Epilogue

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RUNNING
FOR MILES

The sound of crashing waves and the hot sun had my new normal, instead of the gloomy and overcast weather at Dayton Lakes. All though I miss the cold weather I've fallen head over heels with the warm weather and palm trees everywhere. The constant sound of waves crashing meanwhile trying to fall asleep and smelling the scent of saltwater every hour of the day is something that will never get boring.

The reason being Hale and I had moved to Malibu. A great big house that looked like a mansion but we had made sure to also make it look like it was meant to be on the beachfront. It was the perfect place we had chosen, as it was very family-friendly and our backyard was sand and ocean, instead of grass.

Our house originally was a two-story house that looked just like every other one on the street. It was white, plain, and had not much character. We painted it a baby-blue, extended the walls on the exterior of the house, taking up more of the land, we changed all of the paneling of our deck and extended that too, and on the inside, we practically demolished every room and started from scratch.

It wasn't that we didn't like the house before, we just wanted something that we liked, but could make even more us. We didn't want a modern house, we wanted a cute, beachy house with modern aspects—like the electronics and our Google system wired throughout the entire house—but other than that, our interior is mostly wooden and pastel.

If I'm being completely honest, I never thought I would leave Dayton lakes. That place felt like it was a black hole, sucking everyone and everything into it; which it would then keep you there, with the good and the bad. I was jealous that Hale and Lila got out. Lakyn and I were stuck there and every time we were close to leaving, we were sucked back in.

But I was thankfully finally freed from that place when Hale had come back after at least a year or so from traveling around Australia. Lakyn had just moved to London to be with Lila and I decided to go and visit for Christmas. Not just because I missed my best friends but because I was failing my studies and I couldn't bear to stay at home alone.

Before Lakyn worked up enough courage to move, I took up the space on his couch. My house was haunted by the memories of my brother and my father was working constantly to distract himself, so I spent all of my time with Lakyn. It was nice because we were both going through the exact thing.

When I landed in London, I ran into someone and it felt like I had leaped into some cliché movie. It was Hale, of course. I hadn't seen him since he left and we only spoke on occasion because he was busy traveling and I was just trying to move on until I had my life figured out.

Turns out that he too was going to visit Lila, but she had no idea. We both caught a cab to Lila's apartment where she lived with her friend Sabine, and now, Lakyn too. Hale said he was going to Europe next and insisted on me to Italy and Greece. I denied it because even though I hated Dayton Lakes, I didn't want to leave my dad but I talked to Lila about it and that's when she said, and I quote, you need to start living for yourself.

Her words hit me like a rock and I found myself wondering how long I was planning on sitting at rock bottom, all alone. I knew that only I myself could get out and her words were encouraging enough for me to call my dad, explain the circumstances, drop out of college, and then less than a week later, I was on a one-way flight with Hale to Mykonos.

As soon as I stepped foot on the white sand and spent all hours of the days spent there, lying on the beach with Hale, I realized that I made it. I finally got out. And I was happy. My brother never got to experience this. He was in the same situation that I was and he never saw a way out. So, I began living life for not just myself, but him too. He never got to travel and have someone love them the way Hale did me, so everywhere I traveled, I took the extra time to really take in and enjoy the history and the scenery of everywhere I went.

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