Eleanor

Eleanor had sent Park the postcard. She still couldn't believe that her hands had picked up the pen, wrote the words on that thin piece of card and pressed the stamp onto the corner. She couldn't believe that Uncle Geoffrey had driven her to the postbox and that she'd slipped the postcard into it. Where was that post card now? Had it reached Park? Had he read it? Or was it lost in the big scary world of lost mail?

Eleanor wasn't sure what scenario made her more nervous. She'd been nervous from the day she'd sent it and even now. Nine days later. She hadn't been this nervous since she'd been waiting for Park to pick her up from her home ten months ago to help her get away from that bastard Richie.

Eleanor shook her head and then began to tie her hair back with some of Uncle Geoffrey's ties. Eleanor remembered the exact moment she wanted to send that postcard. She'd been out with her Uncle at the shopping center. They'd become good friends soon after he took Eleanor into his home for refuge. He was a kind man, funny in an embarrassing way. But he cared. He never wrote threats to her…he never hurt anyone. He was kind. Eleanor needed kind. Park was kind.

They'd wandered through the shops; her uncle had bought her two button down t-shirts. Uncle Geoffrey turned to Eleanor. "I'm just going to go and pick up some groceries sweetheart. How about we meet back here in ten minutes?" Eleanor nodded and walked around, ignoring the stares from others walking around the shops. She ignored the whispers from other girls. She wished Park were there when a group of boys laughed at her. He would tell her to ignore them. She played with the ends of the ties on her wrist whilst she waited for Uncle Geoffrey. She was glad when he found her and when they returned home she wanted to cry. She missed Park. She missed Maisie, Ben and Mouse. She even missed her mum. But she did not miss home.

Uncle Geoffrey surprised her that afternoon though. He left a small present on her bedside table, next to the stack of letters from Park. She reached out, gently picking up the package and turning it in her hand. The wrapping paper was bight red with bright spots all over it. It was heavy for its size and like a roughly shaped rectangle. Eleanor gently unwrapped the present, unfolding the paper gently, hoping to save it for another time and almost dropping it when she'd revealed what was inside. A Walkman.

That was all it took to release the floodgate of emotions from all these months. Eleanor managed to move the Walkman onto the bed next to her before she started to cry. Heavy tears that left her face streaked red. She held her pillow to her face and cried into it, blocking the noise from reaching her Aunt and Uncles ears. Eleanor thought it was stupid. This Walkman looked nothing like Park's but it looked just like it too. It held the songs she'd heard on his Walkman when she borrowed it. She heard their old conversations. She heard the way he said her name. Stupid Asian Kid.

When Eleanor had managed to stop crying, she looked at the pile of packages on her bedside table. She reached for the letter on the top of Park's pile and tore it open. Devouring the worlds he had written. His perfectly printed words. Filled with love. She threw it across the room and grabbed the second one, her eyes streaming across the page as tears leaked down her cheeks. The letters became more and more distant. Park asked her why she wouldn't answer. How it wasn't fair for him. How his family wanted to know about her. He wanted to know if she was safe. If she was okay. He told her that her mum had finally dumped that asshole Richie. That she could barely pay for rent on a house with all my siblings. How Park wanted me to be his prom date. He grew more distant. Sometimes just writing a few words. One postcard just had her name written on it. Then she reached the bottom of the pile. One letter filled with the word 'please' over and over again. Eleanor sobbed again when she read the last letter.

When there were no more tears she stood up and looked at the sea of letters, postcards and packages around the room and she made her decision. She grabbed the cassette player and placed the earphones on her head before walking out of her room, past her uncle, out of the house.

Eleanor didn't like exercise. She did not like running but Eleanor did. She ran to the closest truck stop. They had postcards, thank god. Generic ones. But there was one she was looking for in particular. In the end, Eleanor couldn't find the exact postcard but she found one that was similar. She hoped that Park would get the message. She needed him. Greetings from the state of 1000 lakes!. She paid for it with the few coins she had and asked to borrow a pen. She scribbled three words down. Her writing was a mess compared to Parks writing. But she didn't dwell on that. She returned the pen and walked home, the postcard hot in her hands. When she got inside Uncle Geoffrey asked her where she'd been. Eleanor had smiled and went to her bedroom. She propped the postcard next to her bed and stared at it. She looked at the stupid postcard for hours. Did she want to send it? Should she send it? Park had had his prom recently…would he want to hear from Eleanor? Or would he have moved on now? Was it too late?

No. It wasn't too late. Eleanor grabbed the postcard and walked through the house calling for her Uncle Geoffrey or Aunt Susan. She found her Uncle first, in the kitchen.

"I need you to drive me somewhere." She said urgently. "Please."

Her Uncle let out a deep breath and rested his hands on the bench, speaking to her in a level voice. "Right now? Is it that important?"

Eleanor looked down to the post card. Second-guessing herself. Was it that important? Yes. "Yes."

Her Uncle nodded, grabbed his keys to his small smart car and they both got in, tugging their seatbelts on. The drive seemed to go on forever and the whole way Eleanor kept asking herself if this was the correct thing to do.

Then she reached the mailbox and she hadn't been so sure of something in all her life. She didn't hesitate as she got out of the car. Or when she pushed the postcard into the box. She sent her wishes along with the card and climbed back in the car, smiling at her uncle.

It was only when she got home that she started to get nervous.

Park

Nothing ever ends. Tears welled up in Parks eyes and he regretted putting on eyeliner that morning. It was a sentence from The Watchmen; a comic Park had enjoyed reading. Park didn't want to jump to conclusions but in his heart he hoped…he knew that that was Eleanor's way of saying I love you. She'd never said it to him but that was Eleanor. She was weird. She didn't do normal. She was perfectly Eleanor. But what did this mean? Why hadn't she replied to any of the other letters until now? Prom was just yesterday. Had Eleanor known that? Did she wish that she were his date?

Park needed to think about this. His heart wanted him to take his Taurus and drive down to see Eleanor. His mind told him that he shouldn't do anything. Eleanor had left him behind. She hadn't even written to him! Not until today…Park swore out loud and threw the postcard on the floor. His bedroom door opened suddenly and Park winced.

"Park? Did I just hear you cursing?" Park's dad asked, an angry look on his face. "You know we don't swear in this house—" His words were cut off as he looked down to the postcard on the floor. "Nothing ever ends? Who writes only that on a postcar—" His dad looked up at Park his words dying in his mouth. With Park's eyeliner smudged his dad knew something was wrong. He looked between the postcard and Park several times before whispering her name. "Eleanor?"

Park nodded and rubbed at his cheeks with the back of his hand. "I think…I think," What did Park think? "I think I need to go for a drive."

Parks dad sighed and then pulled out his wallet. "A simple phone call wont work?" He said but still pulled out a wad of notes and holding them out to Park. Park shook his head. He had a part time job now. He worked in the comic book shop in town. He worked half of the time and thought about Eleanor the other half.

"I don't have her uncles number." He admitted.

Park looked at his dad whose face had changed form angry to sympathetic. He thought about how lucky he was that he had no need to run away. He stood up from his bed and moved towards his dad, wrapping his arms around him. "Thank you."

They awkwardly separated and his dad ruffled Parks hair. "Go on. Follow your heart. Be careful with your car. Drive safe! Say Hi to Eleanor." Park moved out the door and headed down the stairs when he heard his dad mumble to himself. "Your mother is going to kill me!"

As park climbed into his Taurus he put his Walkman on the seat next to him and hoped that when he returned…it would be with Eleanor.