The Tribuo - 74. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

2 Years Later

RAYNE

I will be the happiest person in the world once this whole ordeal is over with, I swear. Yeah, it’s supposed to be the happiest day of my life, yada-yada-yada… Bite me! I critically looked at myself in the mirror. Okay, not too bad, okay… The damn zit that I was freaking out about for the last three days was gone, thank God. I swear, that thing was huge! If it grew just a little more, I could’ve named it or something.

The door opened and Jess came in. She looked as if she was expecting me to go off on her ass about something. Can’t blame her, really. For the last couple of months or so, I was one of those dreadful creatures known as Bridezillas. She saw my determined face and relaxed somewhat. Huh, I guess I didn't look as scary as I thought. That was good.

“Ummm…” she said uncomfortably, and I immediately glared at her.

“If you gonna say that someone thought it would actually be funny to go through with that whole 'Let’s get the flower girl drunk' plan…” I said dangerously, and she viciously shook her head.

“No, no,” she said very quickly. “She’s not drunk!”

“What is it then?” I asked somewhat calmer.

“Her mother had a bra disaster,” Jess said miserably. “The clasp broke, so she had to run to the store… And I need to go check on stuff, to make sure it’s in order, you know?”

“What do you want?” I demanded, cutting her off.

“Is it okay if Callie stays with you for a bit?” she asked in a small voice. “She’ll just sit quietly, and…”

“That’s fine,” I interrupted her.

Callie was a good kid. She was surprisingly well-mannered for a six-year-old. Jess let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Great!” she nodded and turned towards the door. “Come on, Callie!”

The girl walked in, her teddy bear clutched in her hands. She looked composed and cheerful. Good, because I would hate my flower girl to have a tantrum right now.

“Okay,” Jess was saying very quickly. “Just go sit over there,” she gently pushed her towards the couch. “Play with your teddy bear or whatever… And for the love of God, don’t tick her off!” she finished in a hushed, urgent voice.

I snorted. Jess shrugged.

“You never know. You’ve been worse than someone with untreated bipolar disorder lately…”

The little girl laughed and bounced towards the couch. Jess nodded with great satisfaction.

“Okay,” she said. “Fifteen minutes, okay? I am going to make sure everything is under control, and…”

“Just go,” I waved my hand at her, and she nodded again and all but ran out of the room.

Callie laughed. I looked at her.

“Just you wait,” I said solemnly. “One of those days you will have to go through the same exact thing. It won’t be too funny then…”

She shrugged and climbed onto the couch, holding her white dress skirt up a little. I looked in the mirror again. Wonder if I should use more makeup… I reached for my eyeliner when Callie said:

“You don’t need any more makeup. You look perfect.”

I turned around.

“Really,” I hemmed, and she just nodded.

“Yeah. That’s what he said. And I think that you are really pretty.”

“He said,” I repeated and looked at her bear.

She rolled her eyes and set the plush toy on the pillow next to her.

“Not the bear,” she said with reproach. “He is just a toy, you know. Toys don’t talk!”

“Right,” I nodded. “Who said it then?”

“My friend,” she said simply.

“Ah…” I muttered. A friend, right. I wonder if every kid has an imaginary friend at some point in their life. “Well, say thank you to your friend.”

“He says you are welcome,” Callie nodded and looked to her right.

“A polite friend you’ve got there,” I said seriously, and she giggled.

“He says you are funny,” she informed me.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I am a hoot…”

“He says that you look ex… Ext… Exro… Ugh…” she looked to her right again and shook her head. “I can’t say that word, it’s hard.”

I blinked. The kid has a hell of imagination, all right…

“Oh, okay,” she nodded and looked at me again. “You look really good.”

“Thanks,” I nodded with a smile. “What’s your friend’s name?”

“Seth,” she said indifferently.

Huh, interesting name. I expected something like Flounder or Sebastian. Suddenly, she giggled again. I sighed and turned towards the mirror.

“He says that he dares you to guess what color his eyes are,” Callie said behind my back.

“Yellow, of course,” I said absent-mindedly and blinked.

Huh? Why would I… I frowned at my reflection in the mirror. There was something in the back of my mind… Something that I couldn’t quite grasp. It was like a tiny splinter that got stuck underneath your fingernail – it’s right there, you can feel it, but you can’t see it, and it’s driving you nuts.

“He says you are an Empress...?” Callie said uncertainly, and then her forehead smoothed out. “Oh, no… He said that he is impressed…”

I slowly turned around. I had that feeling that you get sometimes. You know, when you are trying to remember a dream or an old event, but you can’t? But then it gets really close to the surface, and you are about to finally grasp it, and…

“Ready?” Jess’ head popped into the open door, and I blinked.

Whatever that feeling was, it was gone now.

“Yeah,” I breathed.

“Good,” she nodded. “Let’s go! Callie, you remember everything, right?”

“I remember,” the girl jumped off the couch.

“Okay,” Jess nodded again. “Come on, Bridezilla! I can’t wait for you to finally go back to normal!”

I snorted at that and walked towards her. I stopped right before I left the room, and turned around. Of course, there was nobody there. Just Callie’s teddy bear -- and we all know that toys don’t talk.

“You getting cold feet or something?” Jess asked impatiently.

“No,” I said softly. “I’m coming.”

I grasped her fingers and closed the door, the weird feeling completely gone and forgotten.

THE END