With This Pen and Paper

9

No matter how many letters I recieved after that this was the one I always found myself even years later. The letter didn't have anything out of the ordinary in the letter it sounded just like Elijah, despite the added hint of maturity but that was expected. It made me think of all of our time together.
There was a huge weight lifted off of my heart when he said that he was okay. I felt as though I could have cried and squealed in excitement at the exact same time.
I sat there with Brooklyn rereading every perfect word he had written to me, she was as invested in that letter as I was.
"You have to write him back. Right now. He's probably waiting for your reply. That must be torture seeing everyone else get mail everyday and him not getting a letter from you" Brooklyn was always a hopeless romantic with her head in the clouds. But that time she was write I did need to write him back. Once again I had no idea what to write. Well actually I had a thousand things to say to him and now way to put them all into one letter.
Miss Alice's voice calling us down to help prepare for dinner broke our concentration on the letter. Brooklyn returned the paper she had retrieved from my desk before we headed downstairs.
Brooklyn was quick to fill miss Alice in on the letter which in the three of us sitting around the dinner table reading the letter together.
"What are you going to tell him about?" Miss Alice broke the school girl giggles between Brooklyn and I
"I have no idea, there's so much I want to tell him about. I want to tell him all about the campus, about work, home and you guys of course." I hadn't been that excited about something since my acceptance letter had come in the mail.
"Well then, you better get writing." Miss Alice had a way about her. She seemed to know exactly what you were thinking and knew just what you needed without saying a word. I always admired that about her.
I stayed up for half the night that night rereading Elijah's letter and thinking about what i should tell him.

My dearest soldier, Elijah
I thought that had a nice ring to it so steal that from you. I must confess that in the first few months of you leaving I wrote you dozens of letters. I never managed to finish a single one of them. All of them filled with the nonsense that filled the school hallways. Part of me wishes that I would have finished one another part of me is happy that I waited so long. I don't know how to make this make sense but, despite this only being my second letter, I feel at peace when writing you.
It takes me so long to decide what to write about and then I write your name and forget what I had decided upon and just write whatever comes out.
I didn't even think my letter would get to you and I definitely did not expect you to write back but I still found my self eagerly going through the mail each day. It's funny what something a small as a letter can do to a person.
It's good to hear that you are as okay as possible. I knew it was a dumb question to ask you.
In relation to the storm, it reminded me of the time we had gotten caught out in the field during the storm a few years ago. That had been such a bad storm. We both got sick but at least we got a week off school. Your mother was so annoyed and ended up asking my grandmother if you could stay with us so that you wouldn't make your sister sick. Despite being sick in bed that was a good week. we got to spend it in each other's company so I suppose that's what made it so good.
To answer your question, no Simon didn't come with me. He stayed behind to help grandpa with the farm. I wish he would have come with me, if I'm being honest I feel guilty about leaving him behind. I also feel as though he would have made me feel a little less lonely here. Despite having people around me I still feel lonely. Oh god listen to me complaining about being lonely when I'm only two hours away from home while you're on the other side of the world.
Simon has no plans of enlisting. None of us would ever allow it. Plus grandpa does need help he would never leave him to do it alone.
Also I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Everyone would have preferred if  Adriana had stayed in her role as Juliet. Even me. The entire school had a crush on Adriana and don't even try to deny it.
I find myself often thinking 'Elijah would like this' and things like that when I'm around campus.
You asked me to tell you everything so I'm going to try and today I figured I would start with the people I live with. They seem to be the most important at the moment.
So there's two other people in the house. Miss Alice who owns the house and Brooklyn who is a student like me. Miss Alice is such a sweet lady. She is also the most amazing cook ever. Don't tell my grandmother I said that. You would like her. She's someone you can sit with for hours just talking and it doesn't feel awkward. And then Brooklyn. I don't even know how to begin to describe Brooklyn. In a way she reminds me of you. That might be why I like her so much. She's so headstrong and knows what she wants but at the same time takes everyone into consideration and does the best for everyone else. I suppose the only real difference between the two of you is how open she is with her dreams, you prefer to keep them to yourself. I think she was almost as excited as I was about getting your letter, almost.
So far there isn't anything else that exciting to tell you about. The first month here as been a little boring if I'm honest but that will change soon.
I suppose I better end it here. I wouldn't want to keep you for too long.
I'm always thinking of you.
I miss you.
Love, Josie xx
Ps your jacket looks better on me than it does on you.