SSS:1980 Epilogue

Your slice of pie is untouched.

You hear a familiar rumble outside the diner and look up as the bell tinkles.

Roxy comes in wearing her usual clothes, but with a scarf because it’s cold. You don’t know how she rides that bike in this weather, especially with her shoulder still healing. She comes to your booth without a word and sits across from you.

“How did I know you would be here?” she asks.

It’s a mystery. You put your fork down and take a drink of coffee.

“I guess it would be tasteless for me to tell you that you look good in black,” she goes on.

You did your best that night. You tried to stop Kris’ bleeding, then you ran like hell with Mavis’ keys to get to her car. You got help as fast as you could.

You sigh. You just came from Karen’s funeral.

“Did you forget to leave those?” she asks, looking at the flowers on the table beside you.

No, you did not forget to leave them. These are for Kris. She’s still in the hospital. Her sports career is over, but she’ll make it. Barely.

Karen’s parents are suing the university. A lot of people are losing their jobs over this.

It’s not just the university that is losing people. Half of CCL just quit, including Lisey and Kris.

Sissy’s body was in Mavis’ trunk. You didn’t find it there until after the hospital. You were in your bloody, dirty, sweaty pajamas with a bandage on your head when you looked there. You still have nightmares about what you saw.

Professor Austen tried to warn you at the Free Gurls bar. Then she tried to intervene. She knew how dangerous Mavis was. Professor Austen didn’t want to be exposed, but she wasn’t about to kill over it.

But Mavis… Mavis would do anything to protect the university that she had such high hopes for. Just like you would do anything for CCL.

“Ready to move in with me?” Roxy asks, still trying to lighten the mood.

“I have a big house almost all to myself,” you say with a smile.

“You want to live in a haunted house?”

Professor Austen was murdered there, after all.

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” you say.

“Should I congratulate you?”

“That would be tasteless,” you say. You are unofficially the boss now. CCL’s leadership wants nothing to do with this. They’ll be jumping ship soon enough, and then it will be official. But you’ll be running a sorority with nobody in it. You’ll have to build it from the ground up.

“Does anyone want to be in CCL anymore?” Roxy asks.

“You’d be surprised,” you say. You have already had some interest. The girls who lived it and the girls who knew them… they want out. But girls who just heard about it? CCL already had a reputation for excitement. You wonder if this won’t actually make recruiting easier.

“Did you come here to flirt?” you ask.

“No. I came here in case you needed support. But you seem fine.”

“I’m not fine,” you say. “There’s just a lot to do.”

Roxy shakes her head. “You are something else, Jenny.”

Maybe it’s weird to her, but it’s not weird to you. There’s work to be done, and someone has to do it and do it well. You have a responsibility to take care of CCL, and one could argue that you failed at it. After all, four people are dead and one may never walk again. On the other hand, Mavis intended to kill at least three more people that night. Those people are still alive.

There’s no point agonizing about it. All you can do now is keep trying, whatever it takes.