Maria Oh Maria

1 st L E T T E R

The New Beginning

Dear Maria,

Hey Maria, How are you? Are you eating well? Are you going to school daily? Are you waking up at time? Are you taking your medicines right? Where are you staying? Do you not miss me anymore?

 Sorry. I got too excited. I was worried for you. It's been hard since you left. Papa suddenly decided to move out to this new town, something about a new beginning he was saying. I guess we are finally settling down.

 I miss you. I did tell them that I wanted to go back to you, but they didn't listen. They don't even let me mention your name anymore.

 Remember how we used to write letters to each other when I was 6? You would write me one and slide it under my door and I would write you one in return and deliver them the same way to your room. My steps would be too loud and we both would get scolded for playing so late at night. But I still remember, you always wrote me back no matter how late it was.

 So, I thought I would write letters again. It's been an year since we left East Lario and been hopping from town to town.

 I thought you would write back again, no matter how late it was.

 Maria, want to know about this new town we moved in last Sunday? Papa said it's called Angelus. Isn't that a weird name? It sounds close to Angel though.

 Papa told me some things about this town beforehand like the big market nearby, the lake, the school that I am supposed to be enrolled in and no woods.

 No woods in this town or any town nearby. They especially made sure of this one.

 He said it is a small town but trust me Maria it seems so big! But then again, everything seems big to me. Papa, Mama even you used to be so bigger and taller than me. I wonder if you are still taller or if it is now me who can also reach the top shelf.

 Anyway, our new house doesn't seem too different than our last one. In fact it has a smaller yard, a smaller living room, a smaller kitchen (Mama didn't like the kitchen), and a small attic. Yes, a real attic! Just like the one you always wanted! Papa has forbade me from going to the attic though. He said it was home to some nasty spiders. 

 You know Maria, it feels so weird here. The town is so quite and grey and gloomy unlike the hustling city. And even if I peek out of the window I barely see anyone outside. I guess everyone here are big lazy sleepers, kind of like you (he-he).

 Oh, but something interesting happened yesterday. It was somewhere around 10 in the morning and I was trying to master the art of drawing perfect circles by hand(I have been fascinated by circles for a while now). I finished the drawing which wasn't quite perfect and reached for the drawer to keep it anyway, when I noticed this peculiar woman outside of my window. She was standing still on the rode-side right out of my window, staring at me.

 I couldn't see much than a blur through the hazy glass so I wondered if she wanted to say something. I opened the window and the woman smiled. Her smile slowly stretched from one ear to the another as her eyes expanded to the size of two large golf balls, just as white as her long braided hair wrapped around her throat in place of a chocker, her hands were also pale white completely in contrast to her charcoal face, wrinkled and kind of twisted in a very weird manner.

 I guess I was a little startled, or I think I was a little scared at that moment so I immediately shut the window and ran downstairs to Mama. But the woman was gone when Mama checked outside. Maybe she got upset because I didn't say hello. Maybe I shouldn't have slammed the window so loudly.

 
Maria, was I too rude?

 
Yours affectionately,

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