Text/RP: What Do I Do?
Date: June 24, 2011
Characters: Erica Allen, Demi Turner
Location: Erica's Apartment
Status: Private
Summary: Another relative makes contact, and this time Erica's not going to shut her friends out.
Completion: Complete
Erica was beyond thrilled. While going back to the hospital meant yet another bill, it was necessary, and now she was off her crutches, and even though it felt a little weird to walk on her left foot again, she felt like dancing. She didn’t particularly want to go back home, she’d been cooped up in it for so long already, but she needed to go over her finances and figure out how the hell she was going to pay these new bills on top of the ones she usually had without a job. She’d stopped by a gas station and picked up a newspaper - it wasn’t the Sunday edition, so she wasn’t expecting much in the way of the classifieds, but it would be a start.
Back at her apartment complex, Erica detoured to the mailboxes. She’d only checked her mail a couple times since everything had happened, so she wasn’t surprised that it was stuffed, mostly with junk, but she’d go through it upstairs. She balanced it all with the newspaper in her arms as she hurried up the stairs - just because she could. Once inside, she toed off her sandals and plopped down on her couch. She started sorting through the mail, junk mail from the bills from the coupons.
Halfway through the stack, she came across a personal envelope and frowned. No one sent her letters. A glance at the name in the return address confirmed that she didn’t know this Eleanor Warren. Curiosity peaked, she leaned back against the cushions of her couch as she turned the envelope over and opened it. She pulled out the papers, her eyes widening just a little when she saw how long it was. For someone she didn’t know, apparently this Eleanor person had a lot to say.
Erica,
I couldn’t possibly tell you how many times I’ve tried to write this letter to you. There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t even know where to start. I suppose letting you know who I am would be a good place. I can only hope that you don’t toss it as soon as you find out. I am your grandmother.
Erica’s eyes widened as she read through the first paragraph. Her hand shook slightly as she dropped the letter on the table and stood up. She stared at the letter, sitting there so innocently. Her heart pounded in her chest as she started pacing. Did she want to finish reading it? This woman, this Eleanor was claiming to be her grandmother, and she just didn’t know what she was supposed to think about that. Why was she contacting her now? She had to know, even if she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She slowly slid back down onto her couch and picked the letter back up, starting back where she’d left off.
Joanne told us -your grandfather and I- about how she went to talk to you at your work, and I’m afraid I owe you an apology for that. You see, we didn’t find out about you until last summer. Joanne had just got married, and she found out she was pregnant, and she felt so guilty about giving you up that she confessed everything to us and her husband. I’m not excusing what she did by any means, dear, just explaining how all of this came about.
You see, Joanne was such a sweet little girl, but she was a very troubled teenager. She ran away from home at seventeen, and we didn’t hear from her for almost three years. It was during that time that she had you, and she never told us, not until last year. We didn’t tell Joanne, but your grandfather and I hired an investigator to try to find you. It took a while, but a few months ago, he told us that he’d tracked you down all the way up in Fort Worth.
Once we knew where you were, we just didn’t know what to do. We wanted to contact you, but we were afraid you wouldn’t want us to, and I wouldn’t blame you did. What Joanne did, it was inexcusable, but if we had known - Erica, we would have taken you in and raised you as our own in a heartbeat. It breaks my heart to know that you didn’t have a real home growing up, that you didn’t have a family of your own to love you and take care of you.
Unfortunately, before your grandfather and I could decide how to contact you, Joanne found the file the investigator had given us. I didn’t know that she saw it until after she told us she’d made contact with you. She told us what you said to her, and I feel like all I can do is apologize. If I’d found a little more courage to contact you before now, it wouldn’t have been such a shock, and I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you to face her.
I would love to meet you, to have the opportunity to get to know the granddaughter I didn’t know I had. I’ll understand if it’s too difficult for you right now, but if it’s not, if you could find it in your heart to humor an old woman, I would love to come up for lunch sometime. If you could just let me know either way, I’d really appreciate it, and I promise, if you aren’t comfortable hearing from us, we won’t keep bothering you.
And it was signed with her Grandmother’s name and phone number, and Erica felt so emotionally raw just reading it. But she was glad that she had read the letter. She was glad that she knew now how everything had happened, and a part of her was so incredibly touched that Eleanor had cared enough to try to find her. It was unbelievable to her that someone who didn’t even know her cared about her, apparently on principle alone.
She wasn’t sure what to do now, though. What could she say to her long lost Grandmother? What did she want to say? She didn’t know, not for sure, but she did know that she wasn’t ready to make a decision right now, when everything was so fresh in her head. She needed to think, needed to… She needed to talk it out with someone. That’s what friends are for, Ezra’s words echoed in her head. She’d tell Ezra about it, she decided, but not yet. She really wanted to talk about it with a girl, and even though Ezra was gay, he still didn’t count as a girl, she thought, amused.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and started a text message to Demi. It was a Friday, so Erica knew it probably wouldn’t be until quite a bit later that Demi would be able to come over, assuming her friend didn’t already have plans. But she’d find a way to occupy herself. She still needed to work out her budget and go through to classifieds, and then she was sure she could find something else to distract her - something that didn’t involve the liquor in her cabinet.
Hey do you think you could come over after work? I need a sounding board.
Characters: Erica Allen, Demi Turner
Location: Erica's Apartment
Status: Private
Summary: Another relative makes contact, and this time Erica's not going to shut her friends out.
Completion: Complete
Erica was beyond thrilled. While going back to the hospital meant yet another bill, it was necessary, and now she was off her crutches, and even though it felt a little weird to walk on her left foot again, she felt like dancing. She didn’t particularly want to go back home, she’d been cooped up in it for so long already, but she needed to go over her finances and figure out how the hell she was going to pay these new bills on top of the ones she usually had without a job. She’d stopped by a gas station and picked up a newspaper - it wasn’t the Sunday edition, so she wasn’t expecting much in the way of the classifieds, but it would be a start.
Back at her apartment complex, Erica detoured to the mailboxes. She’d only checked her mail a couple times since everything had happened, so she wasn’t surprised that it was stuffed, mostly with junk, but she’d go through it upstairs. She balanced it all with the newspaper in her arms as she hurried up the stairs - just because she could. Once inside, she toed off her sandals and plopped down on her couch. She started sorting through the mail, junk mail from the bills from the coupons.
Halfway through the stack, she came across a personal envelope and frowned. No one sent her letters. A glance at the name in the return address confirmed that she didn’t know this Eleanor Warren. Curiosity peaked, she leaned back against the cushions of her couch as she turned the envelope over and opened it. She pulled out the papers, her eyes widening just a little when she saw how long it was. For someone she didn’t know, apparently this Eleanor person had a lot to say.
Erica,
I couldn’t possibly tell you how many times I’ve tried to write this letter to you. There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t even know where to start. I suppose letting you know who I am would be a good place. I can only hope that you don’t toss it as soon as you find out. I am your grandmother.
Erica’s eyes widened as she read through the first paragraph. Her hand shook slightly as she dropped the letter on the table and stood up. She stared at the letter, sitting there so innocently. Her heart pounded in her chest as she started pacing. Did she want to finish reading it? This woman, this Eleanor was claiming to be her grandmother, and she just didn’t know what she was supposed to think about that. Why was she contacting her now? She had to know, even if she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She slowly slid back down onto her couch and picked the letter back up, starting back where she’d left off.
Joanne told us -your grandfather and I- about how she went to talk to you at your work, and I’m afraid I owe you an apology for that. You see, we didn’t find out about you until last summer. Joanne had just got married, and she found out she was pregnant, and she felt so guilty about giving you up that she confessed everything to us and her husband. I’m not excusing what she did by any means, dear, just explaining how all of this came about.
You see, Joanne was such a sweet little girl, but she was a very troubled teenager. She ran away from home at seventeen, and we didn’t hear from her for almost three years. It was during that time that she had you, and she never told us, not until last year. We didn’t tell Joanne, but your grandfather and I hired an investigator to try to find you. It took a while, but a few months ago, he told us that he’d tracked you down all the way up in Fort Worth.
Once we knew where you were, we just didn’t know what to do. We wanted to contact you, but we were afraid you wouldn’t want us to, and I wouldn’t blame you did. What Joanne did, it was inexcusable, but if we had known - Erica, we would have taken you in and raised you as our own in a heartbeat. It breaks my heart to know that you didn’t have a real home growing up, that you didn’t have a family of your own to love you and take care of you.
Unfortunately, before your grandfather and I could decide how to contact you, Joanne found the file the investigator had given us. I didn’t know that she saw it until after she told us she’d made contact with you. She told us what you said to her, and I feel like all I can do is apologize. If I’d found a little more courage to contact you before now, it wouldn’t have been such a shock, and I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you to face her.
I would love to meet you, to have the opportunity to get to know the granddaughter I didn’t know I had. I’ll understand if it’s too difficult for you right now, but if it’s not, if you could find it in your heart to humor an old woman, I would love to come up for lunch sometime. If you could just let me know either way, I’d really appreciate it, and I promise, if you aren’t comfortable hearing from us, we won’t keep bothering you.
And it was signed with her Grandmother’s name and phone number, and Erica felt so emotionally raw just reading it. But she was glad that she had read the letter. She was glad that she knew now how everything had happened, and a part of her was so incredibly touched that Eleanor had cared enough to try to find her. It was unbelievable to her that someone who didn’t even know her cared about her, apparently on principle alone.
She wasn’t sure what to do now, though. What could she say to her long lost Grandmother? What did she want to say? She didn’t know, not for sure, but she did know that she wasn’t ready to make a decision right now, when everything was so fresh in her head. She needed to think, needed to… She needed to talk it out with someone. That’s what friends are for, Ezra’s words echoed in her head. She’d tell Ezra about it, she decided, but not yet. She really wanted to talk about it with a girl, and even though Ezra was gay, he still didn’t count as a girl, she thought, amused.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and started a text message to Demi. It was a Friday, so Erica knew it probably wouldn’t be until quite a bit later that Demi would be able to come over, assuming her friend didn’t already have plans. But she’d find a way to occupy herself. She still needed to work out her budget and go through to classifieds, and then she was sure she could find something else to distract her - something that didn’t involve the liquor in her cabinet.
Hey do you think you could come over after work? I need a sounding board.