AN: I didn't mention it before, but the last chapter was my last one. I was planning on doing more, but because of my huge dislike of this story, I'm going to end it here. This will be the Epilogue, with Squid as the main character, in the first person. I hope you enjoyed this story, my most successful story. I discourage you all from asking for a sequel, as I will most likely not write one.

Epilogue

Here I sit, watching the clouds drift by slowly. At times like this, when I sit in my office, during long hours, I get deep in thought, and I remember my childhood. My high school years.

In high school, my best friends in the world and I went through a lot. My friend, Ricky, had thought he found love with a girl named Marissa. He got her pregnant, and on the day of our graduation, they gave birth to little Arielle. Marissa left them two months later.

Ricky was devastated. The day Arielle had been born, he and Marissa had found out that they both had AIDS. Thankfully, Arielle didn't have it.

But when Arielle was a year old, Ricky died.

My other friend, Jose, had also gotten his girlfriend, Kristi, pregnant. But she didn't leave him. They gave birth to a two little boys, named Ricky and Rex. Rex was for another one of our friends that had died.

Rex had been dating my friend Carmen, and Carmen and Jessie, who dated my other friend Hector, had gone missing once. They returned and both went through very hard times. Carmen had been kidnapped again, and hasn't been seen in over ten years.

My friend Rex committed suicide two years after Carmen went missing for the second time. He had become distant with everyone after she went missing, and after a while, I guess he couldn't take it. It was an overdose of sleeping pills that did it.

Hector and Jessie married after high school, and gave birth to a girl they named Carmen. But the baby was kidnapped from the hospital the night of her birth, so most of us never knew her. The baby's body was discovered the next day, and she was dead. Hector and Jessie left town, devastated. I don't know what happened to them.

Brian never settled down because he had been killed in his dorm room during his college years. The killer had been identified, and was, at the moment, sitting in jail.

My last friend, Theodore, had never settled down. He's still alive and well, but no girl had ever really been interested in him. He was now living in Chicago, trying to get a job as a lawyer.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by my wife, Charlotte, putting her arms around my neck and kissing the top of my head.

I jumped a little and said, quietly, "Hey Char,"

"Hey, Alan," She answered. "Ya thinkin' about high school again?"

I sighed. Charlotte knew everything about my high school years. "Yeah," I answered distantly. "It's just... It's really hard to imagine everything that's happened... I mean... sometimes I still wake up, thinking it's the first day of my new high school with all my friends... I even hope that's the case once in a while... so I'd know to tell my friends not to do stuff... like to tell Hector to ask Jessie and not Marissa and Ricky not to go out with Marissa... and Jose not to get Kristi pregnant..." I could feel tears in my eyes.

Charlotte turned my chair around to face her and she hugged me. "Alan," She whispered. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have stopped it. You couldn't have stopped Carmen from being kidnapped, or little Carmen from being killed, or from your friends getting their girlfriends pregnant. You have nothing to do with it."

I took a breath. "I know... but just knowing that some of them are dead or screwed up... it kills me."

"I know it does," Charlotte told me. "But you can't let it control you."

I nodded and looked down. "I know..."

She sighed. "Would this be a bad time to tell you some good news?"

My head snapped up. "Good news?" She was grinning.

"Yes... well... you see... I – I mean, you and I – are going to – to..." She stammered, looking for the right words.

I stood up. "You mean... you're... we're..."

She smiled widely. "Yes, Alan!" She threw her arms around my neck. "I'm pregnant! We're going to have a baby!"

Ever since Charlotte and I had married, five years ago, we had been trying to have a baby. The doctors had told us that, due to some damage in her reproductive system, it would be very difficult, if not, impossible, for her to reproduce. They hadn't given up hope, however, and finally, it had paid off.

"I can't believe it..." I whispered, hugging her back.

"Aren't you happy?" Charlotte asked as she let go of me, her smile flickering.

"Happy?" I repeated. "Happy? I'm ecstatic!" I picked her up and spun her around, holding her close and tight. "I'm overjoyed..."

Charlotte knew about my past, and how I wanted a child more than anything, just so I could give them the life I hadn't had.

"Is the baby gonna be okay?" I asked.

Charlotte looked down. "I-I don't know yet. The doctors think it will be, but since it's only the first month, they're not sure yet."

I embraced her tightly again. "Don't worry. He'll – or she'll – be fine."

Charlotte smiled sadly. "I hope so."

I bent down and kissed her lightly on the mouth. We kissed for a few minutes, before breaking apart.

"I love you..." I whispered.

She smiled. "I love you too,"

Later that day, I went back to the graveyard where my friends were buried. There were only a few graves here, but they were occupied by all my friends. There was Ricky's grave... I read all of the graves for the first time in my life.

Ricky Paul 'Zigzag' Spector

January 4, 1986 - September 2, 2005

Loving father, great friend. Victim of AIDs. Loved my everyone he knew.

A tear rolled down my cheek as I looked at the grave next to his.

Rex Logan 'X-Ray' Maisel

May 13, 1988 - June 26, 2007

Victim of suicide. Lost his love at an early age. Will be loved and missed.

Carmen Molly Sanchez

April 4, 1988 - (declared dead) July 30, 2006

Kidnapped and body was never discovered. Boyfriend committed suicide. Is missed and loved.

That grave was empty, as was the next one.

Carmen Grace Zeroni

October 2, 2009 - October 3, 2009

Was kidnapped from hospital on day of birth and killed. Parents loved her greatly, and will miss her.

Brain Joseph 'Twitch' Smith

December 27, 1989 - Febuary 6, 2008

Was a victim of murder in college dorm. Friends love him and miss him deeply.

I took a shaky breath. It was hard looking at these, but I had to. It was the only way to make me feel better.

"Hey," A voice behind me said. I turned around sharply and saw Jose standing there, his hands in his pockets, looking at the graves, and a tear escaping his eye.

"Hi," I wasn't going to ask him what had happened to him after high school just yet. He came up to me and embraced me. We cried together, and later, were joined by Theodore and Stanley. How we ended up coming here on the same day was a mystery to me, but I didn't care. We put our arms around each other as we read the last tombstone, which hadn't been there before.

Hector Sam 'Zero' Zeroni and Jessie Danica Vernandez-Zeroni

August 14, 1989 - October 13, 2011

March 12, 1989 - October 13, 2011

Were killed by friends ex girlfriend and killer of daughter. Will be loved and missed.