The epi­logue reflects on the protagonist’s jour­ney of recov­ery and self-dis­cov­ery three years after sur­viv­ing Covid. Empha­siz­ing the impor­tance of liv­ing in the present, the nar­ra­tor dis­miss­es grand ambi­tions in favor of appre­ci­at­ing small victories—health, shel­ter, and loved ones. Now an art ther­a­pist with her own prac­tice, she trav­els to the Galá­pa­gos alone, sym­bol­iz­ing clo­sure and inde­pen­dence. The chap­ter under­scores the fleet­ing nature of moments and the val­ue of cher­ish­ing what one has, rather than yearn­ing for what’s absent.

Arriv­ing in Puer­to Vil­lamil, the pro­tag­o­nist observes the vibrant, tourist-filled town, con­trast­ing it with her pan­dem­ic mem­o­ries. She recon­nects humor­ous­ly with her friend Rod­ney, who sup­port­ed her through her breakup with Finn and her mother’s death. The nar­ra­tive touch­es on Finn’s new life with anoth­er woman, acknowl­edg­ing the protagonist’s gen­uine wish for his hap­pi­ness. Her solo trip rep­re­sents a final chap­ter, a delib­er­ate step toward per­son­al res­o­lu­tion and growth after years of upheaval.

The pro­tag­o­nist checks into a bou­tique hotel, not­ing its dis­sim­i­lar­i­ty to her dreams, and inquires about a woman named Ele­na, hint­ing at unre­solved threads from her past. She reflects on her master’s the­sis about memory’s unre­li­a­bil­i­ty, draw­ing par­al­lels to Japan’s tsuna­mi stones—monuments meant to pre­serve hard-earned wis­dom across gen­er­a­tions. Her art ther­a­py prac­tice has chan­neled this idea into cre­at­ing “pan­dem­ic stones,” col­lab­o­ra­tive art­works by sur­vivors to memo­ri­al­ize their col­lec­tive trau­ma and lessons. One such stone stands in the MoMA, near her mother’s pho­to­graph, bridg­ing per­son­al and com­mu­nal heal­ing.

Explor­ing Isabela Island, the pro­tag­o­nist con­fronts dis­crep­an­cies between her mem­o­ries and real­i­ty, blend­ing famil­iar­i­ty with new­found details. She vis­its the tor­toise breed­ing ground, anoth­er site that diverges from her imag­i­na­tion, and jogs along the coast, savor­ing the abil­i­ty to breathe freely—a stark con­trast to her Covid expe­ri­ence. The epi­logue clos­es with her embrac­ing the present, acknowl­edg­ing the past’s weight while step­ping for­ward into a life shaped by resilience, art, and the qui­et joy of sur­vival.