Letters for the Years I Won't Have

Two years after Nico's death, Mara receives a box containing letters he wrote for her before he was gone.

Each envelope carries a different instruction.

At first, Mia doesn't understand why Nico went through the trouble of writing letters for moments he would never witness. Every letter brings back a memory of the life they shared, the ordinary days, the plans they made, and the future they once believed they had plenty of time to reach.

But as the years pass and Mara opens each letter at the right moment, she begins to realize that Nico wasn't trying to hold her in the past.

He was preparing her for a future he knew he wouldn't be part of.

For every milestone he would miss, he left behind a few words. For every moment she might feel guilty for moving forward, he left her permission to do so.

Yet one envelope remains unopened.

'Open when you're ready to stop waiting for me.'

Mara has spent years avoiding it, afraid that opening it would mean finally accepting that there is nothing left to wait for.

Because sometimes, losing someone isn't the hardest part.

The hardest part is learning how to live all the years they never got to have.