Looking for a Happy Ending - Epilogue

[firefly_ca]

Title: Looking for a Happy Ending
Author: firefly_caPairing,Character(s): Kurt/Blaine, with eventual appearances from pretty much everyone

Comments

[midasu]

I was scared to read this story, but everyone kept recommending it and so I thought I would read just the first chapter, to see if it was good and I was drawl in. You have to be careful because so many fics are about abuse and just horrible things and they are done unrealistically and sort of disrespectfully but this is good. You can tell that you are passionate about telling this story the right way and treating the characters with respect. This is a horrible topic but a great story. I loved the way you wrote Blaine, very believable, that he felt like there was nothing he could do...that he was trapped and really he didn't fight to get out until he saw someone else in trouble.

[firefly_ca]

Thank you so much for your comment!

It really does mean a lot to me, especially because I was very worried about treating the topic too lightly when I started out. It's based on the real stories of real kids who have had this happen to them and even though most abuse stories are ostensibly inspired by reality, these particular kids are forced into the spotlight because of the circumstances surrounding them. They don't have that (admittedly depressing) luxury of anonymity in numbers that most abuse survivors have. Everyone knows who they are and what they went through. The idea of trivializing their experiences freaked me out and was the absolute last thing I wanted to do.

I'm very pleased that you liked the story and thank you again for commenting :)

[ooshady_girloo]

i am ever so fortunate to have read the rec for this fic and HAD to read. i had no idea what i be in for though,this is one of the most titillating, gut-wrenching, and powerful fics i think i've ever read. it's rare that fics affect me in real life, but i started this Sunday i think and couldn't stop, and when i had to break for work or whatever, i would get chilly all of a sudden when a scene from this fic popped up unbidden in my head. (When young Blaine told Tom: "Why did you leave me?!") i shed some tears and laughed out loud too

[firefly_ca]

I'm glad that you read it and enjoyed it (and that it's being recced! That seriously thrills me to no end :) )

I'm glad you liked the humour too. I tried to stick it in whenever I could because, fricking hell this was a bleak story to write. I wanted to make the entire story a little less painful to read without taking away from what was happening, so I'm very happy it worked for you.

And yes. Tom and the security guard. I...I knew I was writing something truly terrible when I had to go back and rewrite a scene multiple times to make the kidnapping pedophile more humane. Like what? Why is that even an issue

[fides_rationem]

Oh god. This fic destroyed me. It was that good. I spent all night reading it the other night, and got absolutely nothing else done but it was worth it. The characterizations, the descriptions, everything is so beautifully (it feels very weird to use that word here, but still) done. It's incredibly heartbreaking, because this is real for so many kids and its a definite possibility, but it's so well-written that it just hurts.

Seriously, fantastic job.

[firefly_ca]

Thanks so much for the comment!

I'm glad you enjoyed it (and like you, I really feel like that's not the right word to use here, but I can't find an appropriate one).

There will likely be a sequel going up at some point in the fall, but it could take longer than I first thought. I've already got some of it written and was starting to think I might be posting sooner than I anticipated but to be honest it's kind of upsetting to write this, even though the sequel is all about him starting to heal. Plus, a kid in my part of the country just went missing this week right when a known child molester dropped off the radar, so even looking at this story right now is making me feel a little ill. I try to write something and I start to freak out about the little boy :(

[star55]

I saw this fic being recced over at kurt_blaine and I saw all of the warnings and thought 'oh my god'. Not in the bad way but because of all of the horrifying stories we hear about on the news that describe these things

[firefly_ca]

Thank you so much for your comment! It really means a lot to me that you enjoyed it (it feels so weird to keep saying that in this context, but I can't come up with a better word).

Yeah, this was a very hard story to write, but part of the problem is in addition to this sort of thing being a bit of a hot-button issue for me, I also spent far longer than was healthy reading about child abduction cases online early last spring, and they'd been sort of festering with me ever since. Writing a story and follow up where everything turns out okay was meant to be cathartic. It's kind of worked out like that.

On the one hand, the story that I mainly based this on had a really shitty ending. The two kids were found and grew up to have families of their own, but they both died very young because of stupid random things like car accidents and heart defects. In a fictional story you can pick the better ending when reality screws it up, so getting to do that with this story has made me feel better

[star55]

It's okay, your sentiment is conveyed properly and that's what counts.

I feel so strange saying that I'm so damn proud of you for writing this because I don't know you from a bar of soap but I hope you get my sentiment too.

My heart broke a little just now in your comment and I really, really, really hope that the little boy who was abducted is found soon. I can't stand that people think those things are okay, that they can just do things like that. It makes me wish I had the guts to be in law or the police or something. I know I'd just crumble though, I don't have the stamina and I cry like the woman I am at time over things. This story being proof

[firefly_ca]

Thank you! And never feel awkward about internet hugs. They are online and this makes them simultaneously strange and awesome :D

Yeah, that little boy...it just boggles my mind, and in my opinion our laws here in Canada completely let that kid down because there's no way that man should have been free to do what he did with the kind of shit he'd been pulling not even a year earlier. I'm just holding my breath and hoping that the boy be found soon and get back home, too. Then I'll focus more energy and getting myself good and pissed off at ineffective lawmakers. And wishing a long and painful death for this asshole and assholes everywhere just like him, including the ones who tried to go after the people in your family (so creepy and scary).

On an entirely superficial and off topic note, I'm behind on Torchwood and when I read your response I actually had to stop and check spoilers to make sure no more of my favourites had died. I was like, "I don't care about the newbs, but I'll never get through the final episodes if they touched

[yune0202]

never mind that this is one of the best (if not THE best) fanfiction I've ever read, it's just... gosh, I could write you a novel about how awesome and heartbreaking and well written and outstandig and intense this story was and what kind of emotional mess I m right now after reading it. But the wreck I am right now, I don t get the right words out. All I can to is bow to you, thank you and promise you my frist born son for ending the story like this.

[firefly_ca]

Wow, thank you so much for the compliment. I'm incredibly flattered!

And thank you for your offer but you may keep your first born xD

I honestly couldn't have ended it any other way. If I read something dark that doesn't have a happy or at least hopeful ending, I feel awful. Like can't-crawl-out-of-bed-awful. I couldn't have done that to myself let alone to everyone who's been reading this. The poor kid needed to get back home.