EPILOGUE – ECHO
My eyes are not even open yetwhen I hear them fighting. But instead of cringing and putting the pillow over my head, I smile.
It’s like… music, this fight.
It’s birdsong.
It’s a church choir on Sunday mornings.
It’s beautiful and I’m not gonna waste a single fuckin’ minute of it. So I swing my legs out of bed and go into my bathroom.
I’m expecting to see someone different looking back at me in the mirror. After all, I’m not the same girl who left this house twenty-one years ago to join a vampire cult up in the Rocky Mountains.
But to my surprise, I am exactly the same. Short pink bob, bright blue eyes, and a face that has always been a little too round. This puts me squarely in the ‘cute’ department, especially since I’m only five foot two.
I’m wearing underwear and a black Offspring t-shirt promoting their newest album, but nothing else.
Inside the medicine cabinet I find the clippers, then I shave my head as best I can by looking in the mirror and feeling around with my hand. It’s probably a mess, but it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that the pink-haired girl no longer exists.
Once that’s done, I take the t-shirt off. The last thing I need is to be reminded of what I am thanks to the name of this band. Besides, I’m so over black.
I toss the t-shirt into the trash and walk over to my closet, picking through what I have, looking for something white. There is one dress that fits this description and it’s slutty, has a shark-tooth hem, and is made of fake silk and cheap lace. I wear it to concerts sometimes. But it’s all I have, so I put it on.
I have two pairs of white shoes. Pumps and Chucks.
I go with the Chucks.
Then I take one last look around my room, and leave.
Downstairs my parents are still fighting. They are so invested in this fight, they don’t even see me, so I just slip out the door and turn right, heading towards one of the main roads that runs through Spokane.
At first, there’s no one out here but me and it’s kinda creepy. But then I realize that if I want this world to be real, then I have to create the people in it. So I do.
Cars appear. Just a few, at first. But as I continue walking there are more.
At the end of the next block there is a purple mist waiting for me. This is the end of my fiction, I guess.
But only until I think up something to put in its place.
So I do that, and the street continues.
For now, I just populate my personal version of the infinite emptiness with what I remember being here.
A gas station. A dry cleaner’s. A strip mall.
One day, when I’m comfortable with my new existence, I’ll try making brand-new worlds. Maybe even brand-new species of people. Fun animals and cool places.
Because even though I’m not magical, Josep gave me… something. I’m not sure what it is, but that power, in combination with the knowledge of how vampires travel, was enough to get this world started.
It took me a lot of tries before I had the house right. Took hundreds of mistakes before I had a realistic representation of my worthless parents. My bedroom was a little easier, but that’s because it was all mine.
It was worth the effort though. Because this is it for me. This is my eternity and I’m going to make the most of it.
I’m getting a do-over.
Yes, I know it’s fake.
Yes, I know where I really am.
