Chapter 8:

Some Time Later…

Time went on as it does. John's funeral came and went, with his family, as well as he and Kate's closest friends all attending. Everyone all expressed their grief over Kate's loss, which got disorienting after a while, but she gladly accepted their condolences with a thankful heart. Daniel had even gotten out of the hospital just in time to attend his father's funeral, something he was glad that he could be able do, although he'd been wheelchair bound at the time. Kate's dad Jonathan even showed up to share his condolences for the son-in-law that he never really got to know. Kate ignored the gesture, and kept him at a distance.

And as time went on, the Coleman family relocated from their old home to brand new one in the suburbs, but still within the town of Hamden, Connecticut. Kate's kids were the reason she chose to stay, as they both wanted to be able to visit their father's grave on occasion. Kate wanted the exact same thing for herself as well, and so it was settled that they stay in Hamden.

As for their income, Kate began to teach music at a privately owned studio, as well as working on trying to become a full-time writer, given her long background in academia. It was sustainable income for their new home in the suburbs, and secure. She still struggled with balancing her act as a mother and a music teacher, but time and time again she told herself that she'd get the hang of it and make it work for all them.

Meanwhile, Kate's father Jonathan moved to Hamden as well, in order to help look after Kate and her kids, while living on the other side of town to give his daughter sufficient space. He did continue to help her financially, not wanting to see her struggle. He hoped that in time, she'd forgive him and give him another chance, but he wasn't going to push the issue. She'd come around if and when she was ready, and he respected that.

The Coleman Residence

October

2010

Nearly a Full Year Later…

Kate lay asleep in her bed during another night that was plagued by nightmares. She frowned as she tossed and turned, facing that fateful night when she'd lost John for the umpteenth time. As she twitched and moaned in her sleep, a shape slowly made its way over to her bed from the shadows, and sat down beside her. A man's hand wearing a wedding ring reached down and gently stroked her hair, and then caressed her face. Kate's frowned expression softened, and she slowly began to relax.

The unseen man then leaned over and kissed her forehead, whispering her name.

"Kate… wake up… you're having a bad dream…"

Kate's eyes slowly fluttered open and she slowly glanced around. She then looked up at the man sitting beside her, warmly smiling down at her while she lay there. It was John.

"John?" Kate weakly asked, as she slowly sat up, "Oh my God, John! It's you!"

"Hi Kate," John said with a gentle smile as he stroked her cheek.

Kate pulled him in and kissed him, the 2 of them holding their kiss for a long time. When they parted, Kate smiled at John, tears of joy falling from her beautiful blue eyes.

"Oh my God, I miss you so much, John!" Kate exclaimed in a loud whisper, "The kids do, too!1 I thought I'd never see you again!"

"You know that I'll never leave you, not even in death," John said, taking her hand and lightly squeezing it, "You're my wife and the mother of our children, Kate. I love you. I love you so very much, and I always will."

"Oh John, I don't think I can do this without you!" Kate said, her eyes pleading with him.

"You can, Kate," John said with that same warm smile that she loved so much, "You can and you'll succeed because I believe in you. Daniel, Max… we all believe in you. I'll never leave your side, and I'll never stop loving each and every one of you."

They kissed once more, Kate's eyes closing as she held him tightly. Their lips then parted and John held her snug against him, her head on his shoulder as he began to caress her hair and hold her. Kate eyes remained closed for a few moments.

Morning…

Kate's eyes slowly opened and she sat up suddenly, looking from left to right for her husband, who had only been there a few seconds ago, but he was nowhere to be seen now.

"John?" Kate asked, as she sat there in her dark bedroom.

It was still dark out. There was no answer of course, but for a few moments, she swore that she could smell her favorite aftershave of his. Kate smiled, her eyes sparkling.

"I won't give up on our family, John," Kate said softly, "I promise."

She then looked down at her feet, feeling a warmth at them. Asleep at the foot of her bed was their german-shepherd rescue, named Remy. He snored slightly as he slept, pressed up against her feet. Kate chuckled and slowly began to get up.

Sliding out of the covers, she glanced over at the flatscreen TV that she had in her bedroom, which she'd fallen asleep on without turning off. A black & white performance from 1968 was softly playing, as Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues was singing 'Nights in White Satin.' Kate stared at it for a few moments, just listening.

"Nights in white satin…" came the haunting voice of Justin Hayward, "Never reaching the end… letters I've written… never meaning to send… beauty I'd always missed… with these eyes before… just what the truth is… I can't say anymore… Cause I Love Youuu… Yes, I Love Youuu… Oh, How I Love Youuu…"

Kate smiled, got up and slowly made her way out of her bedroom to check the rest of house. As she made her way down the dim hallway, she peered into Daniel's room and smiled. There lay Daniel, fast asleep, along with Max curled up against him under the same covers. Little Max had a habit of either bunking with him or Kate on occasion due to recurring nightmares of her own. But right now, she looked peaceful.

"Hey, you guys," Kate quietly whispered with a sweet smile.

She then quietly crept downstairs and checked the locks on her doors and windows, as well as her new alarm system. Everything looked good; nothing out of place.

After getting a bowl of grapes and a glass of orange juice, she sat down at the dining room table, opened her laptop, and loaded up a word document. After it loaded up, she began to read through it. It was the first draft of her very first book, which was going to tell her and her family's story about their adoption of Esther, and the nightmare that followed.

She'd felt compelled to do so, as the TV press, the papers, independent true crime bloggers and even talk shows had all been hounding her for her family's story. Finally sick of the barrage of constant phone calls, messages and emails, Kate made a compromise; she'd tell the full story of her family's ordeal with Esther and answer all of their questions and speculations all in one fell swoop by writing a tell-all account of their ordeal. She decided that this was the best approach to telling her story, as the idea of appearing on various talk shows and the like, retelling her story over and over again wasn't the least bit appealing to her, no matter how much money she was offered to do so.

She also hoped that after this yet-to-be-named true account was published, that it would be the end of it. She could bury the past out there with Esther and be done with the whole ordeal. After all, she wanted to eventually quit teaching music at the studio, and write romance novels full-time from home. Not full-on erotica, but something with a little extra kick than your usual lovey-dovey, fantasy story. She had even entertained the possibility of maybe writing children's books under another pseudonym, as not to taint them with her terrifying past.

The sun had risen in a few hours, yet Kate hadn't noticed time pass as she worked on her manuscript. She'd gotten past the traumatic still-born death of baby Jessica, her and John's rocky marriage and her problems with alcohol. She decided to be as transparent as she could with it, to help get her side of the story across.

She had just started upon the chapter, where she and John were heading to the orphanage, the very day that they met Esther; the day everything changed forever.

Kate stopped typing, saved the document, and sat for a few moments, deciding if she should continue or save the rest until later. She got her answer upon hearing Daniel and Max upstairs while they got ready for school. Kate nodded to herself, deciding so shelve it for now.

She exited the document, powered down her laptop and closed it with a shaky hand. She then closed her eyes and began whispering to herself.

"You can do this, Kate," she calmly said, "Just relive it once more and be done with it. Bury Esther out there and just be done with it."

After a while, Daniel and Max came downstairs and joined Kate in the dining room as they all began to eat breakfast together. Remy had joined them, eating his dog food noisily from his bowl, his tail wagging from side to side. Kate had given him a few scraps of bacon with his breakfast, as he'd been very well-behaved since they rescued him from the shelter a few months back. He had definitely made them all feel safer in their new home, which was also very nice. Especially with Leena still out there, uncaught, even nearly a full year later…

"Hey mom, were you up all night?" Daniel asked, startling her.

"Huh? Oh no, I just couldn't get back to sleep," Kate said, giving him a warm smile.

"You're writing again, huh?" Daniel asked, eyeing the laptop, which still sat at the table.

"I am," Kate said confidentially, "I think that if everyone knows our story, they'll stop hounding us for it. Heck, they might even help us catch this… Leena Klammer."

"I hope so," Daniel said, with an annoyed sigh, "But not everyone wants to help us; I heard that Macy Stevenson, her younger sister Mimi and their friends at school are all planning on dressing up like Esther this Halloween."

"You're kidding," Kate said with a disgusted look.

"I wish I was, but they were showing the rest of the class the dresses that they bought from a thrift shop," Daniel said, trying to gauge his mother's reaction, "Macy even taunts me all the time in that accent Esther had."

Kate shook her head in disgust and scoffed.

"If they show up here dressed like that on Halloween, I'll throw a big bucket of red paint on all of them," Kate said, not hiding her rage, "And then they can all fucking be Carrie White." Kate then shook her head and sighed in utter annoyance and added, "Hateful little rich bitches, the whole fucking lot of them. I hope their douchebag boyfriends give them all herpes."

She then saw Max stop eating at that last comment and give her a shocked look, her hand covering her mouth. Kate immediately looked regretful and signed an apology to her.

"Sorry sweetie, mommy's just a little upset with some bad people."

Max nodded in response and continued to eat her cereal.

The doorbell rang and Kate glanced up, smiling. Remy began to bark, but she gently hushed him, lightly scratching both sides of his neck. Kate got up and went to the front door, opening it to reveal a short, pretty young woman, who was about 25, blonde with bright blue eyes and a cute little smile.

Kate smiled as she let their new arrival in, who was partially soaked, as it was a gray skied morning out and raining heavily.

"Heyyy Hannah, you're early!" Kate happily said, as the smaller woman chuckled.

"My car wouldn't start this morning," Hannah said, wiping her feet, "And when it did, I hurried over here as fast as I could, thinking that I was going to be late!"

"Well, you're here now and you're early!" Kate said as they both hugged, "Dependable as always!" She then gestured behind her. "Coffee? We're just having breakfast right now."

"Oh, sure!" Hannah said as she joined them.

Hannah Gillespie was their young, part-time nanny. She was energetic, sweet, playful, and best of all, she was great with both Daniel and Max, even knowing a little sign language to communicate with the latter. She was an aspiring musician, had her own vehicle and was an absolute god-send for Kate, especially now that she needed even more help around the home.

"Hey kiddo," Hannah said, tousling Daniel's hair as she passed by him. He blushed, smirked a little and bumped-fists with her.

"H-hey Hannah," Daniel said trying to hide his sheepish smile.

Kate smiled at her son's obvious crush and poured Hannah some coffee. Hannah then signed a greeting to Max, who smiled and signed back to her. They then both hugged.

"You're getting a lot better at your sign language, my dear!" Kate said, nodding in amazement. She then handed Hannah her coffee, and the both of them gently tapped their glasses together.

"Oh, I've been busy practicing when I get the time," Hannah said, gently blowing into her hot coffee, "Lots of YouTube videos. Plus, I even bought a book on it from Chapters. I hope that I won't need it one day, and that I'll have everything nailed down and memorized."

"Practice makes perfect!" Kate said with a smile. She then remembered what Hannah had said about her car not starting.

"So, your car's giving you trouble, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what's wrong with it," Hannah said with a little shrug, "I've been meaning to take it in and get it checked out, but something always comes up."

Kate nodded, before adding, "Tell you what, why don't you take my car today to drop the kids, and I'll take your car into the shop for you. It's the least I could do for all you've done for us in the past while. You've been so amazing with me and the kids, and I've been meaning to make it up to you."

"Oh, are you sure?" she asked, "Don't you have to be at the studio today?"

"Yes, but the garage is on the way," Kate said, "I can just drop it off, walk a block and be at the studio, no sweat. You can always come and pick me up later."

"Let's do that," Hannah said, smiling. "Thank you, Kate!"

"Hey, what are friends for?" Kate asked with a wink.

A while later, Hannah, Daniel, and Max had all climbed into Kate's SUV and were pulling out of the driveway. Kate waved at them, and they all waved back, before the vehicle pulled off and sped her kids off to school. Remy sat beside Kate, panting loudly. Kate then glanced down at him, scratched him behind his ears, and led him inside.

"C'mon buddy, let's get our day started," Kate said as they both disappeared inside.

Elsewhere…

Leena Klammer lay covered up as she peacefully slept in a dark bedroom, thousands of miles away from the Colemans. As she slept, her dreams were a troubled mix of bad memories from her past and premonitions of the terrible things that were to come.

As she dreamt, her alarm clock suddenly went off, making her gently begin to stir. An irritated look then crossed her little gray face as she awoke and angrily swatted the snooze button with a little more force that necessary. The clock tumbled off of the nightstand and lay upturned as Leena groaned and glanced around her dimly lit bedroom, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. Every curtain was pulled shut in her new hideout, to keep her invisible from the outside world.

She then slowly sat up, leaning back on her hands with her eyes shut, as she stretched her back.

"Still alive, still free," Leena said to herself, as she lowered her head and sat for a few moments.

She then slid out of her covers, clad in a black camisole and matching black underwear. She slowly got to her feet and then groggily made he way over to the washroom. The light came on and she saw her reflection glaring back at her. The scars on her face that she'd gotten from her fight with Kate had now healed up nicely, and were much more faint, but were still an eyesore to her nonetheless. Thankfully, her make-up would usually do a good job of hiding them.

"What are you looking at?" Leena asked her reflection, which perfectly mimicked her.

Leena then tied her hair back and then reached down to a plastic case beside the sink. She snapped it open and took out a pair of cheap plastic dentures.

She then placed the adhesive in the u-shaped grooves of them and looked up at herself, opening her mouth wide and revealing that all of her gray, rotting teeth had all been removed, leaving only bare gums. Leena winced on the sight of them, and carefully placed her dentures over her gums, clenching her teeth to make sure that the adhesive held her false teeth to them. As she practiced smiling and the gritting her teeth, the adhesive held.

She'd done the multiple tooth extraction procedure herself a few months ago, after the pain from her tooth decay had gotten too much. First, she'd stolen the necessary tools and anesthesia by breaking into a nearby dental clinic, and then executed her impromptu surgery that same night. Her teeth and bloody gauzes were still in the washroom bin, a painful reminder of what she'd let lost that fateful night. But on the bright side, she didn't have to worry about the pain anymore.

Leena then exited the washroom, leaving the light on to illuminate her dark bedroom. She then went over to the dresser, took out a modern black & white maid's uniform and tucked it under her arm. She then glanced up at a mannequin head, which sat atop the dresser wearing a blonde wig that was tied up into a stylish, messy bun hairstyle. She decided to save it for last.

Once she was dressed in her maid uniform, she did her make-up, taking delicate care to cover up the scars on her face. Once she was satisfied, she then placed on a black choker and then matching 2 wrist ribbons, just as she'd done as Esther. She then put on her blonde wig, adjusting it to her liking, licking her fingers and letting a few loose strands down to be stylish. Once she was satisfied with her pristine appearance, she smiled and exited her bedroom.

A while later, she sat at a large couch using her new laptop as she poured over articles regarding her story with the Coleman family. Her stolen 45 automatic sat atop the coffee table across from her, along with her new 6-inch Buck 119 hunting knife and some spare hollow-point bullets which lay scattered about next to an ashtray full of smoked cigarette butts.

As she sat typing, the second-hand turntable she'd bought from a pawn shop sat atop a short bookshelf, playing an old vinyl of Sam Cooke's "Unchained Melody." She'd managed to find it at the same pawnshop for a decent price, so she bought them both together. It wasn't Jimmy Durante's 'Glory of Love', but it was an equally beautiful song.

"Ohhh, my love… my darling… I've hungered for your touch… a long lonely time…," sang Sam Cooke's haunting voice, "Time… goes by… so slowly… and time can do so much… are you… still mine?"

Various pictures of Kate and John passed by as Leena scrolled past to read the articles. There were even pictures of herself as Esther, that had been taken during her first day with the Colemans. One had been a picture of her with Max, but Max's face was covered under a redacted black box. Leena figured that Kate didn't want any photos of her kids published, to avoid them being bullied or harassed by townsfolk.

From what she could gather from her research, the Hamden police were still actively searching for her, although they had no leads. But they were in constant contact with the staff at Saarne, trying to figure out Leena's mindset and what her next move may be. The investigation might've come to a halt, but they weren't stopping.

As for what she could gather on Kate and her kids, they'd all stayed quiet on the whole matter. But Kate had made one brief media appearance that had caught Leena's immediate attention. It was when local reporter Leanne Garner came to her Kate's front door, unannounced wanting an update.

When Kate answered the door and saw that it was the press, Kate had initially looked like she might read Leanne and her cameraman the riot act, but then she calmly explained that she was writing a full-length tell-all book on the matter, and that everyone's questions would be answered once it was published. She then asked for respect and privacy until it then, and quietly shut the door on them without another word.

And that was all Leena needed to hear to rile her back up.

The fact that Kate was writing this book made Leena's blood boil, and made her hate Kate even more. She knew that Kate would only tell her side of the story, and do everything in her power to make Leena look like a heartless monster with no soul, conscience, or morality. It was bad enough that the general public already thought that of her, but for Kate to add fuel to the fire made it all the more worse.

As the better part of a year had passed and Leena began her new life away from Hamden and away from Estonia, she'd slowly adapted to it and began to put the past behind her. That was until she heard about the book, and all those memories of living with the Colemans, the shaky relationship she had with Kate, the murder of John and her close call with death at the pond all came flooding back to her, along with those vengeful feelings that she had for Kate and her family, feelings that she thought she'd buried.

Initially, Leena hadn't wanted to seek out retribution against the Coleman family, she just wanted to disappear and start anew. But now, she felt like Kate was forcing her hand, and inviting her back to finish what she started when she killed John. And if that's what Kate wanted, then Leena was more than happy to oblige. Sure, it'd be a long trip back to Hamden in the states, but she wanted to guarantee that Kate's book would never get the chance to be published. And if that meant that Kate had to die, then so be it.

"Lonely rivers flow... to the sea... to the sea... to the open arms of the sea..."

A light knocking at her door made her glance in its direction.

"Hey, Tatyana?" asked an older male's voice, "Are you awake?"

"Yes Dr. Bartlett," Leena said with a kind smile, "I'll be right out."

"Lonely rivers sigh, 'Wait for me... Wait for me... I'll be coming home, wait for me...'"