Stuck In A Cliche Love Story

Epilogue

2 weeks later

I take a deep breath as I sit on my bed.

My normal bed.

My real bed.

I grimace slightly as I'm reminded of the dreadful pink room.

A lot has happened in the last two weeks. The police had arrived shortly after the building exploded, saying they received a call from a girl who said her name was Hannah Wilson.

She had left a mysterious message saying they needed to track the call because not even Hannah knew where we were.

Turns out we were somewhere in California. Nearby a ghost town called Aberlee. Apparently the building we were in used to be a small children's clinic before the authors came and renovated it.

The police asked lots of questions but most of them, none of us could answer.

There was precisely 56 missing people and Talia had been missing the longest.

I had only been gone for 3 weeks. Reece had been gone for 3 years.

I didn't get to see him much after the police came. He was shouting at the building, saying that people were in there.

But after the fire had burned the building down, they didn't find anything. Not a single trace of a body found.

Which gives people hope that maybe they're somehow still alive.

Especially Reece.

It's all he ever talks about. How they got out, how Hannah is still alive somewhere and how he can find her.

Whenever anybody talks about the authors and Hannah, the police officers just nod their heads sympathetically.

They don't believe any of it even happened.

And maybe it didn't.

Maybe we're all crazy from "going through a traumatic experience" as a police officer said.

They think we were just kidnapped and left there to die.

They don't know how we lived and nobody can answer for them.

At a certain point, I think everyone stopped trying to explain what happened.

It's simply unexplainable, I suppose.

I haven't gotten to see Reece at all since I got back home.

I haven't tried to talk to my mom about Diana either.

Maybe she already knows.

I also didn't try explaining where I went. I just told her what I told everybody else.

"The earliest thing I can remember is walking to school and then waking up in something like a hospital room."

Of course I remember all the stuff in between but what's the point in trying to explain or tell them?

Not like they'd believe me. Sometimes I don't even believe myself.

They say our stories all match up. We'd been kidnapped while walking to school.

And somehow none of us remember it.

There's still a lot of things I can't explain.

Especially how nobody seems to remember how they even got kidnapped in the first place.

Nobody among any of us could explain. Talia most likely knew the most but of course, she wouldn't say anything.

Opening up my new computer, I brush a strand of hair away from my face.

I remember seeing my mom after they took us back to the local police station and found out where we all lived.

She was crying and then I started crying and then we were both puddles on the floor. I hugged her for what felt like hours.

Everyone ended up coming from the same place. Oregon.

All over Oregon, never two people in the same city or town.

Reece lives about an hour away from me.

It could be worse.

Dani lives nearly 5 hours away from me but she's trying to plan a meet up where all of us come together and celebrate.

Celebrate getting out.

A lot has happened.

The authors wrote stories based on our dreams. 54 to be exact. The only ones they didn't finish were me and the new girl, Aria's. She was only missing for a day or two.

I pull up a blank piece of paper on my computer and start typing.

It all started on my 17th birthday-

A knock on my door interrupts me and I hold back the frustration threatening to creep into my head.

Always interrupted.

I love my mom but it's impossible to get a moment by myself at this point.

Grudgingly pushing the computer aside, I stand up from my bed and walk towards the door.

I open it and the person outside immediately embraces me.

I know who it is the instant his arms are around me.

"I'm sorry it took so long. Things have been pretty hectic." Reece mutters but I don't respond.

Instead, I pull his head down to mine and press my lips to his.

Reece puts his hands on my cheeks and kisses me back as my arms wrap around his waist.

We stand there for what feels like forever and in that moment all I feel is happiness.

He pulls back and I smile up at him as he brushes a strand of hair out of my face.

"Athena Traile, will you go on a date with me?" He asks causing my smile to grow even bigger.

"Yes I will, Reece Keller. When?" I question and he shrugs.

"Now?"

And in that moment I knew, that no matter what happened after this, I would be okay.

Yet little did I know at the time, that somewhere, Hannah Wilson was not okay.

But that's a story for another time.

In that moment, all I could care about was that I was out.

That I was no longer stuck in a cliche love story.

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A/N
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Bigger dedication ahead:

Thank you to the people on Wattpad, who took a chance on my book and finished it until the end.

Thank you to my family, who have read and supported my writing from the beginning.

Thank you to my friend (seo727), for making me want to be a better writer and further improve myself.

Thank you to the silent readers and thank you to the readers who comment and vote:)

I have so much love and appreciation for all of you!

I'm excited this book is coming to a close and stay tuned for a possible spinoff and/or prequel!

Em Tayah