Dear Diary,
Today is the fifth anniversary marking our escape from the prison known as "Precipitous." It's been five years since that defining moment ... the moment Teyla, Wesley, Mr Wang and I stepped into the Author's apartment. It's a moment I'll never forget and one that will continue to live on in my heart.
However, it is also the fifth anniversary of Daniel's death. He didn't deserve to die ... not when we were so close to escaping. He deserved to be standing in the real world - with us. He deserved to live a long life. He deserved to be happy, grow old and enjoy the pleasures of youth. But he can't. Because he's gone. I couldn't tell you where he is now. I just hope that he is enjoying life in a better place, a place where there is no more suffering or pain or death. Maybe, just maybe, he looks down upon us all and smiles; I know that he'll always be with me, no matter what.
As this is a new journal, I will hurriedly recap what has happened these past five years, just so anyone who reads this will know and understand.
I nearly killed the Author who kept us trapped in "Precipitous." I stormed out of the room and turned the entire place upside down looking for some sort of weapon. I eventually found a kitchen knife and then I found him, cowering behind the couches of the lounge. Mr Wang and Wesley had to wrestle me off him. I stabbed him in the arm but that was all. The police arrived soon afterwards and arrested him. He won't be seeing the light of day for many, many years. Let's just say this: his publishing business when down the drain when the story of our arrival hit the news headlines. It is a small, yet simple town and people here thrive on gossip. Of course, there was the occasional disbeliever, but whenever I turn over my wrist and show them my tattoo, the number 99, it's hard to them to keep being incredulous.
Mr Wang and Wesley, along with some other men of the town, built a house on the outskirts of the village. All of us still live there, although, most of the time, it is only Mr Wang and I who turn up for breakfast. Last year, Wesley got up the courage to ask out the love of his life: Teyla. They're such a cute couple. They deserve so much more than what they have. Evangeline is getting ready to move to the city out east in a few days. She is planning to obtain a degree in journalism.
Mr Wang is getting on in years, but he and I have gotten very close. We're always discussing the most random things and our conversations always end in laughter. I often help Mr Wang tend the small farm we have running or help him run errands for the blacksmith's, which he now works at.
Teyla is a dressmaker's apprentice and Wesley also works at the blacksmith's and the grocer's too. Teyla and Wesley are planning to get married in August, which will be the most amazing and delightful thing ever.
As for me, well, there's not much to tell ... of course, if Daniel were still here it'd be a completely different story but he isn't. Not a single day goes by that I do not think of him and wish that he was still here. I haven't met anyone else that interests me but that's fine. I feel like I'd be betraying Daniel if I ever had feelings for anyone else anyway. I an all-rounder in this town really. Either people like me or they don't. I babysit, I run errands, I help out at the grocer's, I till the farmland, I do everything I can ... But I still feel empty inside. Some days are so bland and grey that I just want to sit down and cry, but then I remember what life was like in "Precipitous" and I am thankful, thankful for everything that I have now.
Daniel has left a void in my heart that can never be filled and although time will heal the wound, I will never forget him. Nor Auntie Steph, nor Willy, nor Redwind nor any of the other townspeople that were so cruelly murdered.
I think I have finally realised that my life will never be normal. It is something I'm just going to have to accept. People will always talk, they'll always point fingers, but I do not care about that, because I'm me and that's all that matters.
I must go now, dear diary, for Teyla is yelling at me to come help her prepare dinner; but I promise I'll return soon. I'll come back and write of everything that I am planning to do with my future and how I am helping to organise Teyla's and Wesley's wedding and how I shall be Teyla's maid of honour. I have many things to look forward too. The past is in the past and nothing I can do will change anything that may or may not have happened ... But one thing I know for sure is this: the future is where my heart is and the future determines what else is in store for me as I travel this long bumpy road called life.
Life was never meant to be a smooth ride to paradise. Life will have its ups and downs. Life is not easy. But that's what makes life so memorable; the mistakes, the deep holes, the dead-ends, that's what makes and shapes a person. That's what makes and shapes me. And that's what I've learnt to accept.
Maybe, in a few years things will look different and maybe I will have met someone who makes me as happy as Daniel did.
But until then, goodbye dear diary and, once we are both old and worn, may the two of us rest in peace. Goodbye.
Love from Hayley. XX

THE END