by K. M. Ellis
Dad managed to start performing again. He was a broken man, but let his sorrow flow through his lyrics. His heartfelt words making stranger feel what he felt deep inside. The loss of my mother would wound him for the rest of his life.
Sometimes I visited her grave with my father. He would bring her flowers. Sometimes I would go after school, and I would see Gary, James or Ian, or a member of Arctic Circle. I even saw Roy once. Life went on for them, even without her, as it would me.
On her birthday I visited her, “I miss you, Mom.” I said quietly.
I looked up at the sky. I bet she could hear me, her and Thomas. Blinking away tears I turned to head home. I would make her proud.
2016
Epilogue
Darla
August 2016
“Dad you didn’t have to do all this for me!” I laughed, hugging him hard.
I had turned the big three-oh and he had brought me a cake like I was a child again. I smiled brightly as I took Theresa’s hand; turns out we were more than just friends after all.
Arctic Circle had finally retired a couple years ago when Roy had passed away.
Dad had been depressed after Kat’s death. He put it all into music as Arctic Circle released their greatest album to date after she died, dedicated to her of course. He didn’t marry again and I never saw him with other women, although I suspect he wasn’t completely celibate.
Drew had turned to alcohol after Kat’s death, making him become bloated and ruddy beyond recognition. Maybe he had truly cared for her. He was still married to Tammy and they spent most of their time out in L.A. now in their newest home.
Brian and his wife divorced shortly after my mother died. He had taken a new one who was less than half his age.
Nick was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2005 which made it difficult to play bass. When he passed last year, as the first member of Arctic Circle to go, I believe we all felt mortality.
Alex got arrested last year for drug use and is currently serving a short house arrest. He had been becoming more an interest in recreational drugs and began growing in his house.
Gary died shortly after my mother did. It had been drug induced, deemed an accident of course, but was kept undercover as much as possible. I did inherit his Aston Martin.
James stopped performing after my mother passed. He took to alcohol and drugs; and needless to say, it too caught up to him as he was found dead in 2003 with a bottle of whiskey in his hand and my mother’s lucky scarf in the other.
Ian had joined a new band and was playing bass still. I was in contact with him to this day. “You look so much like your mother,” he would say. I believe he was one of those who knew her best, and as the last surviving member of Neptune, he was something special to me.
Theresa and I became more than friends as we went to college and entered adulthood together. I believe I had found the same passion and love my mother had in her.
Neptune’s sales soared after my mother’s death, making them one of the best selling bands of all time. Finally, my mother had done what she had always wanted to do, be the best, and she was.
About the Author: K.M. Ellis is a graduate of Albertus Magnus College with a B.A. in History and a minor in English. She lives in Houston Texas with her husband and daughter.