The Last Page

An author types the remaining words for his novel but unsure on how he should end it.

And he lived happily ever after.

The text marker continued to blink as it always did even before the first lines of this novel were uttered. But this time, it felt as though it grew a pair of eyes that stared back at me. Is this really how it ended? I felt it whisper to my ear. 

I backspaced the words and thought of a better, more fitting ending.

But in the end, he was never truly happy.

The text marker kept on blinking. It continued to watch me, as if it was waiting for more tacks of the keyboards and more words to pop out. The marker waited, blinking in disapproval.

But in the end, he was never truly happy, for happiness was such an abstract concept he was never able to understand.

Still, it continued to blink and the blinking never seemed to falter. It sounded like a fitting ending for his character, for he never understood what he was trying to find his whole life. The very discourse of his character to search for such attribute in life was a lost cause, for what he was finding never truly existed - at least in the places where he was looking for it.

The marker continued to blink and it wasn't going to stop blinking anytime soon. This isn't the ending it deserves, it wanted to tell him.

I erased the final line and started again.

During the times he was genuinely happy, he couldn't help but look at the times that he wasn't and feel like he never deserved such feeling. Now, he was nothing but an empty shell of his past self, never truly knowing how it is to be genuinely happy.

I felt satisfied with my ending, and yet the marker kept blinking. Is it now? Is this how it is going to end?

I erased it once again and thought of the perfect ending for my character and the story he lives in. A fitting ending, that was what I needed, yet I couldn't find the words to grasp such ending. I tried to remember his odyssey from his inception from the first chapter until the last lines that captured his adventures. I dug in to my character's adventures and I could almost see the ships he had sailed, the horses he had ridden, the boars he had hunted, and of course, the woman he had loved. Her silver hair that perfectly matched her lavander eyes, her soft, smooth skin that brushed his arms every time they walked together, the melody that escaped her lips whenever she spoke or laugh. His life was the life people would die to have.

And yet...

And he was

The room grew more silent as it sounded a heartbeat less.

 

   

 

Author's Note

this is kinda an abstract story and it's up to the readers to decide what it's supposed to mean :)

Reviews

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

This is a very fun bit of writing about writing and the struggle to properly wrap up a story or book. It's true, you definitely want the ending to be appropriate for your character!

[Woody]

a novel idea, unlike any I've come across so far. off the beaten track. I enjoyed the read.

[Emily]

I love how you ended the story!

[New Theory]

Yes the last line really takes the cake here, was awesome the way you have wrote with the details and things going on the mind of the author is awesomely written. Loved this short.