Lighting Up Your Heart

Useless Letter from Useless Family

-(Y/N)'s POV-
I hastily took the letter from her hands. The letter read:

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 (𝒴/𝒩),

𝐼 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓁𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑒𝓁𝓁. 𝐼 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓌𝑒'𝓋𝑒 𝓈𝓅𝑜𝓀𝑒𝓃, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒-𝓉𝑜-𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓊𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝓊𝓅 𝒶𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒.

𝐼 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝓁𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝒶𝒾𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼'𝓂 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝓈𝒽 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒷𝓊𝒾𝓁𝒹 𝒶 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝑜𝓃𝒹. 𝐼 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝒾𝓏𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓁𝓎 𝒶𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼'𝓂 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉 𝐼 𝓂𝒶𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒫𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓅𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒶 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝑜𝒻 𝓊𝓈. 𝐼 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝒶 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝑒𝓍𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝑜𝒻 𝓊𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒾𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝒻 𝒶 𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝓁𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓅.

𝒲𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝓎, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓅𝓁𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓁𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉. 𝐼'𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝑒𝒶𝑔𝑒𝓇𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝒶𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑜𝓃𝓈𝑒.

𝒮𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓎, 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇
      After finishing the letter, I take a moment to process everything. I read over it a few more times before I set it down on my nightstand. I grabbed a piece of paper, ink well, a dip pen, and sat at my lamp lit desk. I hastily wrote out my reply, saying that I was feeling good (which was a lie) and that I would gladly meet up with him in a few days at entertainment square. As I continued writing, my stomach felt uneasy, like it was telling me this was a bad idea.
He had abandoned me and never spoke to me when I was younger and now all of a sudden he wanted to meet up? I knew this was possibly a bad idea, but I wanted him to think that I forgave him and that I put our problems aside. I put the letter in an envelope and told Amanda to bring it to the postman when he arrived. I would have to wait a day or two before he got so, I grabbed a book off the shelf and sat on my bed, waiting for my mother to stop throwing a tantrum.
2 days later
       As I took my seat on the bench at entertainment square, I found myself lost in thought. The sun was setting over the horizon, casting a soft golden glow over the crowded square. I wondered what I was getting myself into. Suddenly, I heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching. I looked up to see my father, the man I still despised, walking towards me. As he approached, I couldn't help but remember how similar he was to me. The same eyes, the same hair, the same build. He was wearing a dark grey suit that fit him perfectly, and a watch that looked expensive.
      He sat down on the bench next to me, and we sat in silence for a few moments, each of us lost in thought. Finally, he spoke. "I've thought about it a lot since we last spoke. I've made a lot of mistakes, and I wanted to apologize for them."
      I looked at him, unsure of how to respond. I had spent so many years feeling bitter and resentful towards him, and now he was trying to make amends. I was never going to forgive him for what he did, but J had to pretend I did.
      "I appreciate that," I said slowly. "But it's going to take time for me to forgive you."
        "Of course," he replied. "I understand that. But I want you to know that I am committed to making things right between us. I know it's not going to be easy, but I'm willing to put in the work. And I hope that you will be too."
         I nodded, still feeling uncertain. I didn't know how to feel about my father - I still somewhat loved him, but I couldn't forget the years of hurt and betrayal he caused.
     We sat there a while longer before he asked me a question. "So, how's your mother doing?" He asked, fiddling with the button of his suit. He clearly wasn't sure what questions to ask to his kid who he basically left for dead. "She's doing well," I lied, "Even though from time to time she throws a hissy fit about something stupid or small."
   We continued to talk about what we had been doing for the past few years. I told him that nothing much has changed. He told me that he now had a new wife and two  kids, ages nine and seven. He also kept asking me how my cousins, aunts, and uncles were doing. I told him they were all well and in great condition.
       As the moon peeked it's head above the tall buildings, we said our final goodbyes and headed opposite ways. I walked down the dirty side walks, hoping to not get robbed again. I made my way through the streets before a certain smell caught my attention. It was the smell of smoke. When I peeked into an alleyway, I saw three kids, all around the same age I was. When I focused on the kids more, I noticed one looked very familiar to me. It was Stone.