The climax of Misery sees Paul finally gain the upper hand with Annie, allowing him to kill her once and for all. In the next scene, we pick up with him 18 months later out to lunch with his agent Marcia (Lauren Bacall). His newest book is drawing hype, and when Marcia asks him if he'd ever write a nonfiction book about the ordeal he went through, Paul says he's not ready for that yet. Then, as he looks to the side of the table, he sees Annie pushing a dessert tray in his direction.
Rest assured, Annie is good and dead at this point, and he soon recognizes her for the harmless server she is. She stops by their table and tells him, "I'm your number one fan," which also happens to be the phrase Annie told him. From the hallucination, we see how even a year and a half after the ordeal, Paul is still traumatized by his experience with one crazy fan.
This ending also provides insight into why Paul isn't ready to write a nonfiction book about his ordeal with Annie. It's clear he's still suffering, and he may not be out of the woods yet. Annie may be gone, but he has plenty of other fans, and who knows if they're just as crazy as she was? The fear may never go away, which ties in nicely to the film's overarching themes.
