After the movie, Laddie goes home. His picture is taken off the milk cartons.
Star sends him postcards from all the places sheβs been. Sometimes she calls. If sheβs in town, sheβll visit. She brings Michael with her.
Having been the people who βfoundβ him, the Emersons keep in touch.
Laddie is in therapy.
Years on, Laddie still hears voices calling his name on the edge of sleep. Dwayneβs, and Paulβs. Sometimes Markoβs.
David never speaks to him but Laddie knows heβs always there, on the edges of things. So he talks enough for both of them. He talks about school, his friends, the books heβs been reading.
When his high school bully goes mysteriously missing, Laddie keeps his mouth shut.
Star says she sometimes feels like sheβs being watched, and asks him if he can relate. (Michael never notices anything.)
He doesnβt tell anyone that heβs more or less certain Davidβs still alive.
But he does always leave his window open when he has his conversations with the night air. Just in case.
