The Letter

Elena.

Frowning, I crouched down and looked under the bed. In the far corner, hidden near the wall, was a small silver box.

I let out a groan as I reached for it, my fingers barely touching it, but strong enough to pull it towards me. When I got it, I held it to my chest, while rising to my feet.

While sitting on the bed, then, I checked out the box. There was a small clasp, which was easily opened. Without thinking, right away I forced the box open and took a peek inside.

The box was full of notes, trinkets, and other various items. A small laugh escaped out of my mouth as I picked up a small teddy bear. Give it a squeeze, and it started singing Happy Birthday in a very squeaky voice. It was something that I had gifted to Maxine a few years back then.

After that, I started looking at other things. Like the notes that my friends and I had written for her, the cheap necklace from her first boyfriend, and the bottle cap opener that she used to drink her Root Beer with. Despite knowing that she was a touchy-feely person, I was still impressed.

Just as quickly as I had emptied the box, I looked around at everything once more, before placing it under the bed. I was just about to put the box aside when I noticed one last thing inside the box.

There was a tattered letter at the bottom of the box, with my name written in Maxine's neat writing on the smooth side. My curiosity got the better of me as I pulled it out, and tossed the box aside.

I turned the crinkled letter over in my hands, my nails digging into the still-sealed hole at that letter. Tearing it open, then, I pulled out a scrap of paper.

Dear Elena,

I wish I could tell you in person, but that is not possible, and I don't have much time. It never occurred to me that this would happen, and sometimes I wish that I would have been luckier. Now, I can't do anything else but hope for the best. I can't tell you everything, even if I wanted to. I have gotten myself into trouble, and the only way I can fix it is by leaving. This is a ring that I'm going to give you, and all you need to know is that you need to take good care of it. Basically, don't lose it. If someone takes it, it could cause big trouble. There is no one who has the kind of faith I have in myself to take care of it. I'm going to run away, and I hope I can get in with the other pack, the Scarlet Moon Pack before your mom and dad realize that I have left. My parents too, of course, but I don't think that they will care too much. There is someone who is after me, and it would be best if I let them away. Since I caused this problem, I should try to fix it.

Take care, El. One day, I will get back to you again.

Yours dearly,

Maxine

As I read the letter, I could feel my tears was welling up in my eyes as I sucked in a deep breath, while folding the letter. I did not understand. She had only said a few things to me when she left. The most important thing was that she was very sorry and she just could not explain it. She took off her ring, forced it into my fingertip, and gave me a kiss on the cheek before leaving. She did not even look back when she walked away.

As I sat there, I tried to figure out what I had read. There were so many questions that I knew that would never be answered. She had left five years ago, so there was a small chance that I would ever find her.

My hand involuntarily move to reached out for my ring, feeling it fall into my palm so that I could examine it.

By my estimation, the ring was quite normal. It was made of thin silver metal, with vines engraved on the outside, and an inscription written on the inside. Even so, I never knew what the words meant, considering they were in another language, and soon I found myself feeling lost.

I never wore the ring because it was too big for me at the time, and to be honest I never felt that it was mine.

After that, I put everything back in the box, leaving the letter out of it, and kicked the box under the bed. The box rattled loudly against the wood, and the treehouse returned to silence.

Forcefully opening the treehouse door, I untied the rope of the ladder, and let it fall, unwilling to risk my life to climb down the tree without falling. In a few moments, I was already down from the tree, with the letter tucked away in my back pocket.

Once I was inside the house, I took out the letter and read it once more. For once, my mind was completely free of Killian, though it was still filled with the shadows of the other darkness.

I read the letter over and over again, my mind was spinning. What should I do? My parents were already devastated enough by what had happened, so telling them now was not a very good idea. I knew that if I told them, they would drop everything to go and look out for her, even though it was unlikely that we could find her.

After all, we only had one thing. The Scarlet Moon Pack. Even so, that was not much of help either.

So I folded the letter and put it at the bottom of my underwear drawer. No one could go in there but me. Safely hidden under my mismatched bra, I let out a sigh and lay down on the bed.

On a normal day, it seemed like it would be really pretty nice.