Page 46 of Pack Giroux

I could cry, but I'm so dehydrated that nothing comes out. I hiccup a sob and pass out.

Epilogue

ONE YEAR LATER

I stand at our glass windows, watching the lights of the city as people move about their nightly lives. It's been a year since I lived through the worst days of my life. One whole year that I've had to grow and relearn how to be a person that forgives again. I dropped out of school because I didn't want to face the whispers, same reason I hardly leave the house, but I've gotten better as the news has found some other poor soul to splatter their lives all over for a quick buck.

I don't blame my pack at all. On the contrary, I'm supremely grateful, because were it not for them reaching out to their media contact, they would've never gotten the tips that led the FBI straight to the compound.

Self-defense lessons have taken me a long way, knowing that I'll have a fighting chance if there ever had to be a next time.

I've got scars now, too. Some that are physical that I'm still healing from, but more internal ones that are taking a bit longer. Raine has been the biggest help through it all since he knows the struggle every single day. They all smother me with more love than I could possibly ever hoped to find. To feel needed, and wanted, and loved, that's all we live for sometimes.

Tomorrow starts the trial for The Reverend and his followers. I want to say that I've taken the steps to forgive them, but I'd be sinning if I did. I'm going to go up on that stand and lay all of their sins bare for the world to see just as they did me. I think they'll find the world less forgiving for theirs.