Afterword

I was half, not whole,
In step with none.
Reaching through this world,
In need of one.

--With You I'm Born Again (Billy Preston & Syreeta)

As I mentioned many times, I knew that I was lucky. In the year or so that I had the tickets, my life had changed dramatically, and I truly believe that the tickets had a lot to do with that. After all, there was no reason that Kristen would have ever given me a second look if I never found them.

Not only was I living with Kristen and Lynette, but I found myself the object of admiration from my fellow students, and now I had a band that I could use to pursue my dreams.

All this great stuff was happening, and... somehow, I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

For instance, if the tickets changed my life, then was I living the life that I was supposed to? I've heard of the term "karma" from the popularity of Eastern religions, which is supposed to be the sum of a person's actions in this life and previous lives, and decides one's fate in this and future lives. Could these tickets somehow be interrupting this natural order, and would this interruption affect the karma of other people? These were really pretty heady things for a seventeen year old to be thinking!

A year before, I learned enough about the tickets to know that I wanted to avoid them for the most part. Since then, I learned more about them, including that other people had access to them or may still have them even now! I was warned about the tickets by Camille and her sister, and discovered some of the despicable things that Tim Hawking did with them.

So... despite the fact that it looks like I have everything I need... love, friendship, music, and happiness, those tickets are still there as well. What will happen next?

Obviously, there is still more of the story of the tickets to be told, and the finale will be coming soon!

A FINAL NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

I wish to thank Terry and Mike for working tirelessly in the editing of this story. They have met just about every deadline that I requested in order to get this story out in a timely manner. When chapters were late, it was always my own fault!

To everybody that has sent suggestions, compliments, pointed out errors, and otherwise sent me feedback, I would like to once again thank you. YOU are the reasons that I post my stories on the Internet. Your feedback is my only form of payment. In addition, seeing the random comment on USENET about my stories always gives me a nice feeling inside.

There will be another sequel to this series. I will start writing it in the beginning of 2006, and it will be posted on StoriesOnline.net first (as usual).

Once again, thank you for making it this far into the story. I know I've ended the story a bit abruptly again, but the story of the tickets is a long one taking place over a period of years, and I'd rather have the story at a manageable size rather than as one humongous story of a hundred or more chapters!

Peace!

JiMC (an author's pseudonym),
Somewhere in the USA