Distant Father | Adopted By Lin-Manuel Miranda (DISCONTINUED)

59

As promised, we took a walk around town, taking in the sights of the city.  We walked around for awhile until we crossed a road I knew to be familiar with.  My feet led me to the hill again, as did Lin's.  He was still trying to hide me from the public, though there was no one there.  Looking around, there was something different, you could almost smell it.  I looked harder, squinting at every little detail to see what was off.  Eventually, I looked over by the tree that the note left by Muriel had been on.  Near the base, there lay an old, tattered leather book.  I left Lin and walked over to it and picked it up, seeing scratches and tears in the binding.  Holding it with care, I flipped it over to see the words, Muriel, 1998 inscribed on the back.  I stared at it with pleasure and surprise, and flipped it back over.  More and more of Muriel's things kept on finding their way here.  Every time something appeared, my feet led me to it.  This must be a sign of something, something that happened before I was part of the narrative.  I flipped open the cover, to see journal entries inside in small, neat handwriting that I assumed belonged to Muriel.  The top read,

June 3rd, 1998

Matt and I have been together for two days now, and I couldn't be happier.  I feel like he really gets me, maybe even more than Lin does.  I love Lin, but only as a friend, nothing more, nothing less.  He has always been by my side, even in the most dire of times, but Matt just seems to go with my flow, unlike Lin.  Lin couldn't be my soulmate, but Matt is everything I look for in a guy.  He's loyal, fierce, and most importantly, averagely smart.  It makes it easy to correct him, which ends up in a lot of fun for me.  I just hope that this relationship lasts, because it is meant to be, in my opinion.  We went out yesterday and I had so much fun.  We went to see a new movie, which was amazing.  He didn't seem too interested, but nevertheless, he watched it, holding my hand the whole time.  When I tried to tell Lin of this affair, he simply seemed disinterested and longing to get away from the conversation.

I have a small feeling that Lin wants me for his own.  He has always seemed a little too close to just be a friend, but he never seems uncomfortable like people with love interests are.  He's jealous that Matt and I are together.  It's seemed like we've been together forever, yet only a few days.  He has seemed to have backed off a bit since the first time I told him, but he still seems a little on edge.  I want to believe that he's just trying to look out for me, but at the same time, he seems more jealous than protective.  He's been backed away from both Matt and I since we started dating and he's been more tense.  On the first day that we started holding hands, Lin looked ready to tear him up, but he restrained, which I am thankful for.  He seems just a little too protective over me to be just protecting me.

I flipped the page, almost shocked at what I had just read.  Had she really been that careless and clueless about how much of a jerk he was to my dad?  Shaking my thoughts, I flipped to the next page, Lin still watching at my back, clueless of what I am reading.

June 5th, 1998

Lin absolutely lost it over Matt today.  He punched Matt, leaving him with a giant welt on the side of his nose.  I hadn't thought that Lin was up for much confrontation, but obviously I was wrong.  I'm pretty sure that Lin started the fight, seen as Matt is soft as could be and I never saw him fight before.   When Lin punched him, he didn't even attempt self-defense, which on his part was pretty dumb.  He had to spend fourth and fifth period in the nurse's office just because of the fight.  I had a feeling that although Lin probably started it, the punch was self-inflicted.  He probably came up to Lin, although he knew that Lin was trying to stay away from us.  From my talking about Lin, he probably knew how to get under his skin too.  I don't know the facts yet, but I'm not sure how long Lin will be able to stand me dating him.  I can't live life without a best friend, someone who can make you laugh when you're about to cry, someone who makes you a whole.  Although Matt could fit in those holes for me as well, it wouldn't be the same without Lin.  If he keeps on drifting away like this, I'm not sure if I will be able to enjoy my time with Matt, just because my time with Lin is depleted.  I'm not sure if I can live my life like this.

After that, there were some illegible, torn pages.  Some of them were completely ripped out of the book, and the others were ripped beyond repair.  I turned back to Lin and watched him stare into the distance, confused by something.  Suddenly, I realized something.  There were raindrops falling from the sky, though they weren't hitting us or the hill.  Though confused, I read on through to the next page that wasn't too worn to read.

June 10, 1998

Lin lent me his place to crash tonight, though he wouldn't be there.  He was out with some friends, having fun, though I didn't mind.  As long as I could sleep somewhere besides Matt's couch.  As I looked around for something to eat, I found an old book drawer.  Hidden in there, there was a book that struck my fancy.  I took out a brand new black leather book with nothing written on the cover or the back.  I opened it, and to my surprise, it was the diary that Lin had kept so secret from me, even when we were close friends.  I almost dared not to open it, but the inside looked so inviting, as if it were calling me.  Inside, his scrawl laid in a simple, neat story-like pattern.  I looked at the first page that caught my eye, and once done, I knew that I would be in for some trouble. 

It read,
June 1, 1998
It's almost the end of this journey.  In less than a month, I'll finally graduate.  Soon all the people who call me 'Theatre nerd' will be gone, stupid Matt.  Muriel has now found a boyfriend, whom I hate.  Obi oust it's Matt, he may be rude to me, but he never does it in front of Muriel for this reason.

I read through the rest of the pages, and I knew what a monster laid inside of him now.  I knew what I had to do, and knowing that, I could peacefully rest on the fact that Matt was not the one for me.

I looked again, in shock of what I had read.  At least Lin wasn't the only other one who read it besides me.  I was going to walk back over to Lin to show him, but I decided against it.  I kept flipping through pages until I found one that wasn't soiled.

June 30, 1998

Today was grad and it was the best day ever! Finally free from the immense stresses of high school, finally able to care about my future.  Since I am not regrettably broken up with Matt the idiot, I walked down the isle with Lin, my best friend.  We picked each other's grad clothes, and at the end of the night, when he drove me back to my house, he presented me with a necklace.  He told me that it was something to remember him by if she went to Canada.  By that time, I had made up my mind.  I was going to Canada, no matter what, so I was very thankful for it.  From that day on, I knew that I would cherish it.

All of this lovely work was made by the one and only Wolfiary. Well, it's also 3:00 am, and I'm wide awake. Also you may notice that this a longer chapter, because wolfi is just better at writing than me