Dear Citlali [Completed]

Chapter 2. Dovi (they)

I am gone, said Ameyal's message. The words floated in the silence of my mind, resonating over memories of the spark in her dark eyes when she laughed, the quietness of her presence when we used to read side to side, or the warmth of her embrace when I cried on her shoulder.

I missed her so much already. I had always known that there were parts of her life she was keeping for herself but I thought she would have eventually told me about it. In person. She seemed to say in the letter that the key was an opportunity for her to share with me what she had hidden, but what was the point now when she was not there any longer?

I couldn't help but feel bitter and it caused me even more pain. I wanted to celebrate our friendship and to mourn her. But it was not easy.

I called the bank in New York. They told me that only one other person had contacted them yet. They couldn't give me their identity and they had to wait for the third to arrange a meeting. Those were Ameyal's conditions. I just had to wait then, wondering who these two persons could be, how they knew Ameyal, and what the key was for. So many questions.

After pacing my house for far too long, I took my car keys and drove in the afternoon's cold through the fields and the woods until I reached, without even thinking about it, one of my favorite spots in the area. The small river ran through a forest of tall trees. The stream was quite wild since the rain showers of the morning, and the smell of the vegetation powerful.

I walked along the river on a rocky path, my hands deep in my pockets and my head slightly tilted down to protect myself from the cold. It was good to be outside but not enough to keep me away from the flow of my thoughts. I put on my headphones and started to listen to an audiobook.

The soothing voice of the narrator in my ears drew me into the story, finally easing my mind, at least for a moment. Without even noticing it, I lifted my head and my pace slowed. I felt the sting of the freezing air over the wet path my tears had drawn on my cheeks. And I walked in the forest until I felt my body had no more tears to shed.