Free at last! Free from the bondage of guilt! Never again would John be forced to hide under a veil of false forgiveness! She had freed him. John shouldered his bag and walked down the driveway.

Cutler could hang himself for all John cared, and Alice could take her moral superiority and shove it. All the fake people John had ever had the misfortune of calling his friends could now slip comfortably back into their own lives. Back into the blissful ignorance they held dear.

More than anything, she had freed him. John expected he would never speak of her again to anyone. She was good and buried, almost as deep as the secret that the house held. John was glad to be rid of her. She was judgmental, prying, accusing, and always so concerned with everyone else’s issues. To be rid of her would be like waking from a nap filled with nightmares. Nightmares of apathy and limbo rather than terror.

John kicked at a stone. He was free of her. Free to love someone else.

And yet…

The End