Epilogue
Two years
later
It had been hard to get over what had happened at first,
but as time passed on, it became easier to let go and move on, as the pain
weakened.
Much had happened in the past two years, mostly good
things.
After over two months in the hospital, Hallie was finally
sent home in good health. She’s now a
thriving two year old, just as bright and healthy as can be. I truly do believe that Sammy’s in Heaven, as
Hallie’s guardian angel. Without her
watching down on my baby, I knew that Hallie couldn’t have survived through
what she did.
And just as Sammy watched down on Hallie, there was someone
watching down on Heidi too. Despite her
serious condition and the medications she took for it, she had had a normal
pregnancy with few complications and had given birth to a healthy baby boy on
August 14th, 2015. She had
named him Sonny Derrin Williams, Jr. after her husband, who we believed had
become her and Sonny Jr.’s guardian angel, just like Sammy was Hallie’s.
Nick had adopted Megan shortly after Sammy’s death, making
her his official daughter, and changing her name to Megan Carter. They had moved to Los Angeles the year
before, unable to remain in their house in Orlando, for there were too many
memories of Sammy there.
Brian and Leighanne were doing wonderful. Brian’s leg had healed, and he was good as
new. Hope was now eight years old and
had turned into a smart, beautiful child, taking after both her mother and
father.
The rest of the guys and their families were doing good, as
well. I was glad to see that we were
all slowly getting over the pain Justin had caused and rebuilding our shattered
lives.
***
Now, two years since Sammy had died, those of us that
remained were reunited once again, this time in Orlando, Florida. But this time, it was for a much different
kind of reason.
Shortly after Sammy’s death, Justin Timberlake had gone on
trial, charged with the murders of both Sammy and Sonny, the attempted murders
of Josh and Nick, and the kidnappings of both Hope and Megan. These charges were added on top of those
that he had received after the first instance, when he had been proven mentally
unstable and sent to an asylum. This
time, however, he was not going to any asylum.
He was proven guilty on all charges and sent to a maximum security
prison in Florida, sentenced to receive the death penalty and die in an
electric chair.
In normal cases, death sentences weren’t carried out for
many years after the criminal was actually convicted. But in Justin’s case, considering the fact
that he had escaped from the mental asylum before and the severity of his
crime, his wait was not a long one.
Almost two years after he was convicted, a date was set for Justin’s
execution.
And that was the reason we were in Florida together, to see
the man we all despised be put to death, ending the terror that had threatened
us for so long.
***
The day of the execution arrived quickly, and we all met at
the prison half an hour before Justin was scheduled to die.
Once we were inside the large, maximum-security prison, a
guard led us into a small room with a big glass window on one wall. Through the window, we could see another
small room, and in it was the electric chair.
The chair was empty now, but I knew Justin would be escorted in at any
minute.
“Go ahead and take a seat if you want,” the guard said
gruffly, motioning to a row of chairs on the wall opposite of the window.
I took Josh’s hand, and we sat down together in the chairs. Heidi sat down on the other side of me. AJ sat next to her, followed by Kevin and
Howie. Brian and Leighanne sat down next
to them. Nick led Megan over to sit next
to them.
Nick had been against Megan’s coming, but Megan had begged
to come. I understood why she was so
adamant on coming. I understood why we
had all came. Justin had caused us so
much pain, some of us more than others.
He had killed two of our friends and family members. As morbid as it seemed, Megan was there to
see the man that had killed her mother die, and I understood that. Nick had too, and that’s why he had let
her. He, too, wanted to see Justin, who
had taken away his wife, be killed. And
then there was Heidi. Justin had taken
her husband from her and left her son without a father. And Brian and Leighanne. Justin had taken their child from them. And AJ, Amanda, Kevin, Kristin, and Howie. No one especially close to them had been hurt
or killed, but still, they had been through it all with us, and our pain
reflected on them. They despised Justin,
just as we did.
Suddenly, the heavy metal door opened again, and another
guard led a woman in. My eyes widened
when I realized it was Britney Spears.
She glanced at us, but as soon as my eyes met hers, she looked away. She sat down in the very last chair, as far
away from us as she could get.
I wondered why she was there. Was it because she cared about Justin? Or was it because she hated him? She had been his girlfriend for so many
years, but then again, he had mistreated her.
I recalled that night when Nick had been shot. At the time, she had hated him with a
passion. Had that changed, or was that the
very reason she was here now?
As I was thinking about her, I realized there was no sign
of the other members of ‘N Sync. Of
course, Lance, or “Jaycee”, was dead, but what had become of the others? Surely they were all out of jail by now. I glanced down the line of chairs to where
Brian, AJ, Kevin, Howie, and Nick sat, all side by side. After all these years, the five of them were
still best friends, even more inseparable now than ever.
I slowly realized that JC, Joey, and Chris’ bond with
Justin was not at all like that. They
had stuck together in the beginning, but now the remaining ‘N Sync members had
betrayed their leader. The thought
saddened me, but then I reminded myself that Justin was a psycho killer. Of course the other three weren’t friends
with him anymore. Who would be?
Someone would, I realized, as I looked over to
Britney. She was looking towards the
ceiling, and I saw that her brown eyes were filled with tears. Despite how Justin had mistreated her, she
still cared for him, that I could tell.
As much as I hated both of them, my heart softened for her. Justin was truly evil. But Britney was different. I didn’t believe she was truly evil. She had simply gotten involved with the wrong
person, and it had led to her demise.
She had served jail-time over him, and yet, she still loved him, or at
least cared about him. She cared enough
to come see him this one last time, even if it was only to watch him die.
Just then, the door in the adjacent room opened, and two
guards led Justin in. He was handcuffed,
and his legs were shackled as well. That
familiar feeling of terror returned for a brief second as I saw him, but then
it was gone. This was it, I
realized. In only a few minutes, the
terror would finally be over for good.
The thought was relieving. I
wasn’t exactly looking forward to watching Justin be electrocuted, but he
deserved it, and the relief and comfort that would come after he was gone was
inviting. Never again would we have to
worry about him breaking out of jail or the asylum and coming after us.
I watched as the guards strapped Justin into the
chair. As they did so, Justin sat
perfectly still and looked out the window, his eyes on us. I could see the hatred gleaming in his eyes,
but there was something else behind them.
I could see fear. As messed up as
Justin was, he knew he was going to die, and he was afraid, like any other
person would be.
I stared Justin down levelly, and finally, he tore his gaze
away from me. I watched as his eyes
traveled down the line of us to where Britney sat. She looked up, and I saw their gazes
meet. At first, the look on her face
was blank, free of emotion, but then, I saw her lower lip begin to quiver, and
then, she lowered her head, refusing to look up at him again.
I turned away from Britney and towards my own husband. He offered me a weak half smile and put his
arm around my shoulders, drawing me close to him. I was glad to be there with him, for he
provided the strength I knew I would need to get through this. As much as I hated Justin, it was going to be
hard. I had seen people die before, but
I had never watched a criminal be electrocuted.
I knew it would be shocking. (AN: No pun intended. LOL)
Finally, the guards had Justin strapped securely into the
chair. I saw electrodes attached to his
head and various parts of his body.
I heard a crackling sound and looked up towards a speaker
that was mounted in the corner of the room we were in. It was connected with another speaker in the
room with the electric chair.
“Do you have any last words?” came a voice over the
speaker. It was one of the guards from
inside of the room, speaking to Justin.
I heard Justin clear his throat. “No, les jus git dis ovah wit,” he said, his
voice soft. Then he closed his eyes and
leaned back against the chair.
I saw one guard standing at the controls on the other
side. His hand rested upon a big
lever. Once he pulled it down, it would
trigger the chair, and Justin would be gone, finally.
I saw one of Justin’s eyes pop open and glance at the
guard, then squeeze closed again.
My breath caught in my throat as I waited for the guard to
pull the lever. I glanced down at my
hands and realized they were shaking. I
was filled with emotions of all sorts, and I could only hope that it would all
be over soon.
I tensed as I saw the other guard nod to the one with his
hand on the lever. The guard nodded
back, and slowly, he pulled down the lever.
In a second, the electric chair sprung to life. I saw Justin’s entire body jolt with the
surge of electricity that flowed through it.
But it was not over as soon as I had thought. He convulsed with the electric shock for near
two whole minutes. Finally, his body fell back limply into the chair.
My eyes narrowed at his motionless form. I let out a shaky breath. Justin’s life had ended, and so had the
terror he had caused us. “Bye, bye,
bye,” I whispered. Then, I walked out of
the room and on to the rest of my life.
The End
