Man Overboard

A/N: Here's a Letter for You

This will probably be kind of long and you're under no obligation to read this, but I just wanted to say a few things and I'm sure some of you might want an explanation for the ending of this story.

First off, I just want to thank all of you for reading this story, for commenting and voting. I loved writing this story and I'm glad you enjoyed reading it, even when you were all crying in the comments section. 

Now the ending for the story. I debated between many different ways the story could've gone, from Tom and Willow getting back together (which I'm sure many of you would've appreciated) to having Willow kill herself in the end. And if I'm being honest, I was going to go with the latter. I thought it would be the most impactful, and kind of poetic in a sense where the story ends where it opened. 

But then Maylaship suggested that Mark be the one to save her and I knew that's what I had to do. I didn't want to send the message of the girl killing herself because the guy she loves doesn't love her back. And I really like this ending because it shows that sometimes other kinds of love, like the love of friends, is more important than the romantic kind. And I think that's a good message to send.

So I hope you all aren't too mad at me for that. 

Now some of you might be asking about a sequel (or maybe you couldn't care less). And honestly I don't really know if there'll be one. I've thought about writing one and there's definitely a lot I could write about. But I also kind of like the open-endedness of Man Overboard, that the reader's just left to assume that Willow accepts happiness as a fleeting feeling but still decides to enjoy it while she can, and that maybe she does find someone else and have kids like Mark said.

And then there's also the fact that I'm writing four other stories, and there are even more that I want to write, in addition to oneshots. I don't mind having a lot of stories because I enjoy writing them all (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have started writing them). But I just feel like it's not really fair to you guys, because I don't update them consistently at all. Usually I get momentum for one story and then I update that constantly. (I was working on only Man Overboard for the last two months at least.) Which means that my other fics go un-updated for months at a time (sorry). So if I did start a sequel for Man Overboard, it might fall into that category. 

Knowing me, I'll probably end up writing a sequel, but I think I'll wait before starting it. Right now I want to focus on my other stories because they've been neglected for too long. Maybe if I finish one of them, I'll start a sequel. (I swear one day I'll write a story that makes sure there's no sequel.)

And now I wanted to say something on a more serious note. Obviously there are a lot of serious and triggering topics in this story. I just want to say that if you self-harm or if you've thought about suicide as a solution, please talk to someone. There are people that love you, your family or friends or people that you haven't even met yet but will get to someday. 

I've been there, that's why this story is so personal for me. But I can promise you that it gets better. It really does, and I know it does because it did for me. 

Sometimes you feel so alone and you're in so much pain that it feels like suicide is the only way out, but it's not. Please talk to someone and get help. You do not have to go through this alone. Talk to your parents, a sibling, a friend, a teacher, anyone. If you feel like you don't have anyone to go to or if it would be easier to talk to someone you don't know, I'm here if you ever need someone to listen. There are also hotlines you can call, which I'll leave below. 

Please get help because the world would be a much darker place without you. It gets better. 

"Tomorrow holds such better days." 

Thanks for reading <3