Hamen Cheese

I did not promise a happy ending. At the very least, I promised a hopeful ending. I will try to deviate away from a sad ending though. Even now the final chapter is still undergoing revision since I've adjusted a few things due to beta reader comments.

I am glad to hear that Cemel_Dosce. Like I told a few readers before I wrote this story to bring people through a roller coaster of emotions. I'm glad to hear that it is having that effect on you. Makes me accomplished in writing this.

I hope so too.

I wonder how much Charlie has thought of that day and how things turned out, especially when Derek asked him at The Spot if he was gay. Charlie said no. I wonder if he regrets that answer now. Of course, he was around 11 years old at the time. What could he really know about being gay? Loving Derek was a given. He was "Hero". If Charlie had told his mom about that day, somehow he managed to convince her not to do anything. I wonder how she feels about all this now. Does she regret that decision. If she did know, she didn't tell Derek's mother. How could she ever begin to justify that? As a mother and an adult, she had to realize that Derek's safety was seriously in question as well. Well, Hamen, the very least I can say is this chapter was thought provoking. Another brillant chapter!! Thanks Conner. The adults still have roles to play before everything finished. Hopefully, it all comes together in the end. There are a lot of regrets in this story. I just hope you don't regret reading it!

*gush*

Charlie did not repress it the way Derek did. As to who will reveal what, you'll know soon enough.

If you mean the present (by future) then we're coming up to that soon. Everything narrated so far leads to the present. And yes, the sandwich lady will be back one more time before all this is over.

Thanks.

Charlie will be here for the rest of the story.

Certainly not in a ditch covered in snow as it wasn't snowing! The next chapter picks up immediately from where Part 3 left off though.

Derek definitely experienced some psychological trauma. It is not possible to "just forget" something like this. Some of his behaviors can be explained by psychological studies on child abuse. Although I won't elaborate on some of it much in this story (I won't pretend to be an expert in it), I researched just enough so that it is at least grounded on some supported theories or facts. The next chapter tackles your questions regarding Charlie and Derek. And yes, it makes me sad to realize that there really are some parents who would do stuff like this. I hope though that this chapter did not open old wounds for my readers...

Thank you Westlake82! I'm glad you felt that the wait was worth it.

CHAPTER 29: The Forgotten Door (Part Two) I dreamt I was in a large room. It was a large white room filled with emptiness, no furniture, no shadows. Just nothingness. I was running, trying to get out of it but I couldn’t. I could see a door in the distance and I extended my hand to reach it, but I couldn’t – I wouldn’t. It was like a part of me wanted to open it but a stronger part of me didn’t. Something was behind that door that I both needed and dreaded. Struggling to reach it was all I coul

Thanks! Not a lawyer by chance, are you?

Haha. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there are really some people out there who do though. Actually, I partly based his character on a very vain friend of mine who thinks the world revolves around him. Though of course, I never ask him if he springs one when he sees himself on the mirror.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked that sweet chapter.

Thanks. Also, Part Four has six chapter.

Yeah, I lot of people were hoping they would end up together. And maybe... just maybe... I caved in a little. Yes, Derek is troubled in more ways than one. I can't discuss it here though without giving away elements of the story. Hope you like the succeeding chapters.

Thanks Antonio.

Thank JeyO! I'm glad I can still keep the surprises up after so many chapters.

Yeah, it surprises (and saddens) me that something like this can still happen in our world. I like to think the best in people so it sometimes disappoints me to learn that some people are simply not who we hope them to be. =/

Thank you Conner. Hopefully, all the loose ends will be tied up for you before the story was over. I'm hoping the beta readers were able to catch those for me and point them out. There will be one or two things that won't be completely resolved though... for one reason or another.

Unfortunately, you will still hear from him before this story ends. But we'll be seeing more of Big C for the rest of the story also.

Thanks ckprime.

Wow, thanks for that very detailed review. It's great! Yeah, I realized that thing about proof reading, haha. This was my first stab at a novel and every time I read to edit, I found errors new errors each time. >.< There are even several writing rules there that I break which I didn't know were wrong till someone pointed it out in another story. I tried going back to edit this but it took too much time away from writing new things. Haha. I also didn't have an editor or beta reader for this one so all errors here are mine. I might get help for the next one. This story actually incubated in my imagination for several months before I started writing it. I love stories where things "all come together" in the end rather than "this happened, then this, then this." I wanted to give the same thing to my readers. Regarding the timeline, my biggest challenge was that I had released the story while writing it. When I first started writing A:TSW, there were supposed to be less than 30 chapters (I think 27?). The gaps between parts (such as what you pointed out with Madame Rooste) were supposed to be shorter. But I found out later on that I could not squeeze in the story to fewer chapters unless I had chapters consistently over 10,000 words long or that I took out certain plot points. I couldn't have either of those. It's something I'm working to fix though for the next part. I'm glad you liked that scene with the gryphon riders. I liked writing that even if it felt a bit awkward writing a sexual scene. Haha. I'm already needing bodyguards to protect me from my Charlie readers. But yes, that's a theme (perhaps device?) I use in this story which will occur again in the sequel where certain issues left unresolved in A:TSW come to a close. Regarding spirit freedom, I have not forgotten (nor overlooked) that part. It was just not central to this story but will be highly relevant in the sequels. Unfortunately, Magister Aenhol will not be the High Mage Lord any time soon. However, I'm sure you've noticed a vacancy. With my schedule, it will take some time for Book Two to come out. However, I'm working on a Interlude story which involves a character relevant for Book Two but has not been introduced in A:TSW. I'm going full steam ahead on that one after Charlie is done. Again, thank you for the review and I hope you like Charlie also when you start reading it.