The following is completely self indulgent and I don't expect anyone to read further. If you have read this far, if you've read this story in any part and in any way enjoyed it, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
This is a story I never expected to finish. But I also never expected not to finish it. I started writing this story in 2007 - I have the notebook filled with my sloppy middle school handwriting to prove it. I'm not even sure if the final book in the series had come out, but I knew this was a story I wanted to try and tell. This story is a love letter to the first book series I ever fell in love with. It's a love story to my first foray into fandom. It's a love story to the Underland Chronicles forum, my first real experience with online spaces, and a love letter to the friends I made there.
But as the years went by, it became more than that. A point of pride maybe. I was determined to finish this story, and the more time passed, the more determined I was that I would some day finish it.
I was twelve years old when I started writing this story. Since then I've graduated high school, college, graduate school. I've lost people, I've met people, I've moved across the country several times. For god's sake, the day I finished this story, in August 2022, I closed escrow on my first condo. I would tell you which I was prouder of, but it's a bit embarrassing (and you can probably guess).
So here I am, uploading the final six chapters of this story. I started writing Chapter 24 back in 2015, right after I posted the last one, but if felt important, even back then, that I commit to finishing. Even now, I'm working on re-writing the entire story from the beginning, because it feels important that I give it my best effort.
But I wanted to post these chapters as they are, without the benefits of re-writes and hindsight. Because this is more than a story; this is a love letter to that twelve year old girl who was just realizing what it was to love a story and who was just learning how much she loved to write. So yes, are the first few chapters simple and silly and littered with typos? Yes. Are the final few chapters riddled with mischaracterizations? Probably. But just know every single word was written with love. When I read it back, I don't see the mistakes. I see my life and growth and change.
The final chapter? I've never been prouder of anything I've ever written. I wrote that chapter for that twelve year old girl, who even way back then, knew how she wanted the story to end. Gregor, Luxa, New York, and all the stars in the sky.
I don't expect any of you to read this story with the same sense of sentimentality. Not at all. But for the final time, thank you so much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed.
