18
Dear Matthew,
I'm doing better now. I had the operation. It would have been a girl. My parents were very mad but when I told them what happened to you they raised their judgment a fraction and removed the punishment. It was that I couldn't go to the party held at the end of the year for sophomores, which in and of itself is quite sad. But I wouldn't have wanted to go anyway, it would have been far too sad without you, my love. However my brother, sister, and I all went out for brunch the next morning. They're growing up so fast! I'm happy we get along like you and your brother used to. Speaking of him, I'm very sorry. I heard that he will be executed in a month or so. How dreadful, I wish him a decent after life, he was a good man, wasn't he? Well, I want to make this letter a little longer, so you have something to read when you have nothing to do or you can't sleep. I imagine the day you get this letter you'll head off on the road again towards that haunted building. Do send me a letter once you get there, I want something to read to.
How about I tell you something from my childhood, then? I remember that as a child my siblings and I had a dog. He was a real big one, a Newfoundland. In my childhood we lived in the rural side of the country. I was the oldest so I was in charge of the little ones when they played. I guess this story sounds a little strange since I'm not an old lady just yet, but I feel like one. I think the loss of motherhood in such a way has brought up these feelings. Anyway, one day the big dog took us to the lake. He wasn't told to, he just started running towards it and we had no choice. There was a little yell some ways off but we thought nothing of it. Natalya, my little sister, had to drop her basket of mushrooms to chase after him. We ended up soaking in the lake, trying to contain him, but he was howling madly. We eventually found out what it was. That yell was from a little child drowning there. We eventually pulled the soppy mess of a girl on land and she thanked us, hugging our big dog. He was a savior then, and our best friend.
When he passed away, at a ripe old age and the year before we moved to the city, we all cried. Natalya clutched him and Ivan wept, hugging me. But, during that time, I realized that that's how life is. Things come and go, and you just have to let them, because there's no use in holding onto it. Like you, I could let you go because I knew you couldn't stay no matter how hard a pushed for it or how tightly I held on. You're a wild horse and you'll keep running, even if I yell at you to slow down. You changed a lot from that wimpy little kid with braces and a big crush on me when I first met you. Yes, I could tell what your feelings were towards me, and I was flattered.
You were the first person to treat me that way.
All the love in the world,
Katrina