Journey to the Last Page

“Journey to the Last Page”

Stephen Johnson

The young woman sat quietly in her room cozy under her thick full size comforter with a thin silver laptop computer balanced carefully on her upper legs. Her fingers moved on their own as they took direction from the thoughts that clawed and scratched to escape from their beautiful creative prison in her head. The mind and the hands, in perfect unison, like a classic orchestra, worked together to produce the masterpiece. The fingers became the extension of the idea and the words became the song that played out like an Italian opera. The breaths came in quick short bursts with the body hardly even noticing. The singular objective only to unlock all the ideas in her head and unleash them to the paper in an instant so that they may not be lost before the world could see them.

           She blocked out the sounds of the home and ignored the purring of the cat who slept at the end of the bed. The next chapter took precedence over the daily routine and her only thoughts drove her to complete the last idea and to make the chapter whole. She was awoken from the trance by the cramp in her left leg and stopped her typing to set the computer down and stretch on the floor. The minutes had turned into hours today and the window setting of the afternoon sun she had looked at to start this session had now turned to a dark night sky. She stood and looked out the window at the haphazard flight plans of the lightning bugs and listened to the distant sounds of the dogs that bellowed farther down the street. Anxiety and excitement still burned in her to finish – finish tonight, but it was already so late and she was tired. The reminder of school in the morning and the nagging feeling of finishing the calculus homework fought their way to the front of her thoughts. The battle was lost tonight but she would resume the war tomorrow. The finish would have to wait at least one more day.

            The adrenaline spent and the homework complete, the head fell to the pillow and in an instant the morning came and with it the challenges of a new day for a seventeen year old girl. Each class seemed to last a lifetime as her head filled with the ending for the story and the desperate need to send the thoughts free. She jotted down notes during anatomy class and remembered to edit the first chapter plotline during Honors English. Finally, the last class ended and she made her way to the parking lot for the ride home. The young woman tried to calm her mind listening to the radio as she hurried home to complete the last revision of her novel. The countless hours of editing and rewriting was coming to a glorious end and the anticipation belted at her relentlessly. A car honked and she swerved snapping back to reality as she checked her rear view mirror and stopped at the red light. She waited at the light and her stomach growled to remind her she missed lunch today forcing her to delay for precious more minutes to stop for the required nourishment to finish her literature journey.

           She arrived in her driveway and bounded excitedly to her writing pad and closed the door. This day there would be no welcome for her feline friends as she opened the laptop and continued on page 276 and the last chapter. Her mind drifted to the ocean as the waves crashed the ship and the story’s hero, Mr. Marxadue, finished his emotional good bye with the heroine and major character of the book, Brooke. So much of this character came from not only her imagination but from her actual life. You see, Brooke, was not just a creation from her mind, but an extension as well. She knew Brooke and all her hopes and dreams. Brooke embodied her vision and represented so many values and trials that she had gone though in her life. 

           There had been many attempts and starts for this endeavor and with each swing and miss, the ultimate goal seemed to move farther away. Despite the temptation to stop, she maintained her persistence and never relented to the easy alternative of giving up. She instead remained true to her inner self and fought through her fears and apprehensions to reach this place. She sat at the precipice of the mountain with the summit clearly in sight now calling for her. Although the wind howled and the snow blasted continuously at her the summit now was in reach and nothing or no one could stop her. The final steps to the top ended up being the most difficult but she found her way become easier the closer she got to the finish. The final sentence rang out with angelic songs as she hit the save button and raced upstairs to upload the book for her first publication.

           The design of the cover lasted much longer than she originally thought but the perfect picture of the ship in the fog screamed out to her as if it was designed solely for her book. She combined the story with the cover culminating over a year and a half of joy and pain all wrapped together. She stopped momentarily and stared at the screen to gaze on the final product and dreamed of the day when she would hold the paperback in her hands. The preview displayed the cover of the book and she moved the mouse to uncover the back of the book. It contained the picture of the author and the proud biography alerting the reader of the adventures ahead and the thrill of an author’s first writing. 

           There is no feeling quite like finishing a long held goal especially one as complicated and complex as a novel particularly for a young author. Overcoming internal and external boundaries and fears and reaching the end of a long journey provides the foundation for future successes in life. More than anything, it spurs the life long love of writing and the thrill of creating endless possibilities with just the tap of a key. This book was much more than just the countless hours of creative thought and meticulous editing. It was an escape and outlet for a young woman to prove to everyone and most importantly – to herself, what she could accomplish.