Masen was nominated for a Golden Onion Award as the Best B-Lister character, and this is me shamelessly asking for your votes. He'll always have a spot in my heart, and I hope he does in yours, as well. Xoxo

The poll is open now through August 21 at goldenonionawards dot wixsite dot com. You can vote daily for all your favorites!

I'd like to give a shoutout to BitterHarpy for her input on this prompt. It was her brilliant suggestion, and one of three I posted in my Facebook group. This one won by a landslide. At last check, 54 of you voted for this prompt. The next highest vote was 11.

The premise of this one is a little different from my usual, so bear with me. We all have our beliefs on what's waiting for us "on the other side," and this isn't necessarily representative of how I feel. But, for the character, it felt right.


**Unbeta'd. All mistakes are mine.

**BitterHarpy and Maplestyle gave this a once-over. Thank you, ladies! xo


Peace


Masen

Peace. It's been a long time since I felt any.

From the time I was a little boy, my life seemed to be in a constant state of turmoil. Between losing my mother at a tender age, being raised by my less-than-gentle grandmother, and ignored by my father throughout most of my life, I was no stranger to feeling alone and abandoned. There were a handful of years when I'd found a patch of calm, some serenity in the dark chaos my life had become.

Bella was my light … my salvation, and Sam felt like some kind of redemption.

I had the chance to have it all, but I pissed it all away.

And now, as I lie here, my eyes closed in the stillness that surrounds me, all I feel is peace. After all the wrongs I've done, all the sins I've committed, I wasn't expecting it. After all, when you've lived the kind of life I have, I expected the great beyond to be a little … warmer.

I'm sure I'm not the only one to contemplate where they'll spend their eternity. I sometimes wondered if I'd spend it on the flip side, fanning the eternal flames of hell, or if some higher power would have pity on my soul and grant me a reprieve.

As my lids flutter open, I'm relieved it's the latter.

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever open your eyes."

I blink several times, my bearings still a little off. The voice is familiar, and as I turn my head and focus on the figure beside me, recognition starts to sink in. Blonde hair blows in the wind, a gentle smile makes warmth spread through my chilled bones, and blue eyes I remember from when I was a little boy stare back at me.

"Hello, Masen."

"Mom?" I push myself up, looking around and trying to figure out just what the fuck is happening. "What … how?"

Her smile turns sad. "Do you know where you are?"

My brow furrows, and my brain is sluggish as I try to remember what brought me here. It comes back in bits and pieces, flashes of memories of what happened to me.

Sitting at the bar, waiting on Caius.

Sammy's text.

Deciding it wasn't worth it.

Caius and his club running me off the road.

The pain.

My life flashing through my mind.

The shot—

"I'm dead," I murmur.

Her smile disappears as she nods. "You are. I hoped it would be a while before you were here with me." She reaches for my hand, and I let her take it. "But here we are."

"So, this is—"

"The afterlife. Nirvana. Paradise. Whatever you want to call it. I like to think of it as a second chance."

"A second chance? To do what? We're dead."

"A second chance at peace."

"Peace?"

Her grasp on my hand tightens. "Come with me. I want to show you something."


This place is nothing like I imagined. I guess I never expected to wind up here, so I'd never dwelled on it, but it's still a shock. Instead of clouds and gates and ethereal figures in white robes, I'm on what can only be described as an island. The sand under my bare feet is soft and warm, and the water lapping the shore is gentle and hypnotic. The sky above us is bright blue, and the breeze blowing across my skin is warm.

I close my eyes and breathe it all in.

"Not gonna lie. This isn't how I pictured heaven."

Mom laughs as she walks beside me. "No?"

"Nah." I look over my shoulder, toward the tree line. "Thought it would be a little more crowded. I mean, if they let a guy like me in, I figured there would be a few more people here."

She's contemplative for a few minutes before she turns to me. "This is more like … think of it like a waiting room. There's more beyond this, but you can come back here whenever you need some time to yourself, and"—her smile returns—"you'll probably want to come back pretty often."

"There's more?"

"There is, but that's later." She tugs on my hand. "I still haven't shown you what I told you I would."

We reach a bend in the beach, and instead of following the shore, Mom pulls me toward a path leading into the trees.

"Do you trust me?" she asks over her shoulder.

Do I? I think back to when I was little. She may have gotten wrapped up in my father and taken a few wrong turns of her own, but the woman leading me toward the unknown looks so much like the young mother I remember.

"Yeah, Mom, I trust you."

We push our way through the foliage, pushing aside the limbs and leaves, and when they fall behind us, my breath leaves me in a whoosh. My brain can't quite comprehend what I'm seeing or how I'm seeing it, but the sights, the sounds, even the fucking smells tell me I am.

"What is this?" I whisper.

"All these years, I've been watching over you. I know how much you've struggled. I've watched you fight demons you never deserved to face. Yet, with every bad thing you were dealt, you kept your heart in the right place. You loved. This is your reward. This is your chance to find peace, Masen. This is your way to see those you left behind."

Like a live-action flip book, scenes play out in front of me, time starting and stopping as I watch Bella and Sam pick up the pieces of my life and move forward without me.

I watch as they settle into life on their own, as Sam spends time in the hospital. I watch Bella cry at night, worrying about how she's going to pay the bills. My heart squeezes, knowing I've left a mess behind for her to clean up, and phantom tears I can't cry burn my eyes as I watch her struggle.

"I'm sorry, baby," I murmur.

Time skips and starts, and I watch Edward step into my shoes and do what I asked of him—take care of my family. As much as it stings, it's exactly what I wanted. Even as they grow closer, rekindle what was lost between them all those years ago, I can't find it in me to be bitter. In a way, it's a relief.

I know two of the people I care most about will have each other.

I feel like a voyeur as I watch them grow closer. When she finally lets him back in her bed, I have to look away. Not because I'm angry, but because the sting is especially sharp.

Time marches on, months pass in what feel like seconds. Old, buried family secrets come to light—things meant to rip apart and burn—but Edward and Bella weather it … together. I can't say the same for the club.

In a way, it's a little poetic to watch Pop lose his club and everything he thought was important. In the end, he even loses his favored son.

But the thing that brings me the most peace is watching Edward give Bella things I never could.

A fresh start.

A new home.

A marriage built on honesty.

A little girl.

Peace.

I watch as Sammy grows and stumbles his way through childhood and adolescence and right into his teenage years. I watch him test his boundaries with the man who's stepped up to be his father. I watch as my brother teaches my son how to use a wrench, how to shave, tell him about the birds and the bees and remind him of the responsibilities of becoming a man … things I wish someone had taught me.

I see Sam walk across the stage to accept his high school diploma and sneak off to kiss his girlfriend after the ceremony. And later, I watch as my brother reminds my son of how hard I fought to give him the life, the family, I didn't have. Warmth settles over me when I realize that my request the night I died—asking Edward to take care of my family—in a roundabout way, I did.

"Do you want to see any more?" Mom asks, her voice barely breaking through my concentration.

I glance back at her. "You said I can come back here any time I want to?"

"Of course. All these moments are here to revisit any time you need to." She stands and brushes off her pants. "Are you ready to see what else there is?"

I glance back at the scene in front of me. All the people I love are happy … they're loved. It's more than I ever could have hoped for. It gives me the one thing I chased my whole life.

Peace.

"Yeah, I'm ready."