Letter

I had to go after Anne. Actually, I needed a shower.

Andrew was out there waiting for me, I didn't want to explain the whole story to him, I had to organize it in my head first before I could tell it to anyone… and that's what I did during the shower, because I had to tell Anne without her thinking I was crazy and a liar.

Sunlight made my eye hurt, I rang the doorbell, with my heart Racing, her mother answered, she was visibly frustrated to see me...

"What are you doing here, David?"

"It's a long story, the label bailed me out, I need to talk to Anne..."

"Anne is not here. What about Matt?"

"She's not? Matt?"

She was not being nice at all, I was feeling embarrassed and I needed to come up with a plan...

"Matt will be out soon, but first I need to talk to Anne…"

"I'm sorry to say David, she got a job and traveled abroad."

When I thought the nightmare was over, it was only beginning. I asked where she was, but I knew she wouldn't tell me...

"Where did she go? Really, we need to talk, this can help Matt to get out of there!"

As expected, she was not convinced.

"David, when Anne returns you can talk to her, about Matt, don't worry, we have a lawyer who's taking care of everything…"

I had to find out where she was, I considered going through the window, but I didn't wanna risk going to jail again, those days had been enough.

I didn't feel guilty for my lie, for the first time...

"Ok, then I'm just gonna get some stuff that Matt asked me to take him, his medicine and some books..."

"Go ahead David, you know the house... tell Matt I'm gonna be there later."

I went upstairs, the house was so empty, without Matt's voice, Anne's scent…

I looked through the window and saw their mom on the backyard, I got into Anne's room, everything was tidy, I opened the drawers, looked under the bed, nothing, no clue of where she was. On the wall, a big change, my photos were not there anymore.
I got into Matt's room, it was tidy too, that was a miracle.
And then I saw on the clean table, no empty glasses, no dirty socks, but an envelope with Anne's writing on it.
Privacy invasion? Screw it. Matt didn't deserve my respect.
I quickly searched on the letter the name of the place she was, but I found a phrase that made me want to read everything.

"Matt, there's something I really want you to know, when you get out of there (and it's gonna be fast, I know) we needed to talk, I can't hide this from you anymore. I love you very much."

She was in Brazil, and I was going there.

On the letter I found the number of Anne's producer in Brazil, I wrote it down, it could be useful. I ran home and got the number of all airlines that I found and called them, looking for a flight to Brazil. Everything was booked though, there was only one ticket but it was only in 3 days, in the middle of the night and with connection in Mexico, but there was nothing better. I'd drive if I could get there faster, but it was impossible. Why she had to go this far?

I lay down, I was exhausted, and thanked God that I was gonna sleep on my own bed and not on a jail floor. It was unbelievable to think about everything that happened, it felt like a scary movie... and then I thought about Matt, who was at that very same moment lying down on that hard floor… I still couldn't believe how stupid he had been, but he acted like a child, I knew he meant no harm, on the opposite, actually… I guess he had suffered enough, and then his mom's face came to my mind... I was gonna fix that, but only tomorrow... My eyes were already closing, I looked at the nightstand, the last thing I saw before falling asleep was a picture of Anne and me, in the frame…

I woke up early the next morning to make arrangements for my trip. Andrew asked me where I was going, I had to lie, said I was going to NY to visit a label. Then, I went to the police station and bailed Matt out. I didn't feel like talking to him, so I left without seeing him. I got home in the evening and went straight to the shower. When I left, I heard Andrew's voice yelling from downstairs.

"Dave, are you in the shower yet? Matt is here!"

I yelled back that he could come up. He leaned against the doorframe, his head low. I realized I was not mad at him anymore.

"Don't be a fool Matt, come on in!"

He did, sat on the bed and stared at the window.

"Thanks for bailing me out. I couldn't stay there anymore... "

I sat on the chair facing him.

"I guess you suffered enough."

"Yeah, I was almost catching a cold sleeping on that floor... and there was a guy next cell that looked suspicious... "

I laughed and so did he.

"David, I..."

I interrupted him.

"Forget it, Matt. I know you meant no harm. It's gonna take a while to forget, but it's fine... we're ok…."

"And what's gonna happen now?"

"Well... I'm going after Anne in Brazil."

"How do you know..."

"...she's in Brazil? I read the letter she left you. Is there a problem?"

He giggled.

"No, not at all... I guess I can't complain about much..."

"That's true. I'm going after her in 2 days and let's see what happen."

"Good luck, Dave."

I felt he was being honest.

Next day dragged on, I packed and almost went to the airport to wait for the next day. Matt was very excited about me going after Anne and was hoping we could work things out, he was definitely trying to make up for all the crap he had done… he even said he was planning some stuff, but didn't want to tell me what. I wasn't thinking about much things either, just my meeting with Anne.