Edmond and I were married in Hawaii within the next few weeks. Since it was his first experience with it, Edmond was amazed at air travel. We also flew in my family and Carolyne, all of whom immediately loved Edmond once they’d met him. Julian, Troy, a few of the Trust members and all of the survivors of Arrosha’s group also joined us for the wedding. Edmond and I honeymooned on Kauai for three weeks, then returned home to New Orleans, and we bought a lovely home around the block from the Trust, where the group still stays and probably will continue to live for a very long time. They’ve all remained our best friends, visiting us and going out with us often. They’ve tried hard to get on with their lives and even with the help of the therapist that the Trust has provided us, some have had more success than others. Illea and Ricky are doing well and are even looking for a place of their own now. Timothy, Antonio and Kenny have all gone back to college and Robert is engaged. Of everyone, Ben is having the most trouble, but then he was the one that had to face the greatest betrayal. Beyond both Geoffrey and Arrosha, I think he felt that he let himself down. He’s afraid to trust again, but of late he’s been doing a little better. He’s been doing a lot of volunteer work with people and animals and I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before he’s able to love someone again.
My family comes to visit us often, as does Carolyne. My mom usually stays with us in the winter now, since the cold in the North was starting to bother her, but she goes back in the late spring in order to get away from the hot, humid New Orleans summers. The real fairy tale come true in my life is that everyone loves Edmond and that he in turn adores them. It was a real stroke of luck, for I know how rare that can be. I’ve chalked it up to his missing having any family around him at all, alone for so long in his stasis prison.
Edmond and I live a wonderful life now, a quiet life. we’re glad to say. We’re helping Brenda with her university expenses and board, so that she could quit working and concentrate on getting her degree. As a result, she soon got her bachelor’s and is finishing up her master’s. She’s now looking into a program that offers a doctorate.
On the home front, besides Samson and Delilah, we got a third cat and a couple of dogs, all rescues. Our lives are happy and thankfully uneventful. For a time, I enjoyed introducing Edmond to the inventions that he missed while he was being held prisoner, such as telephones and cell phones, movies, television and the internet. While he continues to be amazed at them all, he enjoys them nonetheless. About six months after we were married, his strength and stamina had returned to the point at which he began to be bored with doing nothing, so, with the Trust’s help, he put his vast fortune to good use by starting a philanthropic non-profit organization that helps many worthy causes and individuals. He was horrified to see the devastation that Hurricane Katrina ravaged upon the city and concerned to see how much work there was still left to be done, so he and I, along with Ben and the others, became involved with helping the city rebuild the less noticed, more forgotten areas.
Now safely settled into our new lives, Edmond and I were pleased to find out that the link we had shared in our battle against Arrosha has given us a unique bond, unlike any that either of us had ever had with anyone else. We’re enormously empathetic toward each other and have retained a sense of what the other is thinking and feeling, a sense of the other’s wants and needs, a sense that is beyond normal human interaction. As a result, we’ve grown ever more dependent on each other’s company.
Often though, when I think about how grateful I am to be alive, how happy I am that Edmond was rescued and that the members of the group are now safe, I can’t help but wonder about Virginia, Marcus and Zachary. What reward awaited them for all of their efforts? Were they now in an eternal afterlife of bliss after their incredible sorrow, eternal peace after their intense struggles? Or had they had simply found themselves in eternal oblivion? I had to think it was the former, because for them to have worked so hard for no reward just didn’t feel right to me.
After a few years, the effects of the essence and the water began to wear off and the group and I all began to age normally again. It was good that our lives were now sheltered and quiet, for the fight with Arrosha wound up taking too much out of both Edmond and I, leaving us in good, albeit delicate, health in the end.
The Trust arranged for Edmond, myself, and the group to see their staff psychiatrist, whom they’ve trained to be familiar with our very unique situation. I don’t think any one else would have believed us, let alone aided us as indispensably as he has. He’s been invaluable and has really helped us all in trying to pull ourselves together. Our nightmares are not nearly as bad as they once were and continue to lessen over time.
Edmond and I are the closest one can get in this world to true happiness and it’s so good that we have each other. We’re there to comfort each other on the nights that one of us wakes up screaming.
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About the Author
S. Suzanne Martin grew up in a small town north of New Orleans. She received her Bachelors Degree from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and worked in design, art, and copywriting. Her interests in art and fantasy merged this, her first novel, THE NIGHTMARE GAME.
She currently lives in Austin, Texas with her dog Tango and her cat Delta.
The Nightmare Game Page 79