Welcome to tonight's epilogue chapter made possible by much demand for an epilogue to this story.
I dedicate this chapter to everyone who read In Your Eyes there was a Freedom and truly wanted this last chapter.
This chapter is pretty short but it is just an epilogue and writing out a lot of the trial would have been tedious to do and for you to read.
This takes place six months after the end of chapter five.
Pov jumps around a little sorry.
Epilogue
(FITZ)
"You want to dance?" I ask Clare and she nods. She stands up and I take her hand leading her out to the dance floor. I take us close to Adam and Maya and put my arms around Clare while she links her arms around my neck. My fingertips brush over the sequins on the bodice of Clare's dress.
We're at her senior prom tonight and we've been out of our captive hell for ten months. The trial begins in two weeks, just after Clare's graduation, and we'll both have to give testimony. We're both trying not to think about the trial and the fact that we'll have to face them again. Tonight is just about us and having fun.
We are officially dating now, can't really say when it began it's not like I asked her to be my girlfriend or we talked about turning what we had into a romantic relationship. It just happened, people began calling her my girlfriend and calling me her boyfriend and we didn't dispute it. One day she kissed me and a couple weeks later we went on a date. There was never a moment that we went from what we were to dating but we're a couple now and our connection is as strong as it ever was, stronger even. No one else will ever understand how we feel or what we've been through, why we react to certain things the way that we do.
"Last year I didn't think I'd see my prom," Clare says as we sway to the slow song.
"I know but we're here, don't think about last year just think about right now," I tell her.
"I hate what we went through but I'm glad you're here with me. I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else," Clare whispers as the song ends.
I smile and kiss her cheek before we sit down again. We're at the same table as Adam and Maya, who began dating a few months ago. Drew and Bianca are also at our table, he repeated senior year and Bianca came down to go to prom with him again. We have cake and dance again, the slow songs together and the fast songs with our friends. Brock will be letting out for the summer next week and Owen will be home all summer.
"I'm ready to go home," Clare says before prom is over.
"Okay let's go home then," I nod. We say goodnight to everyone and get in her mom's car, which we borrowed for the night, to go back to her house.
In the months that we've been free we've been healing but there's still a long way to go, months, years, decades I have no idea. It took weeks for us to even be able to get used to being around people again, and those people not intending to hurt us. Getting used to eating three meals a day and have someone smile at us without us thinking they wanted to abuse us. Now we've been able to more or less settle into a daily routine and get our normal lives back. We don't flinch away from other people's touch; we've stopped having nightmares every night and been able to cope with daily life and social situations. We've begun thinking of the future. Clare is going to attend Ryerson for journalism next year and I'm studying for my GED so I can go to Centennial next year.
"Did you want to stay? We could have stayed," Clare says as I begin driving home.
"It wasn't my prom."
"I know but you never actually got one, it just seemed…trivial I guess. I can seem my friends any time and the only thing I really liked was dancing with you."
"We can dance again. It's still early do you want to watch a movie when we get home?"
"Yeah with a big bowl of popcorn," she smiles.
We arrive home and change out of our formal clothes into pajamas. I know most couples spend their time after prom at a wild party or having sex but not us. We don't care much for parties, especially wild parties; we've been to plenty of those where we were the entertainment. We've had sex and been violated in just about every way imaginable we still don't like certain touches and it will be a long time before we do. Clare and I are in no rush to make love; we will one day I'm sure. Truly make love that is, when I "trained" her just after she was taken that doesn't count; it was forced like everything else we were made to do in that place. Once day when we're ready we'll make love for now we're really just happy to be together, holding each other and be alive and free.
(CLARE)
"I don't think I can do this, I don't think I can face them," I shake my head as my feet freeze in place on the courthouse steps.
"Yes you can Clare, you've made it this far and we'll be there with you the whole time," Adam says taking my hand.
"You can do this Clare, this time they're the prisoners," Fitz reminds me.
"They can't get near you, they'll be in handcuffs and there will be bailiffs and me in the courtroom and they have to go through all of us to even touch you," Owen assures me. He came home just in time to see me, Drew and Adam graduate.
I take a deep breath and squeeze Fitz's hand tightly before we all walk inside. It's the first day of the trial, a day we've been waiting for since fleeing captivity but for the first time in over a year I have to face the people who kidnapped me and stole my life and my innocence. Not just mine but many people's lives, innocence, hope and so much more.
We all file into the courtroom and take our seats in the pews. Fitz, Adam, Eli, Jake and my parents sit in the first row just behind the lawyers. Owen, Bianca, Drew and the Torres parents are in the row behind us. Connor, Alli, Jenna, Dave and Dallas sit in the row behind them with some other people. Sadly many of the victims of the human trafficking ring can't give testimony because they are not mentally fit to do so. Several of the people we were held with won't be giving testimony today because they are still undergoing counseling or in a mental facility, a couple can no longer go outside. As hard as it's been for Fitz and I to adjust back to life we've actually been fairly fortunate because many of the people I knew in captivity have not adjusted at all. I am sure that Fitz and I wouldn't have done as well as we had if we didn't have each other, we gave each other strength and hope in captivity and even more so out of captivity. As hard as it was surviving our captivity being back in the world and adjusting to life has been hard, in some ways even harder.
When the defendants come in and we see our captors again I cringe, Fitz cringes and we grip onto each other. Seeing their faces again is terrifying and evokes memory after memory. I make the mistake of closing my eyes so I won't have to look at them but rather than looking at their faces I'm pulled into a memory. I can smell the cell, the old cement, the musty air, in the distance I hear screams and begging and wails of pain. My breathing speeds up, my heart begins to pound and my body begins to shake. Feeling a hand on my arm I open my mouth to let out a scream and beg not to go, not again I can't take any more.
"Clare open your eyes and look at me, you're safe," Fitz says.
"Clare you're okay they can't hurt you," Adam tells me.
I open my eyes to see that it's Adam with a hand on my arm and he grins at me. I look at Fitz and he smiles at me gripping my hand a little more.
"You alright Clare?" Owen questions and I nod.
The trial begins, the judge comes in and soon the lawyers are giving opening statements. After all that and the presentation of some evidence there's no time for testimony today.
"We should go do something fun and relaxed," Owen says as we leave the courthouse.
"What do you two want to do?" Bianca asks looking at Fitz and I.
"I'm sure it sounds lame but I'd like to go hang out at Adam's. Watch a movie, order pizza, play games," I speak up after Fitz doesn't say anything.
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Adam smiles.
"I'm all for pizza, movies and games," Owen agrees.
We all drive to the Torres house and spend the evening watching movies and playing games and eating pizza. Fitz and I have to go back to court tomorrow, the others don't have to but most of them are coming with us again for moral support.
"We don't have to go back tomorrow, they said that they'd call us in when they thought we'd be giving testimony," Fitz comments when we get into my bed to sleep.
"No I want to go back, I want to go back every day and look at them and have them know that we won and they didn't completely break us."
Fitz smiles and holds me a little tighter but we both have trouble falling asleep because we're thinking about the trial or we get pulled into a memory. Anytime one of us gets pulled into a memory the other one pulls us out.
The next ten weeks, basically our entire summer, is consumed by the trial. It's hard to go back to court every day and look at the people that made our lives hell for four months. It's hard to hear all of the evidence, all the terrible things they've done. It's especially hard to hear all the testimony, to relive what I went through for four torturous months. As hard as it is it was worth it, the minimum sentence any of our former captors receives is 25 years. Konigin and Wache will be deported to the states and then China to face charges there as well.
"I can't believe it's finally over," I exhale as we leave the courtroom for the final time.
"It's over," Fitz grins putting his arm around me.
"It's over and so is summer, we all go back to school in the next couple of weeks," Owen comments.
"Two weeks is a life time," Fitz replies.
"You ready to start at Ryerson next week?" Adam questions. He'll be headed to NYU and rooming with Eli.
"Yeah I am," I grin and look at Fitz. He takes his GED in a month and assuming he passes, which I know he will, he'll enroll at Centennial next January.
"Everyone to our house for a celebration," Drew says as we walk down the courthouse steps.
We all split up getting in our various cars and drive to the Torres house. Fitz parks behind Owen and we get out but before we walk into the house I stop Fitz and turn to him.
"You know I never would have survived that without you, we needed each other and we got through it together. I love you Mark," I tell him putting my hand at the back of his neck and gently place my lips on his for a kiss.
