Across the Globe [COMPLETE]

Epilogue

3 MONTHS LATER

Samantha

I hadn't realized how much was waiting for me in Buenos Aires until we were back. Hadn't realized how much I always took for granted, and how much I didn't even realize I had until the prospect of the world almost ending made me look at it all. I have more people that care for me than I'd given myself credit for, and I'm now making a real effort to get to know everyone that has shown up for me before.

I remember flying back, the moment we were stuck in time, returning home. It felt like time had paused. Like I could stop, rewind, or fast forward if I wanted to. I remember promising myself to stay in the present, to live the moment, to be exactly where I am at each given time. Where I'm meant to be.

Life will be as it needs to be.

Halfway through the flight, I finished reading 'This is me letting you go', and I noticed that just like beginnings, endings are funny things. Where does a story end? When I was younger, I thought all stories ended with a 'they all lived happily ever after'. But then I grew up and realized there's not such a thing as living happily forever; there's always going to be more stones in our path, more challenges that we'll need to face. I know that life keeps going, that there are no happily forever endings like those.

But there are still endings. Many endings.

And leaving New Zealand, for me, felt like an ending. The end of life as I knew it. The end of my innocence. The end of being always scared and running away from anything challenging or different. The end of my first real-life adventure, and the end -or pause- to my amazing time by Tane's side.

But what's an ending, if not the start of something new?

"Come on Sam! Time to go!" Em yelps happily as she storms into my bedroom, ripping me out of my daydream.

"Em, how can I even figure out what to wear if you don't tell me where we're going?" I say frustrated as I hold a pair of shorts in one hand and white jeans in the other.

"Go with the shorts, they make your ass look bomb. And put that flowery light green blouse with the nice cleavage that looks so good on you. It matches your eyes... Then the brown boots, definitely, and here," she adds as she extends a little bag towards me. "Happy birthday!" She sings happily as I grab the bag from her hands.

"Thank you so much!" I say as I open up the bag, and take out a jewelry box. "Are you proposing to me?" I joke.

"I'd be on my knees in that case," she replies with a wink.

I untie the bow on the box and open it up to reveal a silver bracelet. It's got a couple of charms on it, and I look through them slowly. There's a sphere that I realize is the world, a cute little plane, a small tree that looks a lot like a pine, and-

"Is this a tiny bar of chocolate?" I say, not being able to contain the laughter. "Oh my God, Emma!" I laugh out loud again, and Em joins me as she punches me on the shoulder playfully.

"Come on, hurry up and change, we're leaving in two minutes," she says as she walks out of the door, and I can hear her talking in hushed whispers with my mum.

I get changed as fast as I can, and then I dash to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Once I'm done, I find myself holding the Pikorua between my fingers, looking at my eyes through the reflection in the mirror, and hoping I could see a pair of greener eyes looking back at me. Tane's trip to Argentina has been taking longer than expected, and I have been missing him dearly. I shake my head to let go of the thought, this is no time for moping. My curls bounce around as I stop the movement, and some hair gets stuck to my lip gloss, picking the dark strand off, I fix it behind my ear.