The Unseen Road

Chapter Thirty-Six: Epilogue

Six years later.

The doorbell chimed as another patron entered the small, quaint coffee shop. It was warm inside from the collective steam of served beverages and the sunlight streaming in through the bay windows, but the air conditioning proved offered asylum from the stale, torrid mid-August in Florida. Tidy and well-kept, the wooden-tiled floor and soft, white walls were modernly decorated with shelves lined with succulents and dust-coated books without covers that were used only for décor, while fairy lights dangled delicately across the ceiling overhead amongst hanging terrariums. It invited a quiet place to sit and think amidst the bustling college town- like a buoy in a tempestuous sea. The gentle background murmur was almost lulling.

At a corner table, a young woman of nineteen tapped her pen rhythmically against the parchment paper of her leather-bound pocket notebook. Letting out a light sigh, she swept her hair to the side and bent further over the tabletop, placing pen to paper once more; but she kept it still, poised. She was writing her own personal account of a distant story that had happened to her years ago, conjuring a pungent sense of reminiscence with each stroke of her pen. But now she thought.

Finally, her hand began to glide across the paper once more. "... So, there you have it," she wrote, in a slanted but neat script. "I've just finished my account of the story. I've written it in first person because I can only tell it as I saw it; for, whether you believe it or not, it did really happen.

"Now, regardless of your choice, I'm sure you've moved on from this story as soon as you've read the last word, and may even be skipping this afterword to move onto other fantasy novels, or perhaps to continue on with your day. Similarly, I, too, have tried to move on as well and continue living my life, in a society where you can't put fighting another world's Civil War on your resume; but with every passing year the story has remained vividly in my mind, every moment and second. So, I wrote it, especially when the thought had struck me earlier last year that I was just about the same age I had been Changed into six years ago. I think I look a lot like her, but not the same. I've also grown a lot in personality, too, I think. I am certainly different, but then again, given the circumstances, I don't believe the girl I was then could ever really die.

"Do I miss it, you may ask? Yes, all the time. There isn't a day that goes by without me being reminded of Alysia somehow, or of Prince Nicolas. However, I don't think I am any longer fit to cling to such bygone memories, since I should be experiencing life to the fullest and celebrating what I have, I guess.

"As for what happened afterwards, Celeste and I resumed eighth grade with a new class; and our final year came and went like a blur, as I'm sure is typical of the tween experience. It wasn't too bad; Trey left the school, and we decided to approach the teachers about the bullying we had been subjected to for far too long. Whether or not the teachers took action or our classmates simply decided we'd been through enough after being missing for so many months. The treatment still wasn't anything like being revered as twins, though."

A chuckle.

"During that first year since returning home, I was pretty good at keeping my mind on the future and focusing on what I had promised to do, to live my life with my newfound confidence. Especially with the remedial classes that came with missing half of the curriculum, there wasn't much time to focus on trying to go back, or really wanting to. However, there still wasn't a day that I didn't think about Nicolas.

"So, when I completed middle school and started high school, I had more time on my hands and gradually became enamored with finding the Unseen Road again. It was because I missed it and wanted to go back so that I could see everyone in Alysia more time- not permanently, but maybe just to find some peace of mind, at least at first. But it spiraled out of control and became an obsession, segueing from spending hours on end searching up random disappearances across America to- admittedly- trying hallucinogenic drugs to see if that would somehow manifest the road for me. (Obviously, it didn't work).

"I've since put an end to that phase in my life. Since then, I've begun attending college to pursue a baccalaureate in Psychology and am now beginning my second year. Celeste, on the other hand, without any setbacks, continued on to graduate both high school and college early through an intensive dual enrollment program. She's now beginning graduate school for Archaeology and History, hoping to pursue her doctorate studying the comparative history of all civil wars. You see the difference? She was inspired, I was stuck. That's okay, though, because I've learned from my mistake, and now think I might be on a good path to become a therapist. I want to be able to help others find confidence all on their own, I think.

"And the others? Slowly, I've lost contact with them, except I still meet with Mina for coffee to catch up and make amiable small talk from time to time, whenever both Celeste and I are in town. The meetings are brief and rather impersonal.

"Mina is well- despite being only sixteen, social media has promoted her to become a well-known fantasy author. (Don't get me wrong, though; she's still very shy, and hardly ever posts anything other than her writing- maybe a few nature-related pictures here and there on her social media). I don't know whether or not to be surprised at the fact that she hasn't written about her experience in Alysia yet. I'm happy for her, either way; also, last I've heard from her, she'd found her 'true love'. I would like to say that's still young... but who am I to talk?

"I don't know why I left this out earlier, but I had a brief encounter with Chase/Charles Drake some years later, luckily after my obsessive phase. I don't know whether or not Mina has gotten to see him again, but I do know that at least for a while, he watched over her. I wonder if he still does.

"Anyway, he gave me the solace that I had sought by filling me in on how things were going back in Alysia. He explained to me of how he, while still a transient member of his Clan, had taken on the duty of working for the Queen as a diplomat, helping to repair the broken bonds between the different races of Alysia. I was also delighted to hear that Beatrice had begun her own journey towards healing and finding her peace as an Angel of Good. It had hurt her to discover how her father grieved upon the termination of her case, when she was pronounced dead; but she, too, learned to move on, and hopes to see him again one day, if only once. My mind still drifts to her every now and again.

"I'm inclined to say that that's about it. However, there's still the matter of my first true love, Prince Nicolas. I don't know why, but I did not ask Chase about him, or his coronation which was to take place the day after we left. Maybe I wanted to leave the topic as is; maybe I was satisfied. But, although it doesn't seem like it anymore, I know that Prince Nicolas is still out there, and I'm hoping that he thinks of me, because I think of him almost every day.

"Maybe one day I will dig up my own research and pursue a healthy attempt to find the Unseen Road again; maybe then, the whole gang would get together once more, and, who knows, maybe we'd even be successful. But who am I kidding- what's the point of chasing old dreams when I have all I need?

"I suppose it doesn't matter. So, until then, perhaps I should consider really 'moving on', whatever that means..."

She paused, smiling softly to herself. "... because I have my own Unseen Road ahead of me.

Kylie Jacobs,

August 22nd, 2022."

THE END