Epilogue
Mulder stepped out of the elevator into the basement. He walked up to his office door. On the floor lay a pile of mail. He picked it up and opened his door.
He hesitated. He stared into the dark room.
Mulder sighed. He knew that he had to eventually get over what happened at Leafmore, but until then he was still afraid to enter into any dark room.
He stayed outside the door, but reached his hand in and felt along the wall for the light switch and turned it on.
They room lit with bright light. After he felt comfortable enough he stepped in and walked over to his desk. He placed the mail on the desk and hung up his coat. He then sat down at the desk.
He mentally reprimanded himself.
Today was his and Scully's first day back to work. He looked at the clock; it was nearing eight. She usually came in about now. He wondered how she was. They had decided to not talk about what happened right away and to just give each other time to collect themselves. They decided not to speak until they came back to work.
It was a week since the horror of Leafmore High school. Mulder knew that it would take time to get over everything that happened there, but he just wanted it to be instantaneous. He wanted to get back to normal and pretend that Leafmore hadn't ever happened.
He would if he could just stop having nightmares about the damned place.
Mulder shrugged it off and started sifting through his mail.
Only one envelope stuck out at him. It was a large manila envelope.
He picked it up and looked at the address.
It was from Shannon Matthews.
He opened it. In it was a letter and several newspaper articles.
Mulder read the letter:
Dear Agent's Mulder and Scully,
I know that you must not want anything to do with Leafmore or me and my brother. I know that your experience here was because of us. I'm sorry, but I just wanted to give you an update of what's been going on.
First, my brother, Stan, and I are doing well. The antidote did work. Second, is what gets me so angry.
Everything is being denied! Even though the bodies were found, even the labs, at least I think those were found, everything is denied.
They're saying the school collapsed because of a weakened foundation and that the bodies of the students found, the ones missing, they're saying it is because they were living in the basement and were crushed when the school collapsed. And all the evidence and files of Friedman's research have all gone missing. There is no evidence of the Mortifilia. Stan, Kenny, and I have tried to tell the truth to our town, but they all label us as crazy now, and just overstressed or that we have overactive imaginations, whatever. I suggest you just let this truth be buried; it's not worth being called crazy over this. There is no way to prove it now. All the deaths are just being linked with the collapsing of the school.
The school will be evaluated to see if it can be rebuilt, but I noticed that while they are having the building assessed, there are people removing things from the school. I know that it could just be stuff from the classrooms that weren't destroyed, but I have a terrible feeling that it might be some of Friedman's research. I may be paranoid, because ultimately no one believes anything we say. I still worry though, but it's over and I'm glad for it.
Thank you again, and I hope you and Agent Scully are doing well.
Sincerely Shannon Matthews.
Mulder put the letter down and sighed. He looked at the articles. They were as Shannon had explained, about the school tragedy, and the crazy story that she, Kenny, and Stan had told. The three were being put in a bad light. He and Scully however were not even mentioned in any of the articles.
Probably a good thing, he thought.
Mulder was used to it though, being omitted from the story of a case, he also knew the feeling that Stan, Kenny, and Shannon were experiencing. He and Scully had always been called crazy and other names not worth thinking about at the moment and most of their cases had been denied before.
Even though it was something he should have gotten used to by now, it still didn't make it any less frustrating and infuriating.
Mulder slammed his fist on the table.
He didn't want this case to be one of those.
The kids he saw, the monsters they became, he wanted all of it stopped. Now he was sure that someone would be continuing what Herbert and Leonard Friedman had failed.
He was sure that soon there would be other cases like Leafmore. And he knew that it would be up to him and Scully to go through it if one ever did surface again.
It wasn't over.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the elevator doors open and then the clicking of heels on the floor.
Scully entered the office. She looked at him. She seemed to have expected him to be the first one there.
She placed her briefcase down and sat in her chair across from his desk.
"Hi," Scully said simply.
"Hi…how are you?" he asked and knew that it was a stupid question.
"Probably as good as you are," she answered honestly.
He nodded and looked at the letter again.
"What's that?" Scully asked curiously.
"Uh, Shannon sent us a letter about what's going on now," Mulder said.
"Well, what is going on, I haven't really kept on it," Scully said.
"It's all being denied, and we don't exist," Mulder said irritated, "No mention of what was going on, all the deaths are being attributed to the collapsing of the school."
Scully nodded, "Well, what did you expect?" she said sympathetically.
"I don't know, the truth to be told, for someone to believe and put a stop to it all," Mulder said.
Scully became uncomfortable, "We believe and we put a stop to it. We stopped it," she said firmly.
"No…Shannon says that the files have gone missing, and people are removing things from the school. She doesn't know what, but those labs weren't destroyed so…" he said.
"Maybe it's being destroyed," Scully suggested.
"No, not going to happen, someone will find that research too good to just destroy, there will be more study of it, and testing, and they might follow the Friedman brother's lead; another high school," Mulder said sickened at the thought.
"I don't know what to say, Mulder," Scully said, and looked through her briefcase and pulled out a few files.
He looked at them curiously.
"I kind of knew that this would happen…I made copies of everything we found before the originals were confiscated from us," Scully said, "I just wonder who wanted it hushed."
Mulder took the files from her and looked through them, skipping over the photos. He saw the monsters in his head every moment. He knew that neither he nor she would ever forget what the monsters looked like.
"Someone who read these and understood what the research and testing's meant for humanity," Mulder said.
"This doesn't aid anyone," Scully said, "From what I've read, it's nearly impossible for anyone to modify the Mortifilia to make anyone immortal and not have any mutations," Scully explained.
"I don't think that would stop anyone. Isn't that what research is for? Someone will continue it," Mulder said grimly.
Scully sighed frustrated, "Mulder I don't know what you want me to say, or do, I'm on your side, I…believe this, but…" she trailed off and looked at him contemplatively.
"What?" he said curiously.
She looked at her hands, "I don't know why anyone would when the research has proven fruitless so far. Herbert even said it…he almost had it, but didn't," she said, "It still just makes me wonder about what I injected into you, Stan, Kenny, and Shannon."
"We're fine. I've been in light and nothing bad has happened to me," Mulder said confidently.
"Yeah, well it's not like you spend a lot of time outside, you're always in the basement," Scully said amused.
He nodded, "True, but really, I feel fine, and I've noticed nothing out of the ordinary with me," he assured.
"I know, but still I just wonder what he almost perfected. What was he accomplishing?" Scully said.
"Well, we'll never know," Mulder said, "Anyway, I heard you had a meeting with Skinner, what did he want?" he said needing the change of subject.
"To discuss the case further," she said uncomfortably.
Mulder scrutinized her and sighed heavily, "You told him the story that they created?"
"Actually no, I told him the truth, but he's going with the story that they created," Scully explained, "He has to, it's the only one that makes sense, but he accepts that we believe what we believe."
"He's always been good about that," Mulder said approvingly.
She pulled another file from her case. Mulder looked at her expectantly.
"Another case…so soon?" Mulder asked surprised.
She shrugged, "Well we came back to work, so…we work," she said.
"What is it?" Mulder asked.
"We go out to Massachusetts today, to speak to a woman who believes that she is repeatedly robbed by invisible people," Scully said handing Mulder the file.
He took the file and looked through it, "Invisible people?" Mulder questioned.
"Yeah, I thought we'd start back light," Scully said frankly.
He nodded, "It could be interesting," he reasoned, "Not as interesting as Leafmore though," he said.
"I hope that we don't encounter anything as interesting as Leafmore for awhile. Or ever again," Scully said seriously.
"Me too. So…invisible people it is," Mulder said standing up and grabbing his coat.
Scully nodded and picked up her briefcase and headed for the door.
Mulder looked at the files on his desk. He picked them up and walked over to a filing cabinet.
He opened the drawer and placed the files in the back, hoping to never have to take them out again.
Mulder closed the drawer and walked out of the office.
He stood with Scully at the elevator.
Mulder knew that he and Scully would never forget what they experienced at Leafmore High school. And he knew that it would take time before he could ever really get over it. He knew that it was the same for Scully, if anything probably worse for her. This experience for her was beyond anything she had experienced on the X-files, and this case couldn't easily be denied because of all the evidence they had. This was the one time that she had to believe and agree with him. He wasn't sure if he was happy about it. He wanted a skeptic outlook on this; he still had a hard time believing all of it even happened.
Either way, as he convinced himself every minute…it was over.
The elevator doors opened and Scully and he stepped into it.
He pushed the button to the garage parking.
The doors closed and he knew that he and Scully were starting their journey back to normalcy or to at least what was normal for them.
The end
Author's note: There is a sequel to the game. I do have a story outlined to it too. I don't know if anyone wants to see that. If so leave a review, if not...thanks for reading.