It has been a while since I wrote something with a proper ending. The Stork doesn’t count. I mean like a story or poem, something like that. I have plenty of beginnings and middles lately, what with all these various writing projects. What if I get out of practice and find myself unable to end something at the right time?

I better do a remedial ending, just to keep the juices flowing.

Ahem…

Eric turned the last of the dials and felt the heavy tumblers thud into place somewhere in the machinery below. Unsealing the phial, he let the nanophage drip over the dials, melting them into something else, something that would never open again. Back against the metal wall, he let out a sigh, deflating, sliding to the cold floor. His sigh whisped away into the darkness of the vault to visit with the other ghosts.

The sodium lights failed for a moment and then swelled back to life. Eric didn’t notice. He had the locket open in his hand. One last look before snapping it shut. All worth it in the end.