Racing Andrius

Peter: The Letter

I walked down the hall feeling indecision turn into butterflies in my stomach. I stood in front of the door to my room hesitating. Something was unnerving about the conversation to come.

"Yo Pete trying out telepathy?" Robby said as he walked past me

"Forgot the keys, Pete?" said Luther passing by as well

"More like his brain," Robby laughed from the end of the hall

"I think Andrius might be in there," Luther said

Then suddenly the door opened, and I felt numbness wash over me.

"Oh, hey Andrius," Luther scrambled away after Robby

Andrius looked at me with blank eyes and said, "You comin in?"

"Uh-yeah," I said

We sat awkwardly, him on the sofa and me at my desk chair.

"So um, I-" I started

"Me first," Andrius said and pointed at an envelope on my desk, "open it,"

I looked at it. It was a simple white envelope addressed to me. Who would be sending me letters? I tore it open and when I read the first few sentences, I felt my heart plumet. No! Why now? I put it back onto my desk gently and stood up to go to the bathroom.

"Tell me your answer tomorrow, you had a long day." Andrius said

"It's not like tomorrow would be any shorter." I sighed

"I'll get the group together, hurry alright, we need to have a talk,"

"Yeah, I know," I whispered quietly.

The words in that letter were recited in my mind, repeatedly reminding me of the nightmare to come. In the past several months, mother had only visited one other time and that was when I was forced to call in a favor from Cassio since Andrius was not there. It was then when I told her that I was Charlie and Peter was the one that died in the car crash. It was this decision that also left me indebted to Cassio. I couldn't tell her because I want her to stay happy, but because...it would mean that I was admitting...he was really dead...

I walked back into the hall and into my room and my heart skipped a beat. There was almost everyone on the whole hall in my room.

"Hey, Pete," they all said at one time

"Heard you ran into some trouble," Robby said,

I walked over to the last vacant spot and sat down next to Andrius, "You had to invite him," I muttered

"Hey, be grateful that they actually want to help you," Andrius muttered

"Well, if you asked them to help you, they would too," I said, but Andrius didn't show signs of hearing me

"Hey everyone thanks for coming out tonight." Andrius started, "As I mentioned earlier, Peter's mom will be visiting and as we all know their relationship is...complex,"

"That's a simple way to put it," I said and placed my head in my hands,

"Well, all we ask is to be on your best behavior and be mindful of what you say. Got it?"

"Yeah," they all said in various ways

"Thank you, meeting dismissed," Andrius said, and all of the others exited the room with chattering like birds. "That takes care of that side. How you feeling?"

"I wish I was chosen to go study abroad..." I muttered

"Man up," Andrius said and started to turn off the lights.

"Easy for you to say you don't have to..." I stopped abruptly feeling the familiar tug of guilt and sadness

"Night Pete," Andrius said, "It's going to be a long day for you tomorrow,"

"Night Andrius," I said and felt the fuzziness of sleep cloud my vision before I closed my eyes and drifted off into a sound dreamless sleep.