tried, they would be the person in the hospital, not him. When he got to his hotel, a Sheraton, he called Kurt. They talked for half an hour before Finn hung up and went to sleep.

The next day, Finn spent almost the whole day touring the city. He went to Time Square, Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 Memorial museum. In the afternoon, he dropped by the Radio City Music Hall to sign in with the X Factor producers in preparation for tomorrow. He was told to arrive at the Concert hall at 12pm tomorrow, as he went on at 1. That night flew by and before Finn knew it, he was back in the Concert Hall. He was standing backstage next to one of the producers and was waiting to be announced.

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