Letters to Eleanor

February 19th, 2014

Dearest Nellie,

Hello sister, how's it like up there?

I'm sorry, I know I'm beating around the bush.  I know you're probably worried, but really, we're fine so far... Even though it's absolutely freezing here.  We're traveling east right now, towards Canada.  As you know, Canada decided to stay neutral in the war.  So we can't be dragged into the war there.  Thank gosh.

I think I'll go back to story teller mode... I think I like doing that.

I was outside of Liam's home, right beneath his bedroom windows at least.  I gathered snow in my hands, then chucked it at the window.  I heard two knocks that were barely audible.  That was good.  He was ready to go and on his way.  I rushed over to his back door and awaited him anxiously.  A few moments later, Liam appeared wearing a large parka, layers of gloves, a thick scarf, and plenty of other items to protect him from the cold.  He had determination locked into his eyes. It was go time.

"Ready?" Liam lowered his scarf to flash me a smile.

I shoved him over for being so cheesy. "Never been more ready."  We stared at the darkness that awaited us ahead.  The light of town would leave us soon, I'd be leaving mom.  Mom is already broken, there's nothing I can do.  I can't fix her.  I know you would never forgive me for leaving her, but you've done some pretty selfish things as well...

Liam grinned and bent down to kiss my forehead.  With his lips still lingering on my head, he slipped my back pack off of my shoulders and threw it on top of his.  I had to jump in attempts to get it back.  "Liam! Give it back! I can handle it!!"

Liam suddenly took my face in his hands, then pulled down my thick scarf.  Before I even knew it, he started to kiss my lips softly, but I didn't kiss him back, I crossed my arms across my chest and waited.  "Kal, it's alright, I got it." 

"Liam!" I tried grabbing it again, but he was too tall and he had a pretty solid grip on it. "Fine," I huffed. "But we have to go now, like right this second."

Liam sighed before looking back at his house.  It was dark inside, but our faces were lit from the outside.  "I can't believe we're just going to run."

I felt my eyes getting teary thinking about mom.  "What other choice do we have? You were sentenced to eminent death.  But we have a chance, a chance to get away and start a new life." I grabbed his gloved hand and took it in mine. "Together."

Instead of saying anything, Liam squeezed my hand before letting his own hand drop to his side. He gave me a small nod before starting a jogging pace.  The light of the small town of Galena was disappearing behind us.  I gave mom a silent goodbye and a kiss before turning back to the darkness awaiting us ahead.

Warm air escaped through our scarves, white steam appearing after every heavy breath we took.  I was cold already when we left, but now I feel like my exposed eyebrows were going to fall off.  Thank goodness I brought a ski mask. I was saving that for later, the worst has yet to come.

Somewhere after twenty minutes of silent jogging, a blizzard started, blinding me completely, running in all ready deep snow with my heavy boots. That part wasn't fun, I'll tell you that.  It got worse several minutes later, so we decided to make camp at a safe place, and that was a place randomly surrounded by pine trees, shielding us from part of the snow.

Right now, I'm still cold, but at the same time warm with Liam's arms wrapped around me, our bodies sharing heat next to each other while laying down.  

Earlier, he had asked me, "Was I your first?"

"First?" I curled up my knees to my chest. "First what?"

"Kiss dummy!" he hit my arm playfully.

The heat was rushing to my cheeks again.  "Uh..."

"You don't have to tell me, but I can tell you, you were my first."

"Oh really now?" I was honestly surprised. Liam is attractive. Before the war, he could've gotten an girl, heck, even after the war.

Liam nodded and gave me a modest smile.  "You know, I went out with this girl before the bomb," he faltered slightly.  "She was a barbie, an absolutely fake person inside and out. She didn't have a personality to call her own." I nodded, urging him to continue.  Liam sighed and avoided eye contact. "We went out on a date- I'll spare you the details, but in the end I had a horrible time. She kept going on about how hot this other guy was and how we should go have sex later. It was awful, just awful.  I gave up on dating for a while, I assumed that all girls were Barbies, but that's when I met you, the most real person I have ever met." I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it to let him go on.  "I've loved you from the start, Kal, I've never felt any other way about you.  From the moment I met you, I knew that you're the one," Liam finished.

I grinned at him and took in what he said.  It was an incredible feeling, El, I've never felt this way before.  A wicked thought appeared in my head, I slipped off my gloves and scarves and what not (I was still fully clothed! In case if you were wondering...). Before he could say anything, I leaped onto him with my arms wrapped around his neck and shoved my lips to his, kissing him passionately.  He kissed back with just as much force and put his hands on my waist.  Liam flipped me over so that he was ontop of me, I smiled through our kisses and ran my hands under his many layers of shirts. Soon enough, I gave him access to the inside of my mouth.  Our tongues just explored eachother's mouths eagerly and lustfully. Liam pulled away when he noticed what we were doing. I couldn't help but feeling disappointed (oh, as if you haven't had sex with your boyfriend, Nellie!).  

Liam gave me a small smirk and I sighed, looking to our bunched up blankets and sleeping bags on the floor.  "You know, I never thought I could have a boyfriend," I told him.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder.  "Why is that?" he whispered against the howling wind.

"My sister committed suicide after her boyfriend was sent to war." No one knew about what happened to you except for mom and I.

Liam took my hand and kissed it with his cold lips, sending little zaps of electricity down my arm.

"I vowed to never fall in love after that. And I didn't, until you came. I had a crush on you for about a month before I gave up, after I convinced myself that guys still weren't a good thing..." I trailed off.

"He must've been a really special guy for your sister to take her own life," Liam stared into the lantern I brought, it was made for this kind of weather and temperature.

I nodded slowly.  "I've never seen Nellie so happy in her life,"water filled my small eyes.  Liam hugged me tighter to him, our heart beats in sync, our eyes trained ahead.  "I miss her," I said thinking about you.  "We missed out on so many things, we were too busy fighting.  I feel like I could've done something to stop her, I don't know what, but I am her sister, I should have that power."

"My family died when the bomb hit, I... I don't know what I would've done without you Kaliah, you really are my anchor," he admitted quietly.

"You're mine too," I pressed my lips against his and laid down with his arms wrapped around me, keeping me warm.

"Good night Kal," Liam fell asleep the second his head hit his pillow.  

I however, stayed up longer.  He doesn't know about these letters I write you, maybe I'll tell him sometime soon, maybe not at all. This is all happening too fast.  It's hard to believe that earlier we  were in school, complaining about Geometry. It's hard to believe that those days are gone and that I'll probably never see mom again.  

You used to always tell me things happen for a reason.

Please tell me Liam being enlisted was for the better, instead of the worst.

Maybe we'll see you soon,

Kaliah