Persuasive

nineteen

Tom Riddle's POV

Patience.

Patience was the only thing keeping me going right now.
I've waited patiently all day to see if my owl came back to me.
But still, no owl.

I slowly started to regret sending that letter to Avalon. It's a sign of weakness, and she'll think i'm a coward.

What if she's dead?

Shit.

She can't be dead..

She's probably dead.

I slightly jumped to the sound of a 300 pound wanker knocking on the door of my cell.
He slid open the little opening on the door to speak to me.
"You've got to eat your meal now." his deep, husky voice bellowed.

"I'm not hungry." I replied in a dull tone as I faced away from the door, sitting on my bed.

"I don't give a damn if you're not hungry, this is the only meal you're getting today. Merry fucking Christmas." he grunted.

I groaned in annoyance as I slowly stood up from my bed and trotted over towards the door.
He unlocked it and grabbed my arms with full force as he turned me around and hand cuffed me.

"Don't have to be so harsh." I hissed.

He scoffed and took me down to the cafeteria, where they fed us poison and toxin.
What they actually fed us was microwaved mac and cheese, cold chicken and canned beans.

One of the lady workers came up to us and looked irritated.
"How many times do I have to tell you Riddle.. change into appropriate clothes." the worker hissed in my face.

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't ever have time to. This imbecile handcuffs me and drags me down here before I have the chance to change." I snarled as I towered over her.

She scanned me head to toe and looked displeased.
"You're wearing a white tank top and gray sweatpants. Change into your uniform."

"Yeah i'm well aware of what i'm fucking wearing." I scoffed.

The man who handcuffed me tightened the cuffs around my wrists in response to my attitude.
They liked seeing me wince in pain.
Twats.

How the fuck did I end up here? In this filthy place with these filthy people. When I get out of here the first thing i'm going to blow up is this place.

Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and I shot my head over to see the principal of this place holding a letter.
My letter. The letter I sent Avalon.

"What's that?" I questioned shakily.

"A letter coming from Hogwarts." he replied.

"Let me go, I wanna see it." I snarled as I tried squirming out of the handcuffs.

The principal rolled his eyes and opened up the letter.
"You don't need to hold it to read it."

"Who does it say its from?" I questioned, anxiously needing to know.

The principal squinted his eyes and held the letter up closer to his face so he could see better.
"It says it's from someone named Avalon-"

"Avalon?" I interrupted as my heart sunk down to the ground.

He held the letter up and looked back and fourth between the letter and me.
He sighed and started whispering to the man who was cuffing my wrists.

The principal looked back over to me and exhaled.
"Would you like to read it in private?"

I nodded without hesitation and the man who was restraining me brung me back to my room and locked the door.
I waited for him to leave before I anxiously opened the letter with my clammy hands and started to read it.

Merry Christmas Tom Riddle.

I can't believe it's actually you..
I've wondered over the last couple years where you were, and if you've forgotten about me.
It's a relief to know you're still out there somewhere.

Tell me how you are, what you're doing, what you've been up to.
Or don't.. it's up to you.

Where are you now? It'd be a relief to know that you're safe in some school somewhere out there.

I bet you still haven't found any Horcruxs huh.
Well just know i'm laughing while i'm writing this because I remember how thickheaded we were, trying to make them while we were 11 and 12. We were bound to get caught and we continued anyway.

I feel kind of foolish writing this letter, not knowing for sure if you're going to write back.
But I'm really glad you wrote to me.
I hope to see you again soon..

-Avalon

I felt a certain tightness in my chest, like my heart has just shattered into a million pieces.
A feeling of disorientation took over my body, like what was happening wasn't even real.
Like I was dreaming.

She wrote back. She actually wrote back.

The only time I ever felt emotion was when I found out my father had died.
Ever since then, any form of emotion has disappeared from my brain.

I sat in my room for days on end trying to make myself cry, scream, smile, anything.
But I felt nothing, and it scared me.

Later on, I realized I could use this to my advantage. Feeling no emotion was a good thing, I could easily take on the job that my father failed to do, and kill someone without the guilt eating me up.

But after reading this letter, I felt emotion for the first time since my father died.
Because of you, Avalon Malfoy, I felt the emotion I so desperately needed.

And that terrifies me.

So I'm not going to write you any letters back, if that's what you're expecting.
Because I know better than that.
Because I am Tom Riddle, and I will not give my plan up for you.

Even though my heart is telling me to.