Epilogue Resolutions and Endings
An Epilogue of Resolutions and Endings
Acottage crowned a sea cliff, overlooking an ocean along the border of a pine forest and rolling desert of golden dunes. Gulls cried overhead, leaves rustled in the wind, and camels huffed a greeting.
Home.
Em dropped her walking stick. The distant, sticky scent of taffy filled her nose, and she swallowed back the anticipating drool filling her mouth. She hiked up her skirt and raced across the lawn, cheering victoriously as her boots stomped up the steps of her family’s front porch.
She didn’t need to knock.
Mom flung the door open and engulfed her in a hug. They clung to each other, laughing in a mixture of relief and excitement.
“I missed you.” Mom pulled back and examined Em, beaming with a wide smile. “Look how much you’ve grown!”
“I have so much to tell you and Dad!” Em squeezed her mom’s fingers.
“Did you like it?”
“Hell yeah!”
Mom raised her eyebrows but didn’t make her usual comment on Em’s harsh language. Instead, she cracked a grin as she led Em back into the cottage.
“Good,” Mom said. “I’ve been hearing rumors of a snarky camel-farm girl ruining her own prophecy recently when I take trips with your father to Raecleaver. He still trades with the Harpies. You were right about their cabbage, though.”
“You go there now?” Em laughed. “I thought you detested the winged women.”
“People grow on you.” Mom shrugged. “Besides, adjusting to what’s around us is about to be crucial for survival in Novella. Especially on Adventuras Island. Can’t be picky or too sure everything will go as you originally planned.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Oh, I learned it from a certain princess, who completely ruined the plot of her story by overturning its tropes. Apparently, this famous Main Character lives here now.” Mom nudged her toward the kitchen. “And she happens to be my daughter.”
“Mooooooom.” Em blushed, rolling her eyes.
The counters and tables were covered in candy-making ingredients and sticky taffy balls, almost like Em had never left with Faylorn back on her birthday all those endless weeks ago. A bucket of camel feed sat in the corner, ready for her to continue her daily chores.
The sense of ordinary was welcoming after the amount of sheer chaos she’d survived.
“I have something to show you. It came not ten minutes before you did.” Mom crouched near a pile of Dad’s boy-band instruments and CDs, lugging out a medium cardboard box, wrapped in layers of packing tape.
Em’s name was etched over her home address with purple, swirling ink, and there was no return label. Just the big bold words FOURTH WALL.
Her breath caught.
She’d seen these boxes before; whenever her parents came home from their own adventures and stories, a package like this would show up soon after.
These kinds of mail deliveries always led to a celebration, a splurge meal full of unhealthy snacks, letters to extended relatives, and most importantly, a trip to the market for silver markers for autographs.
“No fucking way.” Em’s hands shook, whether from excitement or nerves, she couldn’t tell. Nor did she care to decipher her rush of hot emotions.
There it was. Her dreams.
Just an arm’s reach away.
“Open it.” Mom handed her a dagger.
Em fell on the box, slicing the tape open, fighting to stay steady past her own shakiness.
Her pulse raced with impatience to tear the package apart.
The scent of crisp, fresh paper filled her nose the further she opened it.
Her fingers brushed something hard and glossy. Goosebumps rose on her arms.
Em pulled out a green and blue book with Stephanie’s name sprawled across the cover beneath an illustration of herself.
Holy.
Shit.
She gingerly opened the novel, everything inside her glowing with excitement. Inside sprawled the hundreds of thousands of words that made up the same plot she’d just returned from.
Inside the front page, a note in tiny handwriting read:
We did it.
Make the dreams of others your own.
-Stephanie Sawyer
“What do you think?” Mom whispered, her smile growing wider by the second. She hovered over Em’s shoulders, bouncing on her toes.
“I…” Em couldn’t catch her breath. She hugged the book to her chest and let out an exhilarated sob. So many, too many emotions hit her all at once.
Her mom wrapped her in a hug. “You did it!”
“I… I… can’t believe it.”
“How does it end?” Mom pulled out another copy from the box, hurriedly flipping through the pages. She disappeared into the kitchen, shouting over her shoulder. “Oh, wait, don’t tell me! I’m reading the whole thing tonight!”
Em opened the final page to find Stephanie’s curly handwriting again: You still need an ending before the official print releases.
Smiling, she laid the book on her lap, soaking it all in. Her story, her adventure, and her author. Cliché or not, it happened. Her dreams were complete. And she could keep on living them. There was no better way to end her first story than with this moment.
Taking in a deep breath, Em whispered to those who were reading, “the end.”
And it was only the beginning.
THE END