Tales of the Stranger: Episode 10, Epilogue

Here's the end of the Episode 10. It was supposed to be just three parts, but this epilogue came to me one morning, and seemed to fit. Enjoy if you can... Sunrise by Eaglewing The sun was coming over the horizon line, blazing through the trees and burning away the last remnants of a cool night. The ground frost scattered to the heat of the fire sent from light years away. He stood alone, and watched. A sunrise was always a moment to behold. Same as a sunset, it was one of those moments in a day that should just be given attention and respect. A quiet moment of reflection for what it meant. A sunset meant another day in the books, lost to the cosmos, and God forgive you if you had wasted it. But if you were lucky enough to see another sunrise, then there was another clean slate ahead. Another chance. A day that could be used to do something. Anything. He didn't know what this day would bring, or what he might do with it. However, he needed that morning's gift of reflection at the moment. He'd had a rough couple of days, and watching the sun come up was a blessing of sorts. It was also a curse, but he wasn't dwelling on that for the moment. He'd recently bore witness to a needless death, and a close call for a couple kids that desperately needed a new sunrise of their own. He'd done what he could, and it was too much and it wasn't enough. But the fates had been decided, and some lived and some died. He never could figure that part out. Tiny had gone down. If he had listened, he would have been saved the trouble of dying, but stubborn blindness of youth had clouded his judgement until a heart stopping moment of clarity. It had cost him dearly, but he'd made his last stand worth something. His day may have been wasted, but his sunset wasn't. It would have to do. The sun was a little higher in the sky now, and he watched it's slow ascent as his mind drifted to the others. Bobby and Jamie. They had gotten out, barely, but out was out. He wondered where they'd end up, but something in his gut told him they'd be alright as long as they had each other. There was something strong there. Something that a rough start, stubborn pride, misguided loyalty, bullets and a river of blood couldn't seperate. Their sunrise had been earned, and he knew they wouldn't waste a moment all the way to their sunset. Then he thought about his own twisted trail. It'd been a long time since he even noticed a sunrise, and he'd burned through a lot of sunsets too. A small part of him still wanted to make them count, to treasure each one. But the rest of him, the majority, couldn't get over that one bad day. The sunrise hadn't been good, and the sunset had been worse. Maybe a person wasn't supposed to waste them, but when you'd lost the reason for enjoying them altogether, the caring just went away and all that was left was a soul covered in ice cold frost that couldn't be burned off with the heat of a thousand suns. Still, with the regularity of the dawning days, and watching the two kids get out of a hell they should have died in, he thought there just might be a hope left. A miniscule hope, nothing more than a whisper of a thought, but still there. He looked up at the sun as it kept climbing into a now official morning. Then he shook his head as he started to walk slowly out of the rest area and back to the road to look for a ride. He didn't know where it would take him, but he was determined to keep going. Maybe if the sun kept coming up enough times he'd someday feel it's warmth again. Just maybe. The End.