After the Change
Copyright© 2011 by Old Fart
Chapter 17
This is the final chapter of After the Change. I wrote myself into a corner and upon reflection, found what I consider the only logical way to get out of it. When you force a group of people into a world as foreign as sending them to a far away planet, not all of them are going to survive. I make no apology for what I have written but I will warn you that they don't all live happily ever after and the ending will probably disturb some of you. Part of my job as a writer is to evoke emotion and to make you think. I imagine this chapter will do the first to just about all who read it. Hopefully some of you will indulge in some of the latter.
Grace
I was numb all the way home. Somehow I was able to tell the men to bring my son's body into the house and place it on the dining room table. I put a pillow under my son's head and draped a cloth over the gaping wound in his throat as they unwrapped the blanket, then ordered everybody out of the house. I locked all the doors, closed the drapes and sat down next to him. I took his hand in one of mine and stroked his hair with the other.
And then I cried.
It all bubbled up inside me and all the emotions overflowed. The hurt, the anger, the guilt, the sorrow, the fear – they all poured out and there was nothing I could do to stop them.
Damn Henry Bell for not keeping it in his pants, for not being a father to his children, for not loving us the way Burt loved Maria and the rest of his family.
Damn Kyle's new buddies for their amorality, their attitude that they were due, no matter who they harmed in their pursuits of instant gratification.
Damn Kyle for listening to them all and trying to follow in their footsteps.
Damn Christina for making a big deal out of things. It was only a fucking blow job, it wouldn't have killed her.
The divorce, the move, starting over. Just when things started going better, we got dragged to that damned cave. Yeah, it was great to go through that treatment or whatever it was and come out looking like a teenager on steroids. Dreamer could have made a fortune at the spa in the country club. It was great for an hour or so until we found out that our whole world had been taken away and we'd been placed in one with just enough similarity to taunt us.