Stranger to stranger

What could have been

The logical way of starting this treasure hunt is to wait until tomorrow night. I have school tomorrow, but after it's the weekend which gives me plenty of time to find the second letter. Where could it be? And, what could it contain? 'Another stranger' said that I have to do everything that the letters ask me to, without any exceptions. What could he possibly make me do? Every possible question about this situation is passing through my mind, with no answers. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out and try to get some sleep. Trying to find answers will lead me nowhere, but exactly to square one. I tuck myself into bed and fall asleep faster than I have ever. I guess all the emotions I experienced in the last hours have exhausted me. And, as I thought, Friday morning came quickly. Just the same as every Friday before: birds chirping, people walking, cars honking. I wake up by the sound of my alarm under my pillow, but this time, I'm right on time. I can feel the heaviness of my first morning breath as I look out the window. The sky is especially clear today. No clouds or birds to disturb the sun working its way down. Everything seems as usual, but definitely doesn't feel like it. The past two days have been everything but normal. It feels weird to stop a routine I've been doing for so long. On that note, I still have to do the same before school chores. I get up, put on some clothes, eat breakfast and head out of my house. While walking to school, I can't help but think about how the day is going to go by so slowly. My curiosity about this letter makes me want to do nothing but search for the other letters. Who knows how many there could be ? This excitement is going to put my day in slow motion. I sense that patience is going to be an important piece in this puzzle.

My assumptions were right, the day passed slower than I've ever experienced before. Hearing the final bell ring is a releaf. Well, everything leading to a break from school is great. I don't know why, but something about this place feels so wrong. Learning everything and nothing to only use half of it in the future. The logic behind the school system really is an excessive mystery that will never be answered to me. Anyways, I have more important things to think about. I'm talking about changing the loop I'm in. Now, I can focus on myself for once. And, the letters that will, hopefully, change my life for the better. I think I left the first letter in my room if I remember correctly. It only takes me a few minutes to get to my house and rush up the stairs right into my room to find the letter laying on my bed, opened and at sight of anyone who passed by. Did my mom read it? At this moment, I need anything but my mom getting in my way. I know for a fact she wouldn't like the idea of me wandering around the city to follow orders from a piece of paper. Now that I think about it, it is kind of stupid. Anyways, I take the piece of paper and hide it in my pocket. I have to think of somewhere to hide it better, somewhere no one would look. I take an old shoe box in my dresser and put it under my bed. The more and more I find letters, the more the shoe box will hold. But, for now, the letter is coming with me. Everything that I need to find the second letter is in the one in my pocket. I should probably get somewhere alone to find clues of where it could be. In those words, I head out of my house again to go to the nearest cafe. Once I'm comfortably sitting down, next to a window and a hot chocolate in my hand, I take out the letter from my pocket. My eyes wander around the paper, reading every word that could possibly be leading to the location of the second letter. My sight freezes as I read the sentence: 'PS: I am where you wanted to be.'.  What could that possibly mean? It has no correlations with the past subject used by the writer, so it must be about the second location. But, it is so vague that the amount of possibilities where the letter could be just tripled. I can't help but wonder if I'll be able to find the letter. I just have to put my mind to it. Where did I want to be? I can't find a single specific answer. I wanted to be anywhere a year ago. I wanted to be traveling the world and writing my experiences or random stories on my blog. Owning a cute cottage in the mountains, near a river and with a clear view to the stars at night. Maybe, write my own book too, who knows? I wanted to be my best self a year ago. And, to be completely honest, I still wish for those things. But, the motivation for anything was lacking. What I once loved and did every night, I don't adore as much. Even if I want to, I don't think this letter is asking me to take a trip to find its siblings. I have to think like 'another stranger'. Where would a stranger, trying to help another who wants to end their life, hide a letter? Especially, if that letter is where the stranger thinks the person wants to be. The easy and slightly boring answer here is heaven. Or, in other words, that person wants to be dead. And so, where death is. Where would they have ended it? Where was I going to take my life? The bridge. My eyes light up as I realise that I just found where the second letter is. I did it. I drink the rest of my hot chocolate and walk suspiciously fast out the door. People around me look into my direction like they are wondering what's so urgent. I don't really care what they think. I never actually do. I have to be at the bridge fast because the sun is disappearing soon. Looking for a little piece of paper in the dark won't be easy. The bridge is only a few streets from here, it'll only take a couple of minutes. I run through the streets not wondering what I look like. I know I look crazy, but at least it's for a good cause. I don't want to waste any time that I could have on those letters. What if it rains? or there's a big storm? The paper would get all wet and my hunt towards happiness would be over in a blink. I have to find this letter today, before the sun goes down. It only took me 7 minutes to get to the front of the bridge. I stop in my course to look it up and down. I am back here again, but not for the same reasons. Now that I think about it, the letter can't be on the bridge. Could the second letter be this close to the first one? Hanging on another pole. Maybe I need to think outside the box for a little bit. What if the question wasn't 'Where would I have died?', but 'How?'. I found the first letter when I was standing on the bvridge's fence. Ready to jump, even if it meant I wasn't going to live another second. At that moment, I looked at the water and wanted to be  with it. Float in it until I can't feel life anymore. I wanted to be the water under the bridge, and that's where the second letter is. I look up at the sky, I'm right on time. The sun is not down yet, but will  soon. I have to get to work. I make my way down a little hill next to the river. I pass through big trees and branches on my way, hitting a few from time to time. The sound of the dried leaves under my boots makes me a little bit because they give the illusion someone is walking in the forest behind me. But, somehow,I know that I'm completely alone at this moment. The view from under the bridge is terrifying, but fascinating too. It seems taller than it is from up there. The water is way more calmer than that night. I can see what I think are fishes from time to time. I tilt my head forwards towards my reflection in the water. I can almost catch a glimpse of my brown eyes in the water. But, mostly, I just see a vague face with brown hair moving along the waves. I can imagine my reflection being my actual body. The thought of my body, slowly dying without my soul to be by its side. Falling into a long cold sleep to an unknown destination. All that from a fall so high it would have taken my life with it. Feeling the wind blowing my soul away and taking a step into the void. It gives me chills to look at what could have possibly been my death from another point of view. My eyes are fixed into the waves, following their movement with attention. The current led my eye to a small bottle attached to a rock a little more to my right. I make my way to it, stepping from rock to rock. You can see that the bottle has been there for a long time by the way it's so dark you could think it's made from brown glass, but some clear stains on it proves it wrong. I take off the cork and slide the paper out of the bottle. With impatience, I open it up to read what it says and what I have been waiting to hear: