All around us, there are other Dads and Moms. Dads and Moms all holding their kids, holding onto them like they’ll never ever let them go.
There’s Jeanie’s Mom. And Jeanie, too. Without a single bow in her hair.
And there’s Ellie, minus her spectacles. Being hugged by a Mom and Dad who are going to make sure she’ll never, ever feel alone again.
Mary, Carol, Debbie: they’ve somehow survived everything we’ve been through too. Their parents are gratefully holding them high. Kissing them, embracing them. Like everyone’s only just realised they have so much love to give.
‘Thank goodness for the fire! It’s made them all come home!’
If any of the girls want to correct their parents, I don’t see any of them in a rush to try and explain what really happened in there.
Maybe, though, someone someday will try and make sense of what really happened in that dreadful forest.
For there aren’t just Pearl’s friends stumbling out from the charred remains of the wood.
There are other kids.
Hundreds of them.
Some dressed in a style that might have been fashionable fifty years ago. Some in the style of the settlers who’d tried to carve out a living for themselves here centuries before.
They look bewildered. As bewildered as the emergency service teams rushing towards them, draping them in blankets, reassuring them that everything’s going to be okay.
They were, at last, in safe hands.
They’re led off towards the waiting ambulances. Carefully made comfortable inside before the doors are closed behind them.
I hug Dad, as hard and as warmly as I can manage. Telling him that I love him. That I’m sorry. That I’ve been an idiot.
I hug Pearl, whispering in her ear that I love her too.
And then I think – To hell with whispering!
‘I love you,’ I tell her.
‘I love you too.’ She grins, hugging me back so hard my back feels like I’m holding up that massive weight once more. ‘I’ve always loved you.’
Sure she has.
Is she really only nine?
As one of the ambulances drives away, I’m just about sure I can hear the kids inside happily singing.
‘…my sister told her, I kissed a soldier…now she won't buy me, a rubber dolly…’
End
If you enjoyed reading this book, you might also enjoy (or you may know someone else who might enjoy) these other books by Jon Jacks.
The Caught – The Rules – Chapter One – The Changes – Sleeping Ugly
The Barking Detective Agency – The Healing – The Lost Fairy Tale
A Horse for a Kingdom – Charity – The Most Beautiful Things (Now includes The Last Train)
The Dream Swallowers – Nyx; Granddaughter of the Night – Jonah and the Alligator
Glastonbury Sirens – Dr Jekyll’s Maid – The 500-Year Circus – The Desire: Class of 666
P – The Endless Game – DoriaN A – Wyrd Girl – The Wicker Slippers
Heartache High (Vol I) – Heartache High: The Primer (Vol II) – Heartache High: The Wakening (Vol III)
Miss Terry Charm, Merry Kris Mouse & The Silver Egg – The Last Angel – Eve of the Serpent
Seecrets – The Cull – Dragonsapien – The Boy in White Linen – Porcelain Princess – Freaking Freak
Died Blondes – Queen of all the Knowing World – The Truth About Fairies – Lowlife
Elm of False Dreams – God of the 4th Sun – A Guide for Young Wytches – Americarnie Trash
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