LOVELESS - G. BLYTHE

3. love letters

IT HAD BEEN A WHILE since Audrey and Gilbert had seen each other. Almost two weeks. Gilbert would constantly check the place where the girl was when they first met, but there was no sign of her. She didn't want to be found, but he wanted to find her.

He would often think about her. In his head, the girl was referred to as something along the lines of 'the unnamed woman of the woods'. 'I wonder when I will see the unnamed woman of the woods again', and 'who is that girl, and why wouldn't she tell me her name?' Were only two of the many things that he would constantly repeat to himself over and over in his mind.

When all of the thoughts and questions became too much for Gilbert, he decided to write a note to the girl.

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫 ???,

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐭, 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐫uminate 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐨𝐫, 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈'𝐦 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭... 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨.

-𝐆𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐞

After a few attempts, he was satisfied with what he had written and stuck the letter to the tree that she was leaning against when they first met, with a few pieces of tape.

But everyone knows not to let private letters get loose.

The girl never saw the letter.

A few days after sticking the note to the tree, Gilbert had come to a conclusion to take it down. So, he walked to the location of the letter whilst on his way to school. Unfortunately for him, and the girl, the letter wasn't there. At first, he thought that the girl had taken it. But the person who walked out from behind the tree, holding the note, was anyone but her.

"Hey, Gilbert," Billy Andrews called.

"Billy," Gilbert replied with a nod to greet the boy. "What's that you have there?"

"I think you know the answer to that, and I think I should be the one asking that question..." Billy replied, raising his dark brows which contrasted his blonde locks.

"It's just a letter," Gilbert stated. "A private one."

"Private, ey?" Billy cocked an eyebrow. "A love letter?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just a letter."

"For who?" Billy said with an irritating smirk. "Oh, I know... it's for that new orphan freak isn't it? Anne?"

"It's not for Anne. And don't call her that," Gilbert said with a threatening tone as he furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his jaw.

"Whatever, man..." Billy said. "So if it's not for her, then who's it for?"

"Someone who I met in the woods a little while ago," Gilbert admitted. "But she's gone now, God knows where."

"Gone?" Billy chuckled. "Gone how?"

"Moved? Ran away? I don't know, Billy," Gilbert shrugged and his jaw ticked as his spoke, his eyebrows remained harshly furrowed. As Billy looked at him as if they were the best of friends, Gilbert gave him only cold, hard stares.

"Alright, alright..." Billy said as if he had been defeated. "Is she cute?"

"Why does it matter? You're never gonna see her, and neither am I, most likely," Gilbert said as he walked over to Billy and tried to snatch his letter out of the boy's hands. As he reached for the paper, Billy lifted it up higher than both himself and Gilbert.

"Come on, now, Billy. That won't earn you anything, and you know that," Gilbert said as he reached again for the letter.

"Ahh, that's where you're wrong, I'm afraid," Billy smirked, and Gilbert didn't like the sound of where the conversation was going. "I'm gonna find her. Oh, you bet I am. I don't know what she looks like, or what her name is–"

'Neither do I,' Gilbert thought to himself and mentally rolled his eyes.

"–But you best believe I will. I'll stay sitting here every day if I have to."

"Why? What's the point?" Gilbert asked frustratedly.

"I like to play games," Billy said with an innocent smile. "I'm also bored. Anyways, here's your note. We best be on our way, right? School starts soon. Wouldn't wanna be late to class... and I also wouldn't want to be late to telling everyone about this."

Gilbert sighed in defeat and finally managed to snatch the piece of paper from Billy's grip. He stomped off to school, and made sure not to make it seem like he was walking with Billy.