White World

Part Three: The Letters

    As I look at all the boxes laying before me, I wonder which one I'll open today. It is one of Grandma's rules that I can only open one. I walk through the maze of boxes closely examining each one. Some boxes look as if they're going to bust, some are big, some are small, and some of the boxes are open, but I have to resist looking into them.
    Finally I chose one of the boxes that is overflowing and about to bust. I carry it over to the stairs where there is an open area for me to lay some of the things out. I start pulling out some blankets with characters and symbols I recognize: a grey Harry Potter blanket with the symbol of his glasses and lightening bolt scar, the fabric was really soft to the touch. The next blanket was a pink and blue one with the characters of Elsa and Anna on it from Frozen. The last two I pulled out were just normal dark grey and a blue one with some floral patterns. As the blue one fell to the floor I look at the tag Godiva was written there in the most delicate of writing that I recognized as Grandma's. Quickly I grab the other blankets: the grey one belonged to Rogue, Frozen belonged to Piper, and Harry Potter belonged to Hazel. I decided against just throwing them aside and instead folded them, then set them gently on my Grandpa's old chair.
    It reminded me of him, looking at the chair. He was a tall man, and when he laughed it always brightened up the room. Grandpa hated everything about White World but moved here to support my mother. Both of them moved here to support her. Grandpa was such a kind man, I don't ever remember seeing him sad or mad, always smiling. He used to make the best cakes because before he moved to White World he owned his own little bakery where he sold baked goods from bread to cake. I miss him a lot.
    I snap out of my trance and get back to the box pulling things out like Grandma's old stuffed animals. She used to have a lot. I got to the bottom of the box and there all wrapped up in neat little bundles were letters. I picked up one of the bundles and looked at the name (insert name) . I slid off the rubber band which quickly just crumbled off because it was so dry. I open the first letter and read through, it is in some sort of strange font I believe is cursive. As I finished I realize the letter was a love letter, Grandma had a secret lover!
I ripped open the next letter, all of them had been resealed. It was another love letter. I can't believe it. The weird thing is that this handwriting definitely belonged to a woman. I sis there for a second, amazed. Grandma had never said anything, she had been happily married to Grandpa for so long.
    I set the letters down on a chair and go through the rest of the box finding some of Grandma's old journals. I always love reading these. She used to make up her own writing challenges to design characters or creat quirky stories. It was the kind of thing she loved to do.
    I read through the journals but, still, I cant get my mind off those letters. I want to know who this woman is and what Grandma's responses were. I ditch the journals and go through the letters. I find out the woman's name is Emma Paige. Emma was 20 years old at the time these letters were written. She had two dogs, a small beagle named Callie and a border collie mix named Jake. Emma was also a writer, but she loved to write based on history whereas Grandma wrote mostly fantasy. She loved to tell Grandma what was going on in her life.

    Life has been really hard for me as of late, my parents kicked me out. Im now living with Kennedy and Josh who can only house me until their baby is born. Did I tell you their adoption went through. The young woman who is having their baby loves them and is excited that the baby is going to a good home. Anyways, I really need to find a place to live and I only have two months...

Kennedy and Josh were a gay couple that grew up with Emma, according to her. Amongst the pile of letters, a few of them were from Josh and Kennedy. In Emma's next letter she describes all the ultra sound pictures, also sending a few. Apparently the birth of this baby was significant. The next few are like this, talking about plans for the baby which they decided to name Lowell.
    As I read on I finally found the one where Lowell was born. There were pictures with the letter. He was a cute little guy, very wrinkly, but one of the few cute babies I have seen. He was dressed in purple and his eyes were a deep brown, and his skin was a little tan with an undertone of blue. As I kept looking at the pictures I fell in love with Lowell. Where was he now?
    I set the pictures aside and kept reading the letters. Emma had found a place to live with a new roommate, Jason Bash. She didn't much like Jason but she stayed because it was only temporary. As the letter progressed she started to notice that her things were disappearing, not money or anything but like person undergarment type things.

    I think Jason might be a pervert. I've lost sever articles of clothing. I went into his room the other day and found several of my things along with picture. I need to get out of here. I don't feel safe. Maybe I should ask Kennedy and Josh if I can stay for a little while until I can find a place again.

Spoiler: she couldn't. Jason did awful things to her and eventually Emma had to go to the police. The whole situation was scary that she ended up moving to a whole other state to live with another friend. She write Grandma that men with the same build as Jason often gave her panic attacks. Emma was always scared and often could't function for the next few months, always looking over her shoulder.
    The letters paused for a while but resumed with a dating for the next month. Grandma had gone to visit Emma to comfort her. The letters were so sweet talking about the future, a future together. Emma was really in love with Grandma,

I miss you so much, we had so much fun together. I can't wait until my lease is up so I can move to Indiana and be with you for forever. We'll be so happy together. I've been looking at houses, I sent a few photos to you. Maybe you could go see them in person and decide on one for us. Make sure it has a big yard for all the dogs I just know we're going to have. I love you.

    The letters stopped there. There were no more from Emma. They just stopped. What happened to Emma? Did her and Grandma ever get a house? Did she go to Indiana? I have to know, I have to ask Grandma about Emma and what happened to her.