"So...this is goodbye?"
The readers gather, confused, on the orange sand, watching the receding figure bobbing on the waves. The author seems calm, pulling on the oars for a time then glancing back, or up toward the sky as though lost in thought, perhaps thinking about the past, or the future, or of what might have been.
"No, it can't be! I didn't get to finish reading his latest book," one reader cries, diving into the water in a flailing, flapping struggle against the tide. But the reader tires first, tossed unceremoniously back onto the sand by the churning sea.
As the others help their friend back to dry land they see the author, now little more than a speck on the horizon, stand in his rowboat and fling something into the water. It glints in the sun as the waves draw it towards the shore. By the time it arrives, the author has gone.
"It's a bottle," someone says, pulling it, dripping, from the water. "And there's a message inside."
As the other readers crowd around, the bottle is de-corked, the message unrolled and read aloud.
"My dear Wattpad friends.
Though my writings are no longer available on Wattpad, this is not the end, merely a new beginning.
I am moving on to the next stage of my career, and I want you all to come with me. To join my email list, get news about upcoming book launches, or even beta read new stories before anyone else, sign up here: https://bit.ly/3rt7ld8
Thank you for all the support over the years."
The readers are silent for a moment, their faces downcast.
"What if he sells my email to a bunch of spammers. Writers are pretty poor, I hear."
"Hey, there's more on the back of the note: P.S. I will never share your details with anyone, and you won't hear from me unless I have something really important to say."
The readers shrug. "Okay, then."
"I guess that sounds fine."
"Who wants fish & chips? I hear there's a really good fish & chips place around here..."
