Treasure Hunting 101

Epilogue

Brea

This part + "ending" music: Ending Theme/Cast List from Super Mario World

I ended up spending the night at the group's clubhouse. We all got up at around 9 this morning, and by 10, my parents had arrived to come pick me up. As I'm walking to my mother's car, the rest of the group follows me outside and watches me leave. Before I enter the car, I turn around and tell them, "Hey, thanks again for the adventure, guys. That was a lot of fun."

"No problem. We were glad to have you tag along this time around," Sam replies, as he and the others smile at me.

"Just don't ask us to do something like that again, okay?" Skylar asks. She seems both serious and not serious about that at the same time.

"You got it," I laugh. I enter the backseat of my mother's car, and as she drives off, I look out the window and wave to the others. They all wave back. I watch as they get smaller and smaller in my vision the farther my mom drives away from them.

I might never get to do this kind of thing with them again, but I will sure as hell savor that adventure for as long as I possibly can.

Hopefully I'll be able to hang out with these guys more often, even if we don't do anything crazy like that again.

---

Once Brea's mom's car is fully out of sight, Luke nods and says, "Y'know, she wasn't that bad."

"Yeah. She was nice to have with us that time around," Shanna adds. "She's a really sweet gal."

"Should we invite her along next time we do something like this?" Mia asks the group.

Everybody else shakes their heads no. "Maybe not. We don't need another person to hassle over," Heath replies.

"Also, she was just a bit too peppy for my tastes," Elle adds on.

"Fair, fair," Mia nods.

With that, the team makes their way back inside the clubhouse, bringing this short-lived and crazy journey to an end.

But in the backs of their minds, they all know that the end of one journey just means the beginning of another for them.

Just like with these stories. One always leads to another. It's a continuous loop.

Thanks for sticking around for this story. As always, I enjoyed getting to tell parts of this story to you, and I, along with all the other characters, hope you enjoyed it just as much.

Until next time, dear reader.

The end!