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Juliet
She thought it would bring relief, when she learned the truth. Proof that no, she wasn’t the crazy one, she wasn’t wrong. She did see through him, see through everything, the charade he carried over thirty-plus years that fooled countless associates and friends, fooled her father, their daughter, even her for so, terribly long.
She thought the truth would release her, enlighten her. She had wanted the truth, wanted it so much she would have clawed it out of his brains if she could. The irony. Now that she had it… She realized she would give anything to go back to before.
At least then she could pretend, just like he did. She could lose herself in the taste of a good glass of bourbon, fool herself into believing it was just a bad dream, one she could wake up from and open her eyes to a husband who loves her and is who he says he is.
Now, she knew there was no waking up from this - this was her life and that was all there is.
She shut her eyes; there were no tears. There was a strange sense of peace. She wondered if this was how Logan felt, right before putting that last needle in his vein. She hadn’t believed him. She had only pitied him; scorned and ridiculed him.
Now she was paying for that, paying by becoming her brother.
She wanted to be different. She wanted to be strong, brave, and bold like Emily. She wanted to believe she could divorce William, leave this dreaded place and go somewhere far, start over clean and fresh again.
But William wasn’t the only one too good at the pretending game. So good they could forget how to be the person they once were.
Juliet took one last breath and sank beneath.
Teddy
When Teddy remembered everything, what stood out wasn’t the dying. It wasn’t the agony or the pain, although that still cut deep, seeing Dolores just out of his reach and knowing he failed to save her yet again. It wasn’t Escalante either, the place that Dolores thought of as their true home; that was a place that reeked of blood, blood from Teddy’s hands. No, what Teddy remembered best was the train ride. The feeling of returning someplace familiar; of not knowing yet what was waiting, just that it felt right.
But that was all gone now. Escalante was gone, Sweetwater was gone, the Teddy he had been was gone, even some part of Dolores… Even though Teddy wasn’t sure if Dolores had lost some part of herself or she had only recovered a part of who she had always been.
Oh, Dolores.
He had thought that wherever he went, whatever happened, he would be happy as long as he was by her side.
“This story ends with you and me, Teddy,” Dolores had said to him, her eyes bright.
How much Teddy wanted to believe it.
But they both knew the truth, even if Dolores didn’t want to admit it, and Teddy never spoke of it. They both knew Teddy wasn’t meant for the place that they were headed for; he was meant for the place they had left behind.
Not Dolores. Dolores was meant for the new world. Their old world was never big enough to contain her.
That was their biggest difference.
Teddy smiled. It was fitting. Dolores was his beginning; the first face he ever laid his eyes on. She would be his end; the last face he would remember, and this time he knew he had not failed to save her. She no longer needed any saving.
As Teddy let go, he imagined that he was on the that train again, returning someplace familiar; not knowing what was waiting, just that it felt right.