First of all, my apologies for any and all long pauses between chapter updates, especially this last (year!) long gap. After making countless revisions to earlier chapters to fix continuity errors, I realized I couldn't publish the story chapter-to-chapter anymore and needed to get a substantial amount written before updating. Thus, I got to a certain point during my writing process and just… kinda… figured I should finish the damn thing before uploading it. I hope the result— a more cohesive and fluent last half— is worth the wait.

Second of all, I can't thank you guys enough for sticking around to read this. As I mentioned in earlier chapters (I think?) these characters have been living it up in my mind for about ten years now (!) and the story has morphed as I've grown as a person and figured out more of what I wanted the theme— and the characters— to be.

Looking back at how this story started (in 2015!) there are so many things I wish I could change, and so many things that I'd do differently if I started the story at this point in my life. Though I scratch my head at some choices I made back then (Inconsistencies! Dangling plot threads! WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH ADELIS'S NAME?!) it was also my choice to publish this thing as I was writing it, so I can't be too hard on myself.

The story itself, like its characters, grew up alongside me, and began to take on the points of my life that I was living through as I wrote. That's just the nature of who I am as an author, I guess, for better or for worse. (That being said, it might also be why I would be an absolutely terrible novel author outside of the confines of the internet.)

In retrospect, I can't believe it took me until 2015 to sit down and start banging this damn story out on my computer. I can't believe I'm still writing it in 2019. I can't believe I stuck with it until the end. But holy shit, am I happy I did it.

Liam, Finn, Hadds, and Adelis— the crux of the story, the heart of it all, some of my favorite characters I've ever created, and certainly the most enduring to me— they continue to live on in my head, going on adventures as they grow up. I have endless concepts for their future, and though they may never make it to paper, know that their journeys will never truly be finished; though, knowing me, I'm going to need to write them all down someday.

For now, I'll be focusing my writing efforts on my story "Broken Carts," which I (selfishly) recommend you to check out if you like my writing style. I'm trying to write it in bigger chunks to avoid gaping plot holes/continuity errors (this story has definitely been a learning experience in many ways) so just be warned… I'll be doing multi-chapter dumps when life is kind enough to grant me time to write.

And finally, in case you wanted to know what songs Liam put on his playlist for Finn (and because I'm a music junkie who loves curating playlists for characters), here's a snippet:

It's You — Robert Schwartzman

Cut Your Bangs — Girlpool

Break My Heart — The Drums

I Got Drunk — Mal Blum

3am at a Party — Soccer Mommy

Burnt and Worn Out — fredo disco

manhattan — small dad

Don't Stand A Chance — The Gromble

Tambourine - N - Thyme — Nana Grizol

How I Get Myself Killed — Indigo De Souza

spring time lover — wished bone

With that, I'm going to stop rambling and say one last time, whether you're reading this tomorrow or years from now: THANK YOU. I hope you found something to take away from this story, and maybe even learned something about yourself along the way. Much love to all of you.