Pivotal Moments.

Chapter 6

Granger smiled as he watched Callen work on his letter. Maybe there was something to this, maybe Callen would finally reach out to the one woman who was so invested in his life.

For an hour, Callen kept writing, screwing up the paper and tossing it in the trash, then starting again.

"Fuck it!" He swore after trying again for about the fortieth time. "I can't do this, I'll just tell them to forget it; it's not worth the effort. I'm not worth the effort." He stood up, and started pacing the corridor outside his cell.

"Come on, it can't be that hard." Owen encouraged him. "I already said I'd help you. Besides all that pacing is giving me neck ache."

Callen stopped at the door to their cell.

"Fine..." He snapped, "What the hell do I tell her?"

Granger took one of the pieces of paper out of the trash and read what Callen had tried to write.

"It's not that bad." He said, hoping to lift the boy's spirits. "I mean 'hello' is a good way to start, and you put your name and your age."

He looked at the screwed up piece of paper again.

Hi Hetty.

My name is G. Callen. I am 17. I got ya letter and sure if ya want ya can come and see me. I ain't got nothin better to do as I am in prison. But ya know that coz ya wrote to me.

I dunno why ya wanna waste ya time but it's your time to waste. I don't have any plans for when I leave here coz I ain't good at nothin. My cellmate says I should meet you as you might be nice. I know you may pretend to be nice but you are only meeting me because it makes ya feel good.

So I suppose you can come then.

I ain't going anywhere so come when you like.

Bye

Callen.

Owen looked at the letter. "It really isn't that bad. May need some fixing here and there."

"I dunno what to write to her; I don't know her do I." Callen sighed. "I've never written a letter before." He admitted, "Never had anyone to write to."

Owen grabbed a stack of paper and some pens. "Come on kid." He said and walked out of their cell towards the main hall.

Callen lagged behind; ever since his last run in, he did not like going to the main hall for anything but meals, but there was no way he was going to look like a weak girl and tell Grant he was scared. So he dampened down his worry, and followed along behind.

Granger sat down, putting the paper and pens down next to him and indicating that Callen should sit next to him.

"So... Callen... what do you know about basic letter writing?" Granger asked.

Callen shrugged, "You're mean and nasty when you write a letter, tell people what you think and don't care about their feelings. You also tell them what to do and where to be?" He stopped and looked at Granger, "But this lady didn't do anything to me; I don't want to be mean to her. Can't I just tell someone to call her?" He asked.

Granger shook his head, "You have to write to her; she wrote to you. She wasn't mean in her letter now was she?" He asked.

Callen shook his head. "No, that's why I wanna see her. I've never got a nice letter before. It's usually you go here, you go there, these people don't want you, so you'll be moved by whenever. No one's been nice in a letter before. I kinda wanna thank her for that."