42

  Cody

  So now you know. You know the great tragedy of Christian, slayer of the Big Bad Wolf, victor against the Pied Piper, the great lord who stowed away in Rapunzel’s tower, hero to all far and wide in Somewhere Else, and the man who hacked through that great and awful castle brush to rescue a princess in need. Now you know his story, and all I wanted you to know when I decided to start this project, was for you to know his story.

  Briar had a small funeral, just the four of us in attendance. Christian got her a beautiful grave. In a nice plot under a dogwood tree. The priest was provided to her by suggestion of the coroner. He said a simple prayer and Brair was buried. None of us said anything at the funeral, not even Christian, he just wanted this to be done with, he wanted all of this to be done with. It’s a testament to his strength that he didn’t cry. He didn’t cry but the look on his face said everything that could have been said. It was the look of a man who had lost everything.

  Susie says that I pity him too much. But she also says that he was pitiful. I ask you, who do you pity if not the pitiful. Susie is so angry at him, I don’t think he deserves that. Yes, everything went so wrong, especially after her brought Briar back. However, for a moment, for a brief and hopeful moment, I saw Christian be the man I knew he could be. I saw him be a hero, I saw him in love, and I was happy for him.

  We didn’t hear from Christian after we left the funeral. We never heard from him again actually. I hate to end this story with another damn mystery, but we don’t know what happened to him. He abandoned his Condo, and the Mercedes in the condo’s garage had been repoed once the payments stopped coming. Christian didn’t tell us anything, he just disappeared, left our lives as quickly as he had become a part of them.

  I try not to wonder too often what happened to him. Because I don’t have to wonder that much, I have my assumption and that assumption is just as good as anyone’s guess could be.

  He went back.

  I don’t know if he went back. But being that he had dropped off the face of the earth, off the face of this world, so soon after Briar passed away. It’s the only deduction I can make. He went back to Somewhere Else, that’s the conclusion I’ve drawn at least.

  Soon after Christian disappeared, cement trucks and other such construction equipment arrived on the farm to start filling in the lake and wreck the portal, making the idea of people coming and going from this place to that place impossible. I didn’t want to go back, Brad didn’t want to struggle to look for him, and Susie was definitely finished with that place. The Portal is gone now, the lake destroyed and no humble worker made the mistake of falling into it and exposing the existence of Somewhere Else to more mature people who would have done what we probably should have done when we found that place.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  I wonder what happened to him. His biggest concern when we were young, so young, was that every princess he met was already swept away by her Prince Charming. Did he try to find another princess? I wondered, did he do a deep dive into the more obscure tales of the Brother’s Grimm, try to find some princess, or even a blushing maiden from a tale not as well known as the likes of Cinderella or Snow White.

  Maybe he did, and maybe he didn’t. Maybe he just found a place for himself, found a place of solitude in the world that gave him everything that this world apparently couldn’t. He’s probably alone somewhere, some shack outside some town he can visit for food and sustenance as he eternally chops firewood for the cold seasons, if Somewhere Else had a cold season. And maybe some boys come to him, saying they heard tale that one of that world’s greatest heroes had reduced himself to the life of a hermit. And maybe Christian had grown to a point where the siren call of adventure he so loved had no more effect on him. “You’re hero isn’t here,” I think he would say, “I’m no one’s hero,” he would say as he looked down and continued his work.

  It’s all gone now, the lake is paved, with Christian’s funding gone that apartment building never got built. It’s just a slab of concrete with no one interested in visiting it. Maybe that’s what Christian would have wanted, no danger of any other interlopers finding that portal and wrecking that world even more then he, I, Morgan or any of us had.

  Like I told you, this is the end of our story. Christian is gone, but yet the world keeps turning. I’ve no more story to tell you. I told Brad and Susie that I would be the one to write the last chapter. I’ll be collecting the rest of their input this week. I’m meeting Brad for lunch tomorrow, and Susie Friday for drinks after both our respective jobs are done at work.

  Susie, beautiful, amazing Susie. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make a pass at her, but maybe in this recollection we’ve all shared, she might remember the good times. The times before Morgan, before Briar, times before the portal, times when we were just two silly children who had a crush on one another.

  Wish me luck, dear reader, I’ve seen Susie once since all this awfulness happened. We met at a bar while we were in our twenties. We caught up, and it was a good conversation. No mention of Christian that’s for sure. Maybe I could get lucky, Susie is so beautiful. Maybe I can find the happiness that Christian looked for in both that world and ours.

  I don’t know what kind of feelings this story will rouse in you. Maybe you agree with me, agree that Christian’s story is a tragedy, that he’s someone who always wanted to do the right thing. Maybe you agree with Brad, maybe you’ve just read this story as a watcher with no need to interfere, and maybe you agree with Susie. Maybe you agree that Christian got everything he deserved. That he deserved his pain. If you do, just remember that Briar died because of his arrogance, as awful as you may think he was, he didn’t deserve to see the love of his life meet death just as he was about to give her everything she could want.

  Not sure what I can say to end this, not sure about the line I could write to try to put all this into perspective. Christian wasn’t a good man, he wasn’t a bad man. He was just a man, with all the wants and weaknesses of a man. Judge him if you want, deride him, or pity him. The decision is left completely to you, you’re the one’s reading this.