Post Quenquennium [Introduction]

This is the eighth book in my Escape the Fate Fiction series. This is just the preface. You don't really have to read all the other books because this takes place 5 years later.

THE INTRODUCTION: Where Are They Now?

[RUNO]

          The break up was heart wrenching. Runo remembered sitting in that hospital bed after her suicide attempt knowing the end of the legacy of her and Johnny had come to an end. He kept swearing he didn’t have sex with Stormi but Runo couldn’t believe him. He had lied too much, plus she had fooled around with Taylor a guy from her psychology class. The blood transfusion, the 32 stitches and a few staples, all of that should have killed her. But somehow Runo survived herself that horrible September day 5 years ago.

 

       Yes, it had been 5 years since Runo decided that her and Johnny should be separated. She had moved in with Gavin and Cynthia and Scarlett for a while but living in that house was too painful. Johnny’s face surfaced everywhere she looked, and seeing Sylvia was painful because she was tied to all the memories as well. 10 months after her suicide attempt (they kept her in the psychiatric ward for 72 hours against her will for being a danger to herself.) Kukka and Jalo invited Runo to come for her birthday like they always did. They knew everything that had gone on, and Jalo told her on the phone “If you’d like to come stay with us for an extended period of time you are more than welcome.”

 

     Runo had contemplated the offer. Finland was where she belonged all this time. Though it would be painful to leave Gavin and Cynthia but she knew they would come visit. That July day, Runo packed up all her belongings and was ready to return to her birth town and place of belonging, Helsinki, Finland. Finland was where she wanted to be, she was emotional for a week or two getting adjusted living with the Soikkelis but after that Runo never looked back.

 

     5 years later, Runo had not been back to the States at all. Gavin, Cynthia and Scarlett made the trip a couple of times but they never spoke about Johnny Blackwell. He was a taboo word. Runo didn’t like to think about him anymore. Neither one of them had sent in the divorce papers but Runo didn’t want to go through all the legality of that. And she didn’t want to have to face him in court.

 

     Even though Runo was now 25, she didn’t mind living with her parents. Kukka and Jalo were awesome and Runo was as close as ever with Kati. Her son, Jensynn was now 5 years old and he was a very withdrawn, quiet and awkward little boy. Jensynn’s father, Aatu, bailed on Kati when he found out she was pregnant. He had not seen Jensynn once since he was born.

 

      Kati was 4 years younger than Runo and felt like being a single mother was a “plague” of sorts so she tried to escape it and would go to bars with Runo on the days that Aatu had Jensynn, (or sometimes would make Kukka and Jalo babysit) and Kati would meet guys. She even tried moving in with one guy she became serious with, Sulo, with Jensynn but she returned home in 2 weeks. Kati felt she was doomed to always be alone. Runo always tried to cheer her up. Kati and Runo, even though they were sisters, were also best friends.

 

     The twins, Mikko and Annikki were now 11 years old. Annikki was very preppy but Mikko was getting into the grunge scene and lots of Finnish bands, as well as art, which made Jalo and Kukka happy because Jalo was in a band himself for several years, and Kukka used to be a famous local artist. They had grown up so much.

 

     Runo loved life in Finland. Despite having her heart broken by Johnny, she tried to discard every memory that she had living in the states, dating all the way back to 3 years old. Johnny had tried and tried to convince Runo to stay and she did try her hardest, but after about 6 weeks she went to Gavin and Cynthia. She just couldn’t look at him the same.

 

     Sometimes, in the beginning of Runo’s move to Finland, some flashbacks would occur of her and Johnny’s legacy and the pain was so great Runo would try her hardest not to cry. But Johnny had shattered her heart. And she didn’t care how many times he said he never had sex with Stormi, Runo knew that he did.

 

     After about the first 2 and a half years in Finland Runo began to understand the Finnish language more than ever. And finally right after her 23^rd birthday, she met a boy. At first she was hesitant to trust him. His name was Jukka Eskola. She met him when her and Kati and their friends Emmi and Marjukka were at the HIM concert in Turku. Jukka’s band Poetic Midnight was opening for HIM, and Marjukka flirted with security so bad that it ended up getting them back stage passes. She was always good at that.

 

     Runo met all the bands, but when Jukka looked over at her while tuning his guitar Runo felt the attraction. Truly, he was like the Finnish blonde version of Johnny Blackwell but Runo never admitted that to anyone or herself. He had long blonde hair, blue eyes and they ended up talking over drinks until 3 in the morning.

 

     Although Runo wanted to be very slow and cautious with Jukka, she wasn’t going to let Johnny’s crushing of her heart control her. Runo had begun drinking on a pretty regular basis since Johnny’s clutches weren’t forbidding her from doing so and she was dating the guitarist of a very popular local band.

 

      So, similar to when Johnny and Runo first met (but this time over Lakka, Lakka is a liqueur produced in Finland which derives its flavor from the cloudberry fruit, and cigarettes instead of coffee and cigarettes) Runo told Jukka her life story, and he seemed respectable enough to understand where she had been and Runo didn’t have a problem with Jukka. She felt very safe with him.

 

     By this point, Runo wished she lived in Finland her entire life. The only people she really missed were Gavin and Cynthia and sometimes Sylvia, but very rarely. Even though the divorce papers hadn’t gone through Runo never told anyone who didn’t already know that she was married. Nobody needed to know. Jukka didn’t want to rush in and get married right away. No, things were the way they should have been all along, and Runo firmly believed that.

 

     Runo couldn’t afford to go backward. She had worked too hard to find the courage to heal. And she was more than content living her new Finnish lifestyle.

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[JOHNNY]

     Life had gone on. Even though the love of Johnny Blackwell’s life had left him over something that wasn’t even true, life had gone on. Johnny hadn’t spoken to Runo in almost 5 years. Somewhere in the pit of his heart Johnny would always care for Runo Soikkeli, but he knew he couldn’t dwell over her forever. But the ironic thing was that it was Runo who had done the cheating, not Johnny. Still, 5 years later Runo refused to believe the truth.

 

     Johnny had been waiting for the divorce papers to come but they never did. He didn’t have the heart to send them to her himself, even though he knew he should have. He hadn’t seen or talked to Runo in so long he was forgetting what her voice sounded like, her delicate features.

 

 

     He was doing his best to forget Runo which is why he moved smack dab in the middle of New York City: a new town, a new world. He knew nobody there and that was what Johnny wanted. He wanted a fresh start, a clean slate. Johnny was tired of every single thing in Dallas, Texas reminding him of Runo’s verdant eyes, every Starbucks, every restaurant, EVERYTHING.

 

     Michael, Johnny’s father, didn’t want Johnny to move but Johnny felt he had to get out of Dallas. Johnny didn’t care if Runo had moved on to some Finnish local band’s guitarist. That was fine with him. Johnny had met a new girl himself, who was a tattoo artist: Brandy Weaver.

 

     Johnny met Brandy when he went to the tattoo shop to ask about getting his tattoo removed, if they knew anyone who would do it. He wanted to keep the Dark Side of The Moon on his arm, but the e.e. cummings quote on his calf constantly reminded him of Runo and he wanted it off. That’s when he saw Brandy. She had auburn colored hair that was long and full. She was covered in tattoos and piercings, completely the opposite of Runo, which is why Johnny felt compelled to talk to her. She was a vixen. She was sexy in a different way than Runo.

 

     When he asked Brandy about tattoo removal, he did not mention detail about Runo, or the fact that he was married but her words were so whimsical. “Johnny, your body is a canvas awaiting your life’s artwork. Even if you think some are mistakes, they aren’t. They were once important and will remain forever important. I don’t see how lines of poetry can be a mistake.” Brandy’s glowing beauty seemed to radiate and her philosophical guidance was so compelling it made Johnny weak in the knees.

 

     He couldn’t keep his eyes off Brandy as she explained further and further the art of tattooing. It was then that Johnny decided that Brandy was beautiful. Brandy ended up moving in with him after a few months of casual dating. At first Johnny was hesitant with intimacy because he was still trying to forget Runo. But Brandy seemed like some sort of sorceress because she seemed to have magical powers that made him forget everything. Johnny knew that was nonsense but Brandy was stunning.

 

     They had remained together and Johnny had let her tattoo a sleeve idea on his other arm that didn’t have the Pink Floyd tattoo. Then she made an entire Pink Floyd sleeve on the other arm. And she had finally convinced him not to get the cummings quote removed. They scarcely talked about Runo. Johnny never told Brandy that they were married or how serious their relationship was. He wanted to numb it all away with Brandy and her grace and “magic”.

 

     Johnny also let Brandy do several other tattoos all over his body, his chest, his legs and such and put a lip ring in his lip. Johnny felt like he was a new person, he wanted to make the person Runo fell in love with vanish. Basically, she was dead to him. There was something sensual about Brandy that Johnny never experienced with Runo and that was having the woman you love place permanent artwork on you. Brandy was so full of spunk, so full of life and as time elapsed she filled the hole more and more that Runo had punctured in his heart.

 

     Besides Brandy, New York City was amazing to Johnny. The people he and Brandy hung out with were really cool. Back in the day in Dallas the only people Runo allowed she and Johnny to hang out with were Gavin and Cynthia and Sylvia, Asher and Pandora and whoever that crazy girl was dating at the time. It was nice to associate with people his own age. Did Runo really expect them to hang out with his sister, her fiancé and his stepsister who were younger than him? Was she really serious?

 

     Johnny barely saw his family and he never called them, he didn’t feel bad. Michael and Lilly and Sylvia and everyone made the trip up to the city a couple of times but Michael and Lilly were not fans of Brandy, her friends and especially not the tattoos and piercings. But Johnny was 26 now so there was nothing they could say or do.

 

     As for Johnny he was very happy living in the big city. He was very happy with his life considering the anguish and heartache he had suffered…all because of a lie Runo had mixed up in her head. It was time to move on, and Johnny believed he was well ahead of where he should be in life.

**************************************************

[SYLVIA]

     Gemma Noire Matthews was born on May 23, 2013. Sylvia couldn’t have asked for much more. Gemma was born exactly on her due date with no medical issues or birth defects. Sylvia was able to breast feed, which she couldn’t do with Scarlett because of the cocaine in her system.

 

     Asher and Sylvia had gotten married on April 20, 2013 right before Gemma was born. They had a simple wedding, at the courthouse. Since Sylvia had seen Johnny and Runo have a picture perfect wedding and their colossal collapse, Sylvia figured it was a jinx or bad luck to have a fancy wedding. Asher had gotten his degree in psychology and was currently doing an internship at the hospital to eventually become a chemical dependency counselor�"his life long dream. Michael still chipped in, especially with Gemma being 4 years old and constantly growing out of clothes and shoes.

Sylvia and Asher abstained from all substances, including alcohol. Sylvia hardly ever thought about her cocaine days anymore. All that mattered to her was raising Gemma and living a sober, happy life with Asher and their daughter.

 

     2 years ago, in 2014, Tripp, Ryan and Alex got out of jail. Sylvia was contacted by both Tripp and Ryan and she instantly told them both to f**k off, that she was married now and had a daughter to take care of.

 

     The sad thing was that Alex had gotten back in touch with Pandora in one-way or another. Pandora abruptly ended her long lasting relationship with Jayden to get back with Alex. He promised her they would stay sober. It didn’t last. Their Heroin addiction took over the both of them. Michael and Lilly pretty much disowned Pandora because of her actions and impulsive decisions.

 

     Pandora called Sylvia all the time; because Sylvia knew they would always be stepsisters but it was a soul connection it ran deeper than that. Against Asher, Lilly and Michael’s wishes Sylvia refused to shun Pandora out in the cold. She still met her for lunch occasionally but always left Gemma with Asher, when he wasn’t working, or with Lilly and Michael. Sylvia refused to bring Gemma around a drug addict, even if it was her best friend Pandy. She was never going to let her even come close to anything Scarlett went through.

 

     And of course, Sylvia still saw Gavin, Cynthia and Scarlett very frequently. They were pretty devastated that Runo just fled to Finland and hardly ever called or sent e-mails. Scarlett was almost 7, and still called Sylvia and Asher her aunt and uncle but the time to tell her was getting close because Scarlett was growing up and asking questions all the time. She obviously knew something was mixed up about it but she couldn’t figure out what.

 

     Sylvia enjoyed Gavin and Cynthia’s company not just to see Scarlett and watch Scarlett and Gemma (who were half-sisters) play together but Gavin and Cynthia were one of the few pieces left of Johnny and Runo both. Neither one of them ever called and even though Johnny was her full blooded brother; it still hurt equally as bad with Runo because of all they went through together.

 

     Sylvia truly felt abandoned by them as she had 7 years ago when she was 14 and Johnny and Runo first met. Sylvia was now 21 years old and even though the temptation of being the legal age to drink was always there every time Sylvia drove past a liquor store or gas station, one look into the soft almond eyes of Gemma Noire and she was reminded of the importance of proper parenting and living a life of sobriety.

Author's Note

Basically the only thing one needs to know is that Runo and Johnny were married but split up because they couldn't trust each other. Sylvia is a recovering cocaine addict trying to be a Mom and get her life together. She is Johnny's little sister. I am willing to share any of the Escape the Fate novels if anyone is interested in knowing more about them. The first book, Breaking the Curse is available on all e-book sites. Message me for more info. I'm always happy to share.