“Take all the time you need, Kendall.” Mom shut the door, leaving me alone with Mason.

I ran a hand through my hair. The tears flowed quicker now. I lifted Mason’s hand.

He was still warm.

“I don’t even know what I’m going to do without you.” I sobbed, squeezing his hand. I stared at him. “And it scares me to my core to even think about a life without you.” I ran a hand through his hair. I just wanted him back. I tried to smooth his hair, make him look like the Mason I remembered.

“I wish you could tell me what to do, Mason. I didn’t see this coming. I wish you’d have told me. I wish you weren’t so stubborn and always thinking about saving me. We could have saved each other.” I dropped my head, sobbing. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t leave him all alone. He was going to be alone.

It was the most horrifying thing that ever happened to me. Nothing compared to losing Mason. I would have lived the rest of my life with Aunt Wanda if it meant I’d still have Mason.

But now, because of him, I didn’t have to. I lifted my head and stood up.

“You saved me when I couldn’t save myself. I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for you.” I leaned down and kissed his forehead. I touched his cheek, lingering for a few seconds more.

Taking him in for the very last time.

“I love you, Mason.” I blew him a kiss. My hands trembled as I grabbed the door knob. “Goodbye, Mason.”

I bolted from the room and into my mom’s waiting arms. She held me tight, but it couldn’t compare to a hug from Mason.

“Kendall, I am so very sorry,” she said, smoothing my hair. She let me cry.

I was unable to speak. I was all out of words. But I was full of pain and in absolute misery as I walked away from the one person who had ever made me feel whole.

We’d seen so much together. He taught me how to love when I fell in love with him.

Sometimes, the only choice you have in life is to move forward. I knew that was the only choice I had left.

I realized how very lucky I was to have survived everything I’d been through.

I was lucky to have made it out alive.

Yeah, I was bruised and a bit broken. I was screwed up and I would probably never be okay again. But, I was still Kendall. And I was sure I could make it through anything now. And no matter if I liked it or not I would keep making it because I knew that was what Mason wanted.

And there was one thing that would always be most important: Not letting Mason down.

 

ONE YEAR LATER

I PACKED UP MY BOOKS and laptop, securing all of my things into my backpack, and followed after several other students down the stairs of the classroom.

Who would believe I would be in college? It wasn’t something I would have ever imagined.

“I hope all this studying will pay off,” Cara, one of my new friends, said as she caught up with me in the hallway.

“Yeah, same here,” I told her.

“See you this weekend maybe?” She was talking about the party we were both invited to. I never went out much, but I promised myself if I could get in just a few more hours of studying I would let my hair down for the sake of my sanity.

“See ya,” she said, taking off down the opposite end of the hallway.

I crossed the courtyard for my dorm, digging my cell phone out of my pocket before I was even there.

“Hey, girly,” my mother said, happy to see my face.

I smiled—something I never thought I was going to do again after losing Mason.

But now I was on my way to a career and so many better things in my life. I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to help people instead of hurt them like I had seen my whole life.

“Just got out of class,” I told her. “I have so much work to do, my head already hurts.”

She was happy, I could see it in her eyes as we video chatted with each other. “You are going to do perfect. I am so beyond proud of you already.”

I’d made a lot of friends since college but my mother had become the best friend I had always needed. We shared a bond that I never imagined would be possible.

“Hold on while I open the door,” I told her, unlocking my dorm room.

I brought the phone back up. “Okay.”

Dixie jumped into view. “Kendall! I miss you.” She showed me all her new Barbies and told me about school.

Finally, Mom was able to speak to me again. “I am going to let you get settled in for the night. Give me a call tomorrow, okay?”

I assured her that I would and ended the video call, putting my phone on my desk.

I lifted the mail off of my desk. I hadn’t bothered looking at it the other day because I was too busy with work.

Another payment receipt from the good state of South Carolina for their fault in my abduction and nightmare of my life. If not for them, I wouldn’t be in college now.

I folded it up and pulled the giant scrapbook out from under my bed. I ran my fingers over the laminated newspaper clippings of Aunt Wanda and Payton’s trials.

The judge handed down the harshest of punishments to the both of them for all of their crimes. He didn’t go easy on either one of them for what they put Mason and me through.

Payton and Wanda were both sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, which meant they would never see the light of day again.

Mason’s selfless act was enough proof for the court to look past anything we were involved in for the reason I never thought anyone would understand. But somehow the world worked in our favor—Mason just wasn’t here to see it.

I knew he would have been happy to know that things did turn out well for me.

I flipped the page and couldn’t deny the inner happiness I felt seeing the words in black and white next to Wanda’s name. She was attacked in prison and killed.

It seemed Karma really did exist and she got exactly what was coming to her.

I didn’t have many pictures of Mason. I only had a few, but I cherished every one.

I slipped the receipt in the back of my scrapbook and shut it, slipping it back underneath my bed.

I slipped my sweatshirt off, looking at the tattoos adorning my skin. I turn around and stare at Mason’s name on my shoulder. I chose to put it there so I knew he was always watching over me and had my back.

And I slipped the t-shirt over my head, touching the date on my wrist. The date we touched down back in South Carolina when the pieces of my life shattered and then came back together again. It was my new beginning, even if I didn’t see it that way at the time.

I crawled onto my bed and turned on my television, immersing myself in a cooking show. I opened my textbook and started working on some homework.

Maybe a year ago I thought I was falling apart at the thought of living in a world without Mason—but, somehow, he had managed to help me piece myself back together.

My phone chimed and I snagged it off the desk. I smiled at Lainey’s silly text and told her I missed her and her family. We still kept in touch.

After news broke, Roger and Anna made it a point to contact me and make sure I was all right. They would always hold a spot in my heart.

I scrolled down to Jay—the guy that tried to save me. We still talked as well, the only difference now he was about to marry and he was having a baby.

He found someone who made him happy and he deserved that.

Everything good in the world deserved happiness.

I wasn’t angry with Aunt Wanda anymore. I let go of my anger and hatred toward that woman because hating her was only making me what she was, and I never wanted to be anything like her.

She was a part of my life that I would never forget but I could move on from it.