Paper Planes Back Home

EPILOGUE

Three years later.

Upon purchasing two iced lattes from a coffee kiosk down the street, Anna notices that Skylar has wandered away from her side and is now standing in front of a small building that she knows to be some sort of art gallery. Making her way to him, she notices that his eyes are fixed on a huge exhibit poster hanging by the pillars.

"Sky?" she calls out. "You better not be looking at a nude poster over there, or else . . ."

* * * * *

"All the pieces you will be seeing here are products of many sleepless nights . . . And I mean that quite literally," Gianna declares with a chuckle, directing her gaze at Aaron, who is standing at the far end of the hall. "Countless times within these past three years, I have woken up in the middle of the night wanting to paint whatever I see in my dreams . . . so I guess you could say this is an invitation to see what my dreams are made of.

"So without further ado, I would like to welcome you to the unveiling of my very first exhibit: Paper Planes Back Home."

A collective applause is heard, and the doors to the main exhibit hall open.

* * * * *

Two clouds hover side by side, one with a tree and a tire swing, and the other a wrought-iron bench. Two figures—a man in a soldier's uniform leaning against the tree and a woman in a green dress sitting on the bench—look up at a stretch of blue sky where a multitude of paper planes fly.

"Why is this so familiar?" Skylar mumbles.

"It does look interesting," Anna admits. "Do you want to check it out? We've never gone to an art exhibit before, after all . . ."

He smiles at her and takes his iced latte from her hand. "Do we have that in our bucket list?"

"We can always write it down then cross it out." She takes a good long sip of her latte. "Hurry and finish your drink because I'm pretty sure they won't allow these inside."

* * * * *

"Oh my god, I am SO sorry!" Aaron exclaims when he bumps into someone on his way to congratulate the woman of the hour, consequently spilling a bit of the champagne from the glasses he is carrying onto their clothes.

"It's fine," the woman says, wiping the champagne droplets off her cardigan with her bare hands. "It's fine, I wasn't really looking where I w—Whoa, Aaron?"

The blond blinks at the mention of his name, and his jaw drops when he sees an old friend. "Nurse Kerstein!"

Anna laughs and waves a hand dismissively. "Please, just call me Anna. We're not at the hospital after all."

"Wow, Anna . . . It has been a long time," Aaron says with a shake of his head, thinking it amazing that he is able to meet this awesome woman once again after three years. After Gianna had been discharged, he had promised to keep in touch for the meal he owes her, but the stage productions he got involved in made sure he couldn't make it. Time passed, and everything had eventually been forgotten. "I'm so sorry about your clothes, I'll pay for dry cleani—"

"Oh, shush, this isn't expensive anyway. But you can give me that glass of champagne and we can call it quits."

Nodding, Aaron easily gives in and hands one of the glasses to Anna. She quickly gulps the drink down, making Aaron laugh. "Did you stumble in on your own, or are you here with someone?" he asks, his eyes searching the room for Gianna. He spots her in front of the huge painting she named Departure, speaking to a guest he recognizes as one of his stage managers. Certain that Gianna would be thrilled to see Anna again, he makes a mental note to call her over in a few minutes.

"Well, I was with someone, but I kind of lost him to the paintings," Anna says regretfully, though Aaron knows she jests. "They are pretty impressive, very whimsical . . . My favorite is the one with the little boy riding a paper boat on top of a flying tortoise."

"Mine's the one with the royal blue butterflies coming out of a whistle. Did you see all of them already?" Aaron asks with a knowing smile on his face.

"Yes, it's amazing! It's almost like a whole story in paintings. Do you know the artist?"

"Of course I do. She's my wife," he replies proudly and gestures to Gianna's direction. At about the same time, Gianna turns, sees Aaron and waves at him. Anna almost squeals.

"You two got married!"

Aaron flashes her a giddy grin and looks over at Gianna, waving her over. "About a year and a half ago," he discloses. He is about to say something else but is interrupted by an actual squeal. Gianna has recognized the woman Aaron had been speaking to and, unmindful of the people around them, briskly walks toward the nurse and just gives her a big hug.

"Nurse Kersteeeiin! It's so nice to see you again!" she says happily, still holding on to Anna who embraces her in return.

"Just call me Anna."

"Anna!" Gianna squeezes her tighter and then lets her go. "Thanks for coming to my exhibit. This is such a nice surprise!"

"You can say that again," Anna says with a shrug. "It was my boyfriend who actually saw your poster outside. He was so mesmerized that we just kind of crashed in . . . Oh, here he is."

Both Gianna and Aaron look toward the direction Anna points at, and they see Skylar walk over in a manner that would seem like he had been drinking something stronger than champagne. "I need to meet the artist," he tells Anna, completely oblivious that his girlfriend had been speaking to a couple before he reappeared.

"Well, you're in luck . . . ," Anna tells him, patting his arm affectionately. She gestures to the lovely couple in front of them, zeroing in on Gianna. "Because here she is."

* * * * *

They say that as you go through a near-death experience, your entire life flashes in front of your eyes, but no one really knows what happens when two souls who once met in a limbo of clouds and paper planes meet again after coming back home.

"Skylar," Gianna whispers the moment she sees his face, uttering that name for the very first time after she had woken up from her coma. It is as though all the things she had only seen in her dreams—things that only became tangible on her canvas—have started to make sense when she looked into his eyes. They weren't dreams after all, and she can finally tell Aaron that she had not just been dreaming. Skylar had been part of her journey too.

Tearfully, she lets go of Aaron's arm and steps forward, intending to introduce herself to him. Before she could say anything more, however, Skylar beams at her, knowing immediately who she is even before anyone could tell him her name. "I never thought I'd be able to thank you for everything you did for me, Gianna."

Smiling, Gianna just leaps forward and hugs him. Skylar lets out a quiet sort of laughter and hugs her in return, "I am so glad you were able to find your way back home."

She sighs. "Same."

"So . . ." Aaron clears his throat, and Gianna releases Skylar from the hug. The two men acknowledge each other with familiarity shortly after, and Aaron continues. "I feel that there's a story here somewhere that needs to be told."

Anna nods as Skylar puts his arm around her shoulders. "Over some drinks, I hope."

"There's definitely a story," Gianna confirms, leaning her head on Aaron's shoulder. In her heart is an overwhelming feeling of joy and wonder over this serendipitous moment, all the questions swimming in her head for the past three years answered the instant she gazed at Skylar's face. "And I think I can finally tell it now, with Skylar's help."

Skylar's gaze travels from Gianna's face to Aaron's, and finally, he looks at Anna with an excited smile. The memories he thought he had lost every time he closed his eyes to sleep are now back, immortalized in oil and canvas, no less.

"Now there is something to cross off my bucket list!" Skylar exclaims. "I guess we only need to find a place that's open 24 hours, yeah?"

Aaron furrows his brow a little, curious, as he glances at Gianna. The latter only chuckles.

"It'sa long story!"