epilogue,
we're okay

HOLLAND LEANED AGAINST the counter, her orange juice in hand. Instead of watching the news - which was just a about how new evidence kept coming up implicating Nick Goode as the Sunnyvale Serial Killer - she was watching Ziggy Berman and her mom talk.

She'd taken it upon herself to reunite the two. After all, Eloise had always viewed her as a second daughter. Ziggy had broke down the first time she'd come over, apologizing profusely to the woman, but Eloise had assured her she didn't blame her at all for Cheryl's death.

Now, Ziggy came over almost every morning. She was becoming the sister Holland had never had.

Everything had gone slightly back to normal. Holland still had horrible nightmares about the things she'd experienced, but she was getting better. At least she didn't wake up screaming anymore and could sleep with the lights off.

"Baby," Eloise called out, earning a hum in response from her daughter. "You should probably get headed to school, yeah? You'll be late."

Holland nodded and downed the rest of her juice. She quickly grabbed her backpack and the car keys before she gave both her mom and Ziggy hugs.

She didn't expect to see her boyfriend standing on the porch when she opened the door, looking like an idiot with his fist raised, prepared to knock. "Simon?" she furrowed her brows, closing the door behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"Do you want to walk with me?" he asked her, smiling softly. He then noticed the keys in her hand. "Or we can take the car."

"Let's take the car," Holland laughed, giving him a kiss before she unlocked the vehicle and climbed into the drivers seat.

The drive to school went quicker than it usually did. Simon was telling her about how much he liked the new job he'd started because, well, beside the fact that their friend hadn't died there, he was also making more money than he had been at the store.

When they pulled into the school's parking lot, the first thing Holland saw was the sign that said In living memory: Kate Schmidt, Heather Watkins. At first, it had hurt. It was just another reminder that Kate was gone. But now, it made her heart warm. Kate wasn't being viewed as a junkie anymore. Holland made a cross and kissed her fingers, motioning them towards the sign.

"Holly?" Simon hummed. "Why don't we just skip today?"

"And do what, Si?" she turned to face him. "My mom would kill me, Simon."

"She'll be mad at first but then she'll get over it," Simon stated. "You know your mom can never stay mad at you for too long."

Holland huffed and weighed her options. She could either go to school and be bored the entire day because Kate wasn't there to make funny commentary or she could spend the day with her boyfriend, not at all bored and incredibly happy.

She was sure her mother would want her to go with second option, especially with everything she'd been through. Eloise knew that Holland was most happy with Simon.

"You're cute when you're thinking," Simon commented, making her look over to see him staring at her.

"Thank you," she retorted, mindlessly shrugging with a small smirk. "You're cute when you're showering me with compliments to try and get me to skip with you."

"Is it working?" Simon asked hopefully, shooting her an adorable, toothy grin.

"I guess," she finally decided after a moment of silence.

"Yeah!" Simon cheered and pulled her in for a quick kiss. "Okay, I'll give you directions." Holland nodded and began pulling out of her parking spot.

Simon had led her to a spot in the woods, and Holland found herself grateful of the fact that it was day time. "Okay," he started. "I didn't have time go get, like, a picnic or anything prepared but I want to give you something."

Her eyes caught on the tree behind him. She didn't mean to ignore him but she couldn't help but walk toward the tree. She ran her fingers over the carving.

HW & IK

It looked old, like it had been there for many years.

"Wait-" Simon scrambled to find his pocket knife, reaching into his pockets before he finally found it. He began carrying one around after everything they'd went through. Each of them had their own way of coping with the trauma they'd went through.

Simon moved next to her and raised the tip of the blade to the tree. He began carefully carving an H. Holland smiled as she watched him carve their initials into the tree, right next to the other ones.

"There," he pulled away from the tree. "Now, whoever decides to come here will see our initials."

"Perfect," she beamed.

Simon watched her for a second. She looked happy. Truly and genuinely happy. He blinked, remembering what the original goal had been. "Okay, right, I brought you here because I wanted to give you something." He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out something.

A few years ago, Kate had made Holland, Simon, and Deena all friendship bracelets. Holland had lost hers about a week after and felt like shit, but Kate had reassured her it was okay.

After coming home from the mall, Holland had had a breakdown over the bracelet when everything that they'd went through hit her. She went mad trying to search for it, claiming that it was one of the only pieces of Kate she had left.

For a while, she wouldn't laugh because Kate couldn't laugh anymore. It was like that until Simon forced Holland to watch some of Kate's favorite movies with him and kept making commentary like she would, eventually making Holland laugh. He'd stopped the movie, watched her for a second, and then told her that Kate would have wanted her to be living.

"Simon," her eyes filled with tears at the sigh of her bracelet. "How did you-"

"It's not the same one," he revealed, frowning. "But I know how much this meant to you, so. . . I remade it."

It wasn't the same, but Holland felt a weight lift off of her shoulders as she slid the bracelet on. A tear rolled down her cheeks. She pulled Simon in for a hug and tightly closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax against him.

She opened her eyes and, through the blurriness of her tear-filled eyes, saw Kate. Holland's eyebrows furrowed at the smile on her face. She looked normal. Happy.

Alive.

Kate pointed next to her. Holland's eyes flickered to the girl beside her friend. The girl was young, about 16. Her hair was short and light brown.

Holland recognized her immediately.

The girl was Cheryl Watson.

"Hey, Hol," Cheryl started as she waved. She wrapped her arm around Kate. "We're okay."

Holland knew she must be hallucinating or something, so she clenched her eyes shut. When she opened them, both of the girls were gone. She blinked, unable to help but feel like she was going insane.

She was relieved, though, as the voice rang in her head. She softly smiled and buried her head in the crook of Simon's neck.

We're okay.

𝒎𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒍 !!