by Matt Blake
He glanced away from the road and smiled at her.
Then he looked back ahead and pointed. “Shit. Here it is. Hold on tight.”
Avi took a turn down a road that was barely a road. They drove away from the city lights, heading upstate, into the darkened forests.
“Not planning on murdering me, are you?” Ellicia asked.
“Damn. You’re onto me. Might as well get it done with.”
After forty-ish minutes of driving, they stopped. Ellicia got out of the car, inhaling the fresh country air. The crickets sang, and the light breeze brushed against the trees. So many memories filled her mind.
Avi walked beside her pointing ahead again. “It’s not too far. Just over—”
“Don’t worry,” Ellicia said. “I remember exactly where it is.”
Avi smiled then, like he realized he was being stupid. “Of course. Course you do.”
They walked through the trees, enclosed by even more darkness. As they moved, Ellicia found herself thinking of the ULTRAs. Although they’d been a great presence in the days of the cleanup, they had drifted into the background since. They’d become something of a legend. They were still out there; no one doubted that, but their numbers seemed limited. Stone had gone off the radar. Roadrunner was nowhere to be seen. As for Orion, Saint, and Daniel… no-one could say.
But one thing was for sure—history had remembered them fondly. An important lesson to bear in mind, should any ULTRA-related events unfold once again.
For now, the world was peaceful.
That was the important thing.
“I should warn you,” Avi said, as he waded over the branches that had fallen to the grass. “It might get you kinda… well, I don’t wanna say I cried when I first saw it, but…”
He stopped talking, then. Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe he carried on, and Ellicia just didn’t hear it.
All she could do was focus ahead.
Focus on what was right in front of her.
Lit up in the darkness, there was a statue. It stood tall, with its back to her right now, arms by its sides, fists tensed, and a hood covering its body.
It was larger than life-size. But there was no denying who this was.
Ellicia felt herself welling up already as she walked around it. She’d heard that the memorial had been erected just two years ago, after so long of crafting. She’d seen images of it online. But she’d never brought herself to face it in the flesh. She’d never found the courage to look it in the eye.
And as she walked around the front of it, she still wasn’t sure whether or not she was strong enough or courageous enough to face it, head on, and accept the truth.
Avi took her hand in his. He smiled at her. “Come on,” he said. “It’ll help. I swear.”
Ellicia took a shaky breath.
You can do this. You can do this.
Then, she stepped around the front of the memorial.
When she looked up at it, she couldn’t comprehend what she was looking at, initially. It was… so perfect. So real.
Kyle’s face, in all its glory, imprinted onto that statue, looking out over the beautiful view from the hills of Manhattan, like he was guarding the world even though he was gone.
On the stone beneath it, an engraving.
Kyle Peters.
RIP.
A Hero Once, A Hero Forever.
But the most beautiful thing of all?
The bright light above his head. The star in the night sky.
Nobody could explain why that star was there. They’d tried to send small crafts up there to look at it closer, but strangely, it vanished when you got near to it, kind of like a rainbow.
But that light was engrained on the outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. And it was looking down on the world, right above the statue’s head.
The brightest of lights, visible even in the day.
The light from the end of the battle.
The light that came from Kyle when he sacrificed himself to save the planet.
“Well?” Avi said. Ellicia could hear his voice breaking. “Whaddya think?”
She felt her lips wobbling too, and there was no disguising the truth anymore. “Oh, Avi.”
She held him, and he held her back. She felt safe in the warm arms of her friend, and she knew he must do too. What they had between each other was special. They’d seen so much. They’d been through so much. Even when Kyle was away, fighting, Avi had always been there.
And that bond, that friendship, it would never go away. It would never be replaced.
“I’m sorry I took so long to come home,” Ellicia said.
“Hey,” Avi said. He squeezed Ellicia a little tighter and lifted her off the ground. “I’m just glad you’re here now.”
She looked into his eyes and for a moment, she wondered. Could it work? Could something work between them?
And then the moment passed, and they hugged each other again.
Their friendship was strong. It would always bind them. Nothing would get in its way.
They sat on the hillside in the shadow of the statue and the memorial for a while until the lights of the grounds went off. But that light above stayed lit, as did the lights of the city. Ellicia could hear the sounds of the city in the distance, but mostly things were silent. Peaceful.
“Do you ever wonder sometimes if…” Avi started. “If he’s still out there, somewhere?”
Ellicia picked at the grass beneath her. She had thought about this, of course. But she hadn’t really entertained that it could be possible. So what did she say?
What did she really think?
She took a deep breath; then she looked up at the statue of Kyle’s face.
Then, she looked at the blinking star, which shimmered in the sky.
“Even if he’s not,” she said, “he’ll always be with us. He’ll always be remembered. For what he did.”
The pair of them stayed there a little while longer, until it got colder. Ellicia didn’t realize how long, until Avi had a hand on her shoulder, and she realized she’d been drifting off.
“Come on, jet lag,” he said. “Let’s get you home.”
Ellicia laughed. “Yeah. I guess I should’ve thought about sleeping at some point. I’ve got to go see Cassie tomorrow. Want to be fresh and ready for that.”
They walked down the hill, toward Avi’s car.
Before they reached it, Ellicia felt an icy cold breeze on the back of her neck and heard an inaudible whisper. It was strange. Indescribable.
She turned around.
There was no one there.
Just the statue of Kyle.
Above it, the light, twinkling brighter in the sky.
She stared at that light for a while, watching its twinkles, its flashes.
Then she smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “Always.”
She turned around, and she made her way to Avi’s car, ready to continue her trip back to New York, to the States, and ready to continue her life, once and for all.
And for one brief, fleeting moment, the wind blew bitter cold, and the fingertips of Kyle’s statue went icy, as the star expanded and twinkled brighter than it ever had before.
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The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any reference to real locations is only fo
r atmospheric effect, and in no way truly represents those locations.
Copyright © 2017 by Matt Blake
Cover design by Damonza
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