Epilogue

Four months later.

Hannah loves summer. Not only because she can take a break from school and lounge around idly, but also because it's warm and pleasant. She can stay out in the sun all day and doesn't complain about feeling bad like most people do.

For her, this is the best time of year.

— It took us longer than expected because Tom stood in line twice. The first time, he forgot himself and stepped out of it to pick up some cute baby, and the person wouldn't let him back in. He had to go to the end. I felt like murdering him. — Jin fulminates with his friend's eyes as he hands Hannah a chocolate ice cream. — I have to admit that here in Chicago, people are not kind.

— It's true. In this city, you have to watch your place — the girl says, laughing under her breath. Jin sits down next to her on the bench, and then Hannah carefully looks at his face. She still can't figure out what the letter means, and did she actually meet him on the day of her sister's accident, or was it just an illusion related to her illness?

So far, she is trying not to think about it. She is glad that they came to visit her again.

— How are the rest of your friends? — she asks unexpectedly, most interested in news about Joseph.

— Jimmy and Mariah have a fruitful relationship. They go to the same university. Yesterday, the two of them went on some exotic trip — Tom replies, taking a mint ice cream. Occasionally, he glances at Jin's strawberry scoop, as if he regrets not choosing that flavor. — Joseph? We haven't seen him for a few days. He's been mysterious lately. He claims that he is just becoming independent and moving out from his father.

— Is he moving out? — Hannah is surprised by the news.

— His father isn't home all day, so he's got something on his mind. He wants independence, but he will continue to use the family money. I don't know if you can call it independence, but somehow I can't imagine Joseph working physically.

Jin looks amused when he thinks of his friend working as a waiter at a nearby restaurant. Hannah looks at him and swallows her saliva harder when she sees the same smile she saw in her illusion.

— I envy you that you are already starting college. I'd like to finish high school, too.

— Don't talk nonsense. I, for one, cried at graduation because I would rather not enter a higher level of life. I believe that attending high school is the best stage in everyone's life — says Tom, carefully watching the birds flying above him.

— Not everyone — Jin interjects, lowering his face. Hannah sees that he nervously starts playing with his hands. Nevertheless, she smiles. — For some, high school is a nightmare. Young people wake up with a stomach ache and dream that this bad dream will end quickly. Every person has some nightmare period behind them.

He looks at Hannah and sees that the girl is wrinkling her eyebrows.

— We also stew in ourselves such a period, don't we? — addresses her directly, taking her hand. — And we won't get over it quickly.

The teenage girl forces a nervous smile.

Why is it that lately, more and more, his every word is strangely suspicious to her? Should she stop? However, she still can't forget their conversation when he unexpectedly asked her how Danielle died. His face... At the time, she didn't suspect anything, but now everything is starting to stir in her head. What if she really isn't sick, and all this isn't an illusion, only her mind is hiding something from her?

*

— Could you at least be more surprised? — Hannah opens her mouth wide when she notices Joseph. The boy is leaning with his back against the fence, behind which her house is located.

— What are you doing here? Didn't you say you definitely wouldn't visit me because you're wasting fuel?

— That's what I said when I lived in New York — she claims, twisting her lips in a tart smile. — Now I'm living in Chicago because I'm starting my studies here in September. I need you for the holiday season. You can do as my guide dog — he announces, indifferently waving his hand. He looks somewhere to the side, as if he is embarrassed while saying this.

Hannah tightens her lips to keep from smiling. She walks closer to him and lifts her face. She sees that Joseph does not have his eyes painted with black crayon.

Has he finally given up his dark look?

— So now you're the one who requires friends in a new place?

— I have no problem making friends. People are drawn to me like flies — he replies, to which the seventeen-year-old rolls her eyes. — You'd better tell me how your therapy is going. Do you still go to New York for treatment?

— Yes. It may be difficult to come out of it, but the doctor sees improvement. He praises me that it's mostly due to my strong willpower. I'm not going to give up. The disease won't win with me. — He shrugs his shoulders.

— I don't see this improvement. You continue to have those demented eyes of yours — he asserts sternly, not intending to be nice, even though he hasn't seen her for a long time. Joseph loves to tease her and that will never change again. It has become his habit.

He intends to keep secret the fact that he and Hannah are related in some way. They are not related, and yet the boy wants to take care of her. Maybe the 17-year-old often annoys him and on many occasions he feels like killing her, but he decided that since she is his mother's biological daughter, why shouldn't he take care of her?

He doesn't have a good relationship with his father, so perhaps it will improve with Hannah?