Dear Mitch (Merome)

Chapter 13

I walked into the train station, paid for my ticket, and went into 7 Eleven while I waited. I grabbed a bottle of water and a bunch of snack foods, gearing up for the journey. Breakfast seemed so far away. Paying for it, I left and went to my station. I checked the money in my wallet. After those purchases, less than a hundred. I guess that'd do. I had an EFTPOS card on me, but a part of me didn't want to use it, so I couldn't give up my location so soon. I'd already turned location off, so it wasn't worth being a derp so soon.

It felt like I was running from my problems, but that was the thing. I was the problem. If I left, maybe things would be okay. Not for me, but the others...

And yet, I couldn't help thinking that was even worse. This is a revolution. I just needed to see it to the end.

When I was on the train, the first thing I did was pull out the diary. I needed to have read everything before I got to Mitch's. I didn't want to find out anything was wrong.

The last entry, by the way:

26th February 2035

Dear Mitch,

God, I can't remember what life was like with you. I watch the videos, but it feels alien. It's been too long.

My kids will be seven and thirteen, and will never truly know you. Do I truly know you? I want to say I do, but it's been long enough for you to change. I know I have.

Is it selfish to hope you'll come back? I'm too... unwilling to leave my wife, even though it's starting to break me. God, I just wish I knew if you were waiting for me, like I am for you.

Love, Jerome

I took a deep breath as I put it down. The end of an era, in a way. It may have been short, but it was also unfinished... until I forced the ending.

Snapping the cover closed, I got off the train and hailed myself a taxi outside the station, all while chucking it back into my bag. Did not even want to begin bothering with bus routes and walking. This was unfamiliar territory.

Pennsylvania was unfamiliar territory.

Pennsylvania. Mitch's home.

That's where I was going, if you hadn't realised. I was going to visit Mitch. I'd packed to run, but I didn't intend on staying away. I just wanted... time. Not answers. I had them all in the book.

I hopped into the cab and took a deep breath. How would Mitch react? Would he be okay with me there? Would he even recognise me? I knew Dad still used Twitter at least once a week, but I hardly came up. He'd deleted his Facebook, and Instagram was now just a deadweight. Mitch hadn't dropped any, but from what I'd seen, they hadn't received much love either.

It hurt so much to think of what I'd left behind. My family. I didn't know where Mom was, where Dad was, and Caitlyn... was she still home alone. Guilt gnawed at me as I thought of her. Stupid conscience. Stupid decisions. Stupid life. Stupid love. Stupid, stupid me.

"Address?" A feminine voice asked, and I looked to see the cab driver glancing back. I gasped a reply and she looked at me suspiciously, then shot off. "Where are you from? You'd never take a cab if you were from here."

"Uh. Yeah. I'm from New Jersey." I replied vaguely, and the woman looked at me in surprise. "That's... not that far away, but not all that close either."

"Yeah." I replied simply, and the woman glanced at me through her rearview mirror. She had dyed her hair blue, but her eyes were a soft brown. If I had to guess, I'd say she was about thirty. "So what's your business here in Pennsylvania?"