Letters to Winter
“What is Utopia's address?”
Laura stopped drinking the carton of milk, straw still in her mouth as she looked down at this creature that was nearly her miniature, with long, dark hair and vibrant green eyes. She had a pencil and paper in her hand, and seemed uncomfortable asking; she kept looking at the floor.
“Why?” she asked Sofie, who was speaking in just above a whisper so that only Laura, with her super sensitive hearing, could understand her. The small child shifted where she stood, completely aware of the other students in the large, open cafeteria. She seemed to not like to join them, an apparent leftover habit from the hermit-like lifestyle she had adopted back on the island. Perhaps Sofie had not known that Laura had noticed, but she had.
“I want to write a letter.” Laura did not have to ask who the recipient of this letter would be; if it had been one to Elixir, she would have been much more open and comfortable about it, and she would not be avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room, herself included, as if she were doing something wrong. No, this letter was very likely going to the only other person on the island that she had really formed a connection with. She would be writing to Emma Frost.
Laura took the pencil and paper from Sofie and wrote the address out neatly for her, and handed both objects back. She took them and left just as quickly as she'd scurried into the room to begin with, darting past the longer, taller legs of the older students. Laura went back to her milk, biting down on the straw as she remembered listening into the child saying goodbye to Emma Frost; she had not once said 'good bye.'
She had, however, said 'I love you,' and it had stung more than she had anticipated it could have. Even more so when the words had been returned without a single bit of the diamond hard, cold edge that Emma was known for.
-----x-----
Sofie ran past the double doors of the massive library and up the grand staircase that led to the upper level living spaces that were used for the students; her own room was at the front of the school, where she could see the driveway, but she could care less about the window and what was outside of it. She locked the door behind her (it took her a couple of tries, but she figured it out), and climbed into the little desk she had on the wall.
In her neatest cursive, Sofie wrote out Emma's name and the address that Laura had written onto an envelope. She chose the nicest stationary paper that she had, because not even the Hello Kitty stationary she had was nice enough for a letter to Miss Frost. After carefully printing the date, she stared at the neatly lined paper for a few moments. She had never written a letter to anyone before, and she knew what she wanted to say, but how did she say it? Finally, she put pencil to paper and just wrote.
Dear Miss Frost,
I miss you. I miss everyone on Utopia, but you and Lixy are the ones that I miss the most. It is nice here in Westchester, and the trees are lots of colors, but there are too many things that are not here that were on Utopia, like the ferry rides and the Atlantean Column, and most important of all, there are no Wednesday classes with you here. I have not had any classes at all yet, and I feel like I am not learning anything except how to hide in bookshelves.
I spend most of my time by myself, just like on Utopia. Sometimes, I think that maybe I would have been better if I had stayed there with you, because you are responsible for me and because you said that you would always want me and that you love me, too. I do not feel any of that here. It looks nice here on the outside, and Wolverine makes us wear uniforms, and there is a statue of a woman I have never seen in the courtyard, but it is just the same otherwise.
I am going to tell you a secret because I know that you would never tell, Miss Frost. The secret is that I did not really want to come to Westchester. I only came because I could tell that Laura wanted to go to be with Julian, I think, but she said she would go where I went. I did not want her to have to stay behind because of me. But now that she is here, maybe she will just
stay here if I am allowed to go back.
I am sorry for leaving you, Miss Frost. Especially when I did not want to go. Please do not be upset.
Love, Sofie
She folded the stationary neatly into the envelope and sealed it with a sticker before putting the stamp on and placing it in the mail outbox at the front desk of the school. Outside, she could see flakes of white falling from the overcast sky, drifting down to the ground, but that was not the white frost she was concerned with; the only wintery white that she was concerned with lived miles and miles away. Sofie couldn't help but dwell on little things about that day that she and the others left, like the scent of Emma's perfume or the feel of her silky cape, or the way she wanted to call her 'Mommy' instead of Miss Frost, but held herself back from it.
Sofie hoped that her letter would get to Emma safely with her secrets tucked away inside.
Laura stopped drinking the carton of milk, straw still in her mouth as she looked down at this creature that was nearly her miniature, with long, dark hair and vibrant green eyes. She had a pencil and paper in her hand, and seemed uncomfortable asking; she kept looking at the floor.
“Why?” she asked Sofie, who was speaking in just above a whisper so that only Laura, with her super sensitive hearing, could understand her. The small child shifted where she stood, completely aware of the other students in the large, open cafeteria. She seemed to not like to join them, an apparent leftover habit from the hermit-like lifestyle she had adopted back on the island. Perhaps Sofie had not known that Laura had noticed, but she had.
“I want to write a letter.” Laura did not have to ask who the recipient of this letter would be; if it had been one to Elixir, she would have been much more open and comfortable about it, and she would not be avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room, herself included, as if she were doing something wrong. No, this letter was very likely going to the only other person on the island that she had really formed a connection with. She would be writing to Emma Frost.
Laura took the pencil and paper from Sofie and wrote the address out neatly for her, and handed both objects back. She took them and left just as quickly as she'd scurried into the room to begin with, darting past the longer, taller legs of the older students. Laura went back to her milk, biting down on the straw as she remembered listening into the child saying goodbye to Emma Frost; she had not once said 'good bye.'
She had, however, said 'I love you,' and it had stung more than she had anticipated it could have. Even more so when the words had been returned without a single bit of the diamond hard, cold edge that Emma was known for.
-----x-----
Sofie ran past the double doors of the massive library and up the grand staircase that led to the upper level living spaces that were used for the students; her own room was at the front of the school, where she could see the driveway, but she could care less about the window and what was outside of it. She locked the door behind her (it took her a couple of tries, but she figured it out), and climbed into the little desk she had on the wall.
In her neatest cursive, Sofie wrote out Emma's name and the address that Laura had written onto an envelope. She chose the nicest stationary paper that she had, because not even the Hello Kitty stationary she had was nice enough for a letter to Miss Frost. After carefully printing the date, she stared at the neatly lined paper for a few moments. She had never written a letter to anyone before, and she knew what she wanted to say, but how did she say it? Finally, she put pencil to paper and just wrote.
Dear Miss Frost,
I miss you. I miss everyone on Utopia, but you and Lixy are the ones that I miss the most. It is nice here in Westchester, and the trees are lots of colors, but there are too many things that are not here that were on Utopia, like the ferry rides and the Atlantean Column, and most important of all, there are no Wednesday classes with you here. I have not had any classes at all yet, and I feel like I am not learning anything except how to hide in bookshelves.
I spend most of my time by myself, just like on Utopia. Sometimes, I think that maybe I would have been better if I had stayed there with you, because you are responsible for me and because you said that you would always want me and that you love me, too. I do not feel any of that here. It looks nice here on the outside, and Wolverine makes us wear uniforms, and there is a statue of a woman I have never seen in the courtyard, but it is just the same otherwise.
I am going to tell you a secret because I know that you would never tell, Miss Frost. The secret is that I did not really want to come to Westchester. I only came because I could tell that Laura wanted to go to be with Julian, I think, but she said she would go where I went. I did not want her to have to stay behind because of me. But now that she is here, maybe she will just
stay here if I am allowed to go back.
I am sorry for leaving you, Miss Frost. Especially when I did not want to go. Please do not be upset.
Love, Sofie
She folded the stationary neatly into the envelope and sealed it with a sticker before putting the stamp on and placing it in the mail outbox at the front desk of the school. Outside, she could see flakes of white falling from the overcast sky, drifting down to the ground, but that was not the white frost she was concerned with; the only wintery white that she was concerned with lived miles and miles away. Sofie couldn't help but dwell on little things about that day that she and the others left, like the scent of Emma's perfume or the feel of her silky cape, or the way she wanted to call her 'Mommy' instead of Miss Frost, but held herself back from it.
Sofie hoped that her letter would get to Emma safely with her secrets tucked away inside.