Yet another AGGGTM fic... but this time it's not a one shot.
A glass box filled with paper.
Paper filled with words.
Words filled with meaning.
Pip blinked.
It had been so long since she had seen that box, much less opened it.
Much less read the pieces of paper inside of them.
She knew exactly how many there were, in the box. One for each day of her exile.
697.
Six hundred and ninety seven pages of refill, words splicing and filling the lines.
She hadn't even read them, since she had written them. They were for her eyes only, and only for when she wrote them.
But now, maybe Ravi could see them too. One letter a day, his gift from her.
Maybe.
The glass was cold in her hand. She flinched as the lid clinked while she was opening it.
Jason's skull cracked and echoed as a gun going off, six times in her chest.
Glass. It was only glass.
A container of glass, keeping the letters away from the rest of the world.
697 folded pages of love, addressed to Ravi.
She dug around in the box, looking for the first one.
She found it, a large number 1 scratched onto it in black ink, near the bottom of the box.
She could remember the day she wrote it.
October 8th, 2018. The day after she left.
She had been sitting at her new desk, in her new room. Everything was new. Even her, newly single.
New girl, New life.
She had cried, while she wrote it. She could see the spots where the ink had run, from the hot beads dripping off of her face.
Hot tears, cold glass.
She had bought the glass box a few days after, at a second hand shop.
Glass, like her. Such a fragile thing that could snap at any moment. Second hand, like her. Wanting to start a new life.
A second-hand glass box, old and reused. Paper-thin letters, current and new. Connecting the past and the now.
She breathed out and unfolded the first letter.
My Dearest Ravi.
I am so, so sorry. I didn't want to leave, like this. I didn't want to leave you.
But I had to. To keep you safe, to keep everyone else safe.
And I'm so selfish, I know. So selfish, and I can promise you I did it with good intentions.
But I didn't think of how it would affect all of you, in the long game.
Will I ever see Cara again? Will I ever be able to look at Becca again without seeing the curve of her face, and seeing the face of Jason?
Will Naomi, and Connor, and Jamie and Nat be able to see my face, without seeing the face of a killer?
And will I ever see you again, without seeing the montage of moments that played in my mind, during those years I was bound in that tape.
The feeling of the hot beads of regret stuck into my cheeks. The tape has left them there, embedded.
I hope they leave. The tears, the invisible marks from the tape. Stanley's blood pouring out of my hands, covering my skin.
This ink is running. Running like me, from the past.
Pip exhaled shakily and wiped her eyes. Should she give it to Ravi? Maybe him reading it wouldn't affect him the way it did her.
Maybe he would be glad, that she hadn't forgotten him in the days, the miles between them.
She sniffed, and slipped out of bed.
Her feet hit the cold floor as she walked through the kitchen, Ravi was in the living room, playing video games.
"Ravi?"
He jumped from his spot on the couch, placing a hand over his chest.
"Jesus, Pip. You scared me." He said. Her mouth folded into a weak smile.
He scanned her face.
"Are you ok? I thought you were sleeping." He reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I just- found something." She sheepishly unfolded the letter and placed it in his hand.
"It's a letter. From when I was away." She explained
"Why is there a one on it?" Ravi asked, setting down the controller
"Because it's the first one?" She said, slightly confused.
Ravi's eyes drifted up from the letter. "There's more than one?"
A puzzled smile lifted the edges of her mouth.
"Yeah. There's one for every day."
Pip sat down on the couch next to him and watched him read it over.
He smiled and turned to her once he was done.
His eyes were full, but he still smiled.
"You big old softie," He laughed, burying his face into the base of her neck, Pip giggling with him.
"You know, I think I did something similar while you were away." Ravi smiled. "But you will have to wait until tomorrow."
Pip pouted.
"Pleeeeeeaaaaaase, Ravi, let me see." She made the face, that face. The one she pulled when she begged him to let her into his house.
He smirked, because he knew how much she hated waiting.
She complained, and begged while Ravi continued his video game.
She eventually fell asleep in Ravi's lap.
He carried her up the stairs, and into their bed.
Carrying her home, to sleep. Like he had during her exile.
With her, as she slept, his presence (physical or not) comforting her.
She dreamt about clouds.
Silver lining, isn't that what people said?
But hers wasn't silver lined.
Her clouds, her letters. Her subconsciously floating thoughts, out of her head and onto paper. Saved for the day she and Ravi were together again.
Her lining, her box was edged in gold. Shiny golden metal, plating the edges and corners of her box.
The Sky, the glass. Something clean, and pure. Holding her clouds and shiny linings for her, so she didn't have to worry about keeping them safe.
So what were Ravi's? Were they letters, lined clouds like hers? Were they the sun, lighting everything up, everything being visible because of them?
That would make sense.
Finally, something made sense.