A Letter

Prologue

"Girl, there's a letter for you." A raven-haired girl greets her entering roommate with a thick envelope thrown across the room.

"Hm. Thanks." The brunette catches it deftly with her left hand, already used to the other's habit of throwing things her way. She put it down on her desk, glancing to see who the sender was. 'No return address? Huh, weird.' She wondered at the lack of information of the sender. But she didn't think much of it as she continue to the shower.

Humming in the shower, the girl carefully wash every inch of her body. Lathering herself with soaps and attending her hair thrice the usual amount she did. Today she felt like looking (and smelling) her best since it's her 14th birthday. There's going to be cupcakes and puddings after dinner, she can't wait to blew the candles. No matter what the boys will say about her, she will treat it as a passing breeze.

It was a modest birthday. Minimal decorations scattered around the room, but each children wore a party head on their heads. (There's a bit of a scuffle with the older boys, but Mother whispered something to them-possibly a threat-that they have no other choice but to obey.) A pair of cupcake with candles in the shape of number '1' and '4' completed the party. Even the young boys didn't dare to tease her as Mother glared at them. As the other sings 'Happy birthday', the girl silently make a wish. When they reach the end note she blew the candles. They spend the rest of the night playing cards and boardgames while enjoying the desserts.

It was long after dinner, when she was getting ready to turn in for the night, that she saw the awaiting letter on her desk. Since there's no return address she wonders at the urgency of it's content. A birthday gift? She thought. But there's no one else knows of her birthday apart from the people she lived with. And the envelope is too small to hold anything other than papers. Also, she no longer had any living relatives nor any penfriend, both her parents died in an accident when she was 6 and they're all born as an only child. And in this day and age, most people will used email as a mean of corresponding. She picked the envelope up, turning its back and front to see if there's any mark that would identify the origin of it. Yet, no matter how she looks the envelope is as flawless as a virgin snow, except for a writing of her name.

She noticed somethings missing as she scrutinized it. "Hey," she called her roommate. "How did you find this envelope? Our address aren't even written down."

"Hmm... It was on the floor when I got in. Maybe someone slipped it under the door?" The raven-haired girl approach the brunette, looking at the envelope from behind her shoulder. She inspects it further, even trying to shone it under the Uv lamp. "It's probably from one of your admire?" Grinning at her blushing roommate, she makes a show to hand it back but hold it high above her head when the brunette reach out.

The brunette stuck her tongue out and pushed her friend to gain some privacy when she managed to take it off the other's hand. If it is from an admire, it would be even more preferable this friend of her saw none of it. Otherwise she would get teased for god knows how long. And judging from it's thickness, it must be from very dedicated admire. All the more reason to keep it to herself. Grabbing a pen knife, she used it to gently pried it open. There were around 10 sheets of letter sized paper. All full of writing from edges to edges, some writings were smeared, showing how fast and clumsy the writer was writing.

'This is going to be a long read,' the girl thought. She then positioned herself in a comfortable manner on her bean bag, pulling along her reading lamp. The time was close to midnight and her roommate already lightly snoring on the other side of the room. She was a fast and deep sleeper, something the brunette always envious about. Feeling comfortable enough with every possible necessities close by her, she started to read...