1414: Epilogue

Things weren’t perfect, but she was happier.

Christmas had come and gone, and she’d gone back to the doctor in the new year to review her situation, but found herself in tears before she’d even started speaking. Taking this as a sign that she wasn’t ready to go back to the classroom, Dr. James had no qualms about signing her off for a longer period. When she got home, she’d immediately drafted her resignation, and gone back and forth between a simple, to the point letter and a lengthy one explaining in great detail why she was leaving.

Eventually she settled on the latter, and when she received an email from Thompson on the same day explaining that he completely understood how she felt and certainly didn’t begrudge her wanting to get out and do something that didn’t have such a negative impact on her mental health, she felt like she’d done the right thing.

Time passed. Her sick note had signed her off until the end of her notice period, so she took some time to rest, recuperate and recover, and gradually began the process of looking for work. It was hard going; her specialist qualifications made her overqualified for a lot of entry-level positions, but the only job they would really help her jump into would be another teaching job, which was the last thing she wanted to do.

The business with Mark resolved, Kristina had been using her new-found freedom to hang out with Maxine much more than she had been able to in the past. Maxine, meanwhile, was doing her best to find Kristina a position in her office; it took some time, but she eventually managed to convince her bosses to bring her on for a probationary period.

Kristina took to the work quickly, and began picking up new skills easily. The work was deathly dull, but it paid reasonably well and, most importantly, she could just leave it behind at the end of the day and not have to think about it again until she got into the office. In comparison to the nights of anxiety and nightmares, it was heaven.

Winter changed to spring, and the days got longer and hotter as summer arrived.

Kristina hadn’t seen much of Sian for about a month, since her young friend had been busily preparing for her exams. An occasional text message revealed that she was getting on well, though, and had even managed to repair the rift between herself and her friends. She didn’t mention Edward though; Kristina found herself wondering how he was doing.

 

*  *  *  *

“Hi, you made it!” Sian exclaimed, running up to Kristina and throwing her arms around her. “Sorry I haven’t been around much. Busy, you know!”

“It’s okay,” said Kristina. “Thanks for inviting me. Are you ready?”

Sian glanced down at the envelope in her hands.

“Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I think so. But hold on a minute. Wait there. I’ll be right back.”

She disappeared inside the school for a moment. Kristina looked around at the other Year 11 students milling around, talking to one another. Some looked ecstatic; others less so. One girl over there was in tears; another was comforting her and clearly trying not to grin too broadly.

School’s a boiling, simmering pot of emotions and hormones, thought Kristina. It’s no wonder it was difficult to deal with. Everything’s so intense; everyone’s forced together to work on things they might not want to do; emotions run high. For these kids, it must feel like they’ve got their whole lives ahead of them. They have, I guess.

She sighed at the thought. Oh, to be young again.

Sian came back out pulling a familiar figure with her.

“Hello,” said Edward, smiling. There was no trace of the anger and resentment Kristina had seen in his eyes the last time she’d seen him. “How are you, Miss?”

“You don’t have to call me that any more, Edward,” said Kristina with a laugh. “Just Kristina or Kris is fine.”

Edward looked her in the eye and his smile broadened, then he looked over at Sian.

“You ready?” Sian asked, holding up her envelope.

“Ready,” he said, holding up his own, identical envelope.

“Then… go!” she cried, tearing into it before she’d finished speaking. She withdrew several sheets of paper and made an exaggerated show of reading them. Edward, meanwhile, tore the envelope open more methodically, withdrew the papers and glanced them over.

“Well?” said Kristina. “Don’t keep me in suspense any more. How did you do?”

“Take a look,” said both Edward and Sian together, offering their respective pieces of paper to Kristina. She looked down at the sheets.

A moment later, a spot of water plopped onto the top page on Edward’s stack. Kristina handed them back and turned away from her former students.

“Congratulations,” she said. “I’m really happy for you both.”

She felt an arm around her waist from her right, then another from her left. As she blinked away the tears that had sprung suddenly to her eyes, she looked down either side of herself and realised that both Edward and Sian were hugging her.

“We couldn’t have done it without you,” Sian said.

“Thank you,” said Edward. “Thank you.”