Chapter 26: March 31

It had been more than a month since the news about Alvira's death, yet everywhere were remaining signs of mourning, from both adults and teenagers alike. Flowers and candles were placed at the door of her classroom, and many students stopped showing up to the Schoolhouse at all.

The day after the dance, the new Headmaster had even given a formal speech at an assembly about the ongoing investigation, and how 'there was still hope.' It was all a joke, of course. Somehow-and for some sick reason-their teacher had been kidnapped and killed. After that first week, no one had dared to leave the school grounds. Except for Wolfgang Bogdanow.

He walked on the familiar path to the highway, and then took the side road to Hvitanes. He blasted loud music in his ears, pulling the hood up over his head so no security guard driving to the school would recognize him. It had been hard enough finding a way out of the gates, and he didn't need to be expelled just weeks before graduation.

The road eventually led to the colorful village, and Wolfgang approached the duplex. He knocked at the door and tried to open it, but it was locked and a small sign hung on the frosted glass pane, barely legible. He tried the door handle again, but a loud, attention-attracting cough stopped him immediately.

"She's gone."

Wolfgang turned to the man, a middle-aged but athletic looking person. His eyes were a bright, mischievous green, and his arms were folded, a crate at his feet.

"What do you mean, 'she's gone?'" Wolfgang asked, turning away from the door and slowly moving towards the man. "Where did she go?"

"It's not really my concern. I think she's selling the place, though. Heard she was staying at the Hotel down in Torshavn. Left me this." He nudged the crate with his foot.

"What for?"

"Just some of her things. She was a fortune-teller. Did some other stuff on the side, but that was her main profession. It's sad she's leaving; she was nice. A bit on the quirky side, though…"

"You speak good English," Wolfgang noted, folding his own arms.

"I moved here a while back. Kind of enchanting, Streymoy, don't you agree?"

Something about this man reminded Wolfgang of someone else, but he couldn't place exactly whom.

"Anyways," the man said, looking down at the crate. "You can take it. I assume you're the kid that Taika wanted this to go to? She just said someone would probably show up, and I should give this to them."

Wolfgang took the crate gingerly, and held it against his chest. "Thank you. Do you know where I can find her?"

The man shrugged, and opened the door. "Most likely at the graveyard past those houses, there. She's saying goodbye before…" He seemed pained suddenly, but masked his features as he trailed off.1

"Before what?" Wolfgang snapped, his patience rapidly deteriorating.

The man stepped into his house, and looked at the boy through the screen door. "Didn't you know? She's leaving the country, son. Tomorrow, I think. It's hard to live in the past, and not much changes here in Hvitanes."

Wolfgang turned away from the duplex, carrying the crate under his arm as he walked down the road to the hills the man had pointed out. He remembered the day he'd killed his father, and then visited the grave when the lowlife had been proclaimed missing (and presumably dead). He understood what Taika felt. It was one reason why the Board had been such a blessing after the years that had followed the murder. He could pretend that maybe it had never happened.

Leaving the houses behind, Wolfgang made his way up a path that wound around small knolls, until he finally reached an open meadow. A short wall of stone surrounded the somber yard, and a lone tree stood at the center of it all.

Wolfgang swung open the gate, and stopped when he saw Taika, hoping not to startle her as she stood in shock and looked down at the grave. But she knew he was there, and she motioned with her hand for him to advance closer. Sometimes Wolfgang wondered if she really was psychic. He stopped next to her and looked down at the headstone, engraved with Alvira's name and dates.

"I thought she was American," Wolfgang noted, placing the crate down on the ground.

"She was, but her mother… my grandmother, I suppose, was Danish. She lived a lot of her life in America, but her real home was here."

Wolfgang watched as Taika placed a flower at the base of the headstone, and then bent down to retrieve the crate. She held it gently in her arms, as if it were an infant, and sorted through the items.

"I want you to give this to Riley, please," she said, and held up a clear plastic bag with the Wheel of Fortune Card inside.

"Why Riley?"

Taika smiled blandly, looking through the rest of the objects in the crate. "Riley is one of those special girls, the ones you rarely meet in life. There's something about her. She would have made a great fortuneteller, I should think. She has a certain mystery."

Wolfgang murmured assent, and watched as Taika took out a small letter from beneath the other contents.

"The rest of this crate should go to Myra. And give her this letter, too."

"You're not going to say goodbye to her? I thought you were like sisters."

Taika shook her head and whispered something that Wolfgang didn't catch. It sounded, however, like "more than you think." Wolfgang took the crate from her to carry it once more.

Taika brushed her hands and leaned down in the damp grass, level to her mother's gravestone. She kissed the tips of her fingers, and gently pressed it to the smooth stone, letting it linger until her hand dropped to her side. She stood and looked at Wolfgang, the green in her eyes seeming to vanish and turn to gray.

"This does not come as a surprise to me, Wolfgang. I had a feeling she was already gone. But leave as soon as you can, like I am. I know what you did, those years ago. Don't go back to Berlin."

"Where do I go? And how?" Wolfgang asked, frowning.

"You should follow the dark-haired girl. You would follow her anywhere, no? You'll find a way."

Kala, Wolfgang thought, and something inside him seemed to hurt at the thought of her. She'd accepted him into her life, but at what cost?

"Don't think too long on it. Follow your instincts, as you've always done. I'm sure we'll all meet again, some day soon. Say goodbye to them for me, please." Taika covered her short hair with her rain jacket's hood, and walked out of the graveyard, disappearing down the hill as a light mist of rain fell, soaking through Wolfgang's sweater.

/

May 8

It had been several days since their graduation, yet they still felt like students at the large institution that was the Board. The staff had been lenient in giving them a week to pack up and leave. But the eight sensates believed it would take much longer to ever leave what had become their home.

Kala looked out the window of her bedroom, packed full of boxes and beds stripped of their sheets. She moved the drapes as far to the side as they would go, and looked for Wolfgang across the courtyard.

A wave of a hand in the upper window of House 2 made her smile, and she pointed down to the fountain. Thumbs up signaled "yes," and she slipped on her mountain boots, grabbing her luggage as she ran out of the room, and nearly collided with Myra.

"Where are you going?" the redhead asked, her voice sounding more and more somber ever since the news about their dead teacher had arrived.

Kala tilted her head towards the stairs. "It's still early, we have time to meet up with everyone before we leave for the airport."

Myra paused and looked around her dorm once, taking in the memories of the House. Then she grabbed her backpack and the mysterious crate Taika had left her, and the two girls were jogging down the stairs to the courtyard.

Kala still wasn't sure if she and Wolfgang were dating. They certainly spent most of their time together, and everyone around them referenced them as a couple. But Wolfgang was distant, and Kala wondered if he always would be.

As she saw him sitting on the fountain's wall, she felt a tingling in her stomach, but not from butterflies. It was a sensation of nervousness. What would they do after today? Where would each one of them go?

"Kala? You're coming with us, aren't you?" Wolfgang asked, looking at her with concern.

Myra cocked her head to the side and clicked her tongue. "She looks a bit green if you ask me."

Kala shook her head and smiled, trying her best to look and feel at ease. "I'm fine. I just realized how quickly everything went by. And now I know I won't ever see this place again." She turned to take in the dorms and the Schoolhouse beyond, empty of students now.

Wolfgang slowly pressed her hand and nodded towards the gates. As the three of them walked towards it, their bags in tow, he whispered, "You'd be surprised what happens to us sometimes. To where we end up." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye quickly, judging her reaction. But Kala was thoughtful, adjusting the strap of her backpack every now and then as they left the school grounds and stopped at the lines of trucks waiting to drive them to the airport. Dropping their belongings in the seats until they could return later, they walked towards Hvitanes.

"What are you doing?" Kala asked Myra as the girl took several pictures and videos of the hilly landscape.

"I just feel that I need a reminder. I've been here four years, yet I feel that that time was fleeting. You know? It's as if this is more of my home than England."

Kala smiled and sniffed, zipping her jacket as the cool summer wind hit her. "It's funny that you say that. I remember my first week at the Board. I wanted to go back to India. I missed the heat." She heard Wolfgang scoff and turned to roll her eyes at him. "What? You'll like it too. It just takes time to adjust."

Wolfgang paused, surprised but hopeful at her statement. "Are you asking me to go back home with you?"

Myra continued her hike to leave the two alone, and Kala stopped to look at Wolfgang.

"I'm not saying that you have to. If you don't want to come back to India with me, I completely understand. But the planes leave soon and I think we should decide."

Wolfgang looked down at his boots, dark against the light verdure surrounding the path. Going to India with Kala was a huge decision, and he felt this in her emotions. If they were leaving, did that mean they were ready to start a life together?

"I'm not trying to impose anything," Kala blurted out, blushing as she understood what he felt. "I don't want you to feel obligated to come with me, and I know how it must have sounded but-."

Wolfgang leaned in and kissed her softly on the cheek, trying to calm her again. Stepping away, he nodded towards Myra in the distance, visible only by her dark bags and flaming red hair.

"We'll find a way, Kala," he murmured as they started walking again. "It might not be today, or tomorrow. It might not be for a few months. I just… there are some things I need to take care of back home."
Kala looked at him in surprise. "You're going back?"

"Yes. And when I'm finished with what I need to do, I'll follow you. I'll follow you home." Wolfgang tried his best to make it sound convincing as he plastered a smile on his otherwise humorless face. He wanted to be with her, but he needed to go to Berlin again and take revenge on his remaining family. Once I do, she'll never want to see me again, Wolfgang thought to himself. But he ignored this thought and walked on until he saw his friends waiting for them at the graveyard.

Will opened the gate slowly, squinting in the bright sunlight.

Riley, Myra, and Capheus were standing in front of Alvira's grave, frowning.

A few feet away, leaning against the large tree in the center of the graveyard, were Lito, Sun, Nomi, and Amanita.

Kala let go of Wolfgang's hand and walked over to Nomi, who looked agitated and less composed than usual as she spoke.

"God, I don't even know what to think anymore! All this time I was spending trying to find out who was sending the cards, where Alvira went, how to hack into the school's mainframe, and why the hell I was connected to seven other people. And I have answers now, but they aren't what I was looking for. I just feel disappointed, you know? Like I came to learn and study, and I got whisked away on this… this bizarre mystery thing, and now it's just gone and done and over. What do I do now? What do we do now?"

Amanita patted her girlfriend on the shoulder. "Life isn't ending, Nomi." She grimaced as she realized she was standing in a graveyard, and lowered her voice. "Okay, so maybe it ended for the people buried here. But we get to continue our lives. You're coming with me to San Fran, and everyone is going to go and do their own thing. It'll get better. I promise."

Kala walked back to where Riley was sitting, the cobalt-colored strands in her hair looking as if they had slowly faded to a light blue with time.

"Is it strange that I didn't even know her, yet I feel so strongly about her death?" Riley mused, flipping the Wheel of Fortune card from one hand to the next.

Kala sat down in the grass as well, and traced the letters of her name in the grass. "No," she started, and thought back to their school year. "No, I don't think it's strange. I don't know exactly what she was to us, but she was something nonetheless. And death is always sad."

"Death doesn't let you say goodbye," Capheus murmured on the other side of Riley. The two girls turned to look at him, and then back at the headstone.

"It's funny because I was never good at saying goodbye," Riley said, standing again with Will's help as the others surrounded them and looked down at a fresh bouquet of flowers that had been placed at the bottom of the stone.

Wolfgang stood next to Kala and watched her carefully. He didn't know if he was addressing her or his other friends, but he felt that it needed saying. "There isn't ever goodbye. Not for us. We're always with each other. There will always be 'hello.'"

A/N: Wow. I feel sad right now. This is the last chapter of Sense Teens. I think I've developed a sort of love and caring for this fanfic, and it's kind of hard to let go just yet. But everything must come to an end. Over the next few days I will be editing and updating all of the chapters. This chapter will be combined with last week's chapter, Chapter 26 (just a warning if you come back and you don't see a Chapter 27). Anyways, I decided to leave it here because I thought it was a good idea to end the fanfic when the teens graduate high school. But I've been thinking about where this story left off, and I can see possibilities of a sequel fic in the future (maybe once we get season 2?) Meanwhile, I'll probably be writing short one-shots of the grownup sensates. It was lovely having the opportunity to write this, and I had a lot of fun doing so. PM me if you have any Sense8 stories you'd like to share or for me to read. I'll see all of you later with my next story!

~C.o.D.