UNWRITTEN FOREVER

EPILOGUE

The ocean murmured in the distance, its waves lapping gently against the shore. The scent of salt and summer filled the air as Gwy stood on the old wooden pier, her hands gripping the worn railing. This place hadn’t changed, but everything else had.

She closed her eyes, remembering the way Aileen laughter used to dance in the wind, how her hand fit so perfectly in his. They had spent countless nights here, dreaming about the future one they were supposed to share. But dreams had a way of slipping through your fingers, just like the tide pulling away from the shore.

Years had passed. Too many. And yet, the ache of what was lost still lingered.

Back then, the town had felt so small, so full of promise. It was a world they could control. Gwy and Aileen had believed that they could bend it to their will, that nothing would tear them apart. But when the world outside their little town came knocking, Gwy had made the choice to leave to chase something bigger than the life they had built together.

She had promised her they would make it work. Promised she’d come back. But promises made in the heat of youth often fade with time, swallowed up by distance, change, and the relentless march of life. They had drifted, each finding a different version of themselves in a world that didn’t wait for them to catch up.

A sharp breath left Gwy’s chest as she glanced down at the letter in her hand its edges weathered from the months it had sat unopened. she didn’t know what had driven her to finally come back. Maybe it was the weight of unspoken words, or the feeling that something was missing, something unfinished. But there was her name, the letter from Aileen. And for reasons she couldn’t explain, she knew she needed to return.

“Gwy,” her voice called softly from behind.

Her heart stopped. She turned, slow and deliberate, like the past was a heavy thing she wasn’t sure she could carry. And then there she was Aileen. As real and present as the sea breeze, yet so distant, so changed. She stood a few feet away, not the girl he had left behind, but something new. The years had carved lines of experience on her face, but her eyes, those same eyes still held the echoes of their past.

For a moment, neither spoke. The weight of time hung between them like a thick fog. Gwy’s chest tightened, but she wasn’t sure if it was from seeing her again or the fact that she still didn’t know what to say. How do you greet the person who once held your whole world, but now feels like a stranger?

Her lips parted, as if she too were searching for the words. But there were none. Not yet.

Instead, Gwy looked back toward the horizon, where the sky kissed the ocean. It felt like a lifetime ago that they had stood here, side by side, looking at the same view, imagining a future neither of them had fully understood.

And now, here she was, back where it all began, but nothing was as simple as it had once seemed and it's starting to came back the memory they had, when they meet.