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March 21, 2018 - 394 words
The woman from New Mesa wrote me the other day. I had long forgotten her. Well that’s a total lie. I’ll never forget her. But I wanted to and tried to and in my mind that was the same as forgetting her.
I never get letters. It’s an unmet need of mine to receive letters in the mail. Something about seeing an envelope waiting for you in your mailbox, put there because somebody else took the time. It feels like a lost pleasure and I’ve always been seeking a person who felt the same.
There was no return address so I had no idea what I was opening until halfway into the note. Part of me liked that a lot.
So it’s taken some time for me to decide whether to write you or not. Here I am. Hi!
Life took a dramatic turn for the very worst after you left me in the rain. I stood on the platform for twenty minutes afterwards. I knew I would never see you again. I totally disconnected. I only recently started talking to people again. A lot of unfortunate events happened that perhaps I will divulge at another time.
Things are a little better now though I’m still feeling like a newborn fawn. Fragile. But getting better. Do you remember that night in the rain?
I’m open to being penpals if you are.
-Just another creature
The truth is I didn’t know for certain it was her until the last line. I always called her a creature. I read it a few times. Haha no another total lie. I read it a few dozen times. I read it over and over, I pressed my fingers into the paper, the same paper she touched. Her handwriting was crisp, neat, and worth studying. Just like her, I realized, but that was me romanticizing her again. I think that’s why the last time I saw her was a disaster.
Now what? When people ask me what my favorite city is, I reply without thinking: New Mesa. It’s been three years and I still say it. Part of me wishes I’d never met her but the other part of me likes all the trouble that came from it. It’s something to think about.
Immediately I wanted to know if she still had the quartz I gave her. She liked quartz.