Epilogue
August 9, 1945
Three days ago, my country dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed 'Little Boy' on the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Today, another atomic bomb, this one nicknamed 'Fat Man', shall be dropped on the city of Nagasaki. They say that the bombs will cause so much destruction and death that Japan will be forced to surrender. I hope they are right, as I'd hate to see all that suffering have no positive outcome at all.
I am an old woman now, closer to eighty than to seventy. I have seen much of life, experienced both its joys and sorrows, its gains and losses. The future belongs to Rhett and Nikolaus, to their children and grandchildren. I am merely a relic of the past.
A sharp pain presses down upon my chest, so overwhelming that I cannot breathe. I feel but a moment of fear, and then I see that they are all here to meet me. My parents, the grandparents I never knew, George's parents, Nicholas and his wife and children. And George. My darling George. How long it has been since last I saw him! Yet there he is, holding his arms out to me in welcome. I must go to him!
Suddenly I am young again, the aches and pains of my body gone. George takes my hand, and it is warm and soft and firm in my own. I know that this is no hallucination. It is real. I have come home at last.
Many thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this story. :)