The Lost Letter | Teen Ink

The Lost Letter

February 12, 2015
By Bookworm11 BRONZE, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Bookworm11 BRONZE, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
1 article 0 photos 0 comments



Sixty two years has passed since she had last seen him. She had been sitting at home checking her e-mail when the mail arrived. She slowly went downstairs, picked up the mail, and sat down in her living room. There was a particular handwritten envelope, that caught her eye. To Emilia. She immediately recognized the handwriting as her heart skipped a beat. Opening it, she quickly read and then realized that Michael had died. Dear Emilia, If you are reading this then you probably know I have died. I wrote this letter and put it in my will so that if anything were to happen to me, you would receive it and read my explanation of everything. You were hurt because of me and my problem. Words cannot begin to describe how terrible and guilty  I have felt during the years knowing I could have done something so terrible to you. I have lived all my life trying to avoid my alcoholism problem, but nothing has worked.
It runs in my family, so it wasn’t really a choice for me.
Speechless, her face started to fill up with tears. She started thinking of how angry but sad she had become when she had lost him all those years ago. She always knew something was wrong with the way he left her, but at this point all she felt was regret.
  Emilia had been around the age of fifteen when one of her friends had dared her to go out on a date with Michael. Resenting the matter, she had agreed to go, but only for the sake of the dare. Emilia had never really been interested in him because she noticed they were completely different people in the ways of interests, hobbies, and friends. Because it was her first date, she had decided to go ask her older sister for some advice.
“Well, you should definitely pick the perfect outfit, but at the same time, don’t make it look like you’re trying too hard. Pick something nice but not too revealing because you don’t want him to get the wrong impression about you. Leave the hair down to hide all the tension and nerves you are feeling.” Taking her sister’s satisfying advice, Emilia wore a nice shirt with jeans to make it seem casual yet not too casual for she had no idea where he was going to take her.
The doorbell rang. It was him. With no rush, she took her time to answer the door so it wouldn’t seem like she was impatiently waiting for him - even though she was. Michael stood there, tall, dirty blonde, with dark hazel eyes. He had on a pair of slacks and a v-neck tee-shirt that he obviously borrowed from an older sibling because of its size.
“You look nice” he said.
“Oh thanks..”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah. Just let me grab my coat.”
Taking her time, she made sure she would remember the advice her sister had given her about staying calm. Since none of them were able to drive, they took the bus.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” He replied with excitement.

Trying to act as the superior of the two, Michael took her to the bus stop where they waited. When it arrived, they got on. On the bus, it was too crowded to sit so they both just stood there franticly looking for a handlebar to hold onto before falling down and making complete fools of themselves. They both laughed and with that they began to talk. About fifteen minutes later, he gently grabbed her hand and led her outside.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“At the movies.”
“I don’t think we are anywhere near the movies. Are you sure we took the right stop?” she asked, feeling a bit aggravated.
Acknowledging his mistake, Michael had to think fast. He suggested that they should start walking before they froze to death. It was so cold that both of them immediately lost feeling in their legs. A few minutes later Emilia saw a sign for a diner so both of them made a break for it - at least while they could.
They entered and grabbed a booth. While defrosting, they both broke out into laughter. This was probably one of the stupidest yet funniest thing that had happened to them in a long time. They both ordered a hot chocolate and instead of eating dinner they went straight to dessert.
By the time he took her back to her home, they both recognized they had feelings for each other. From there on, they dated until the end of college. This was a couple that had been through everything together. Fights, dates, parties, and even family dinners! They had both gotten into universities fairly close to each other, so they ended up getting an apartment in the city together. Their relation couldn’t have been stronger. Each time Michael had seen her, he felt like he was falling in love with her all over again.
Until that night. They were all going out with friends to celebrate - he had told her - a very important evening.
“This is a very special night, so make sure you wear something nice.”
“Where are we going?”
“Its a surprise..” he replied.
During the dinner, Emilia started to realize that Michael had had one too many drinks that night. This was because she had noticed that Michael sometimes got carried away with drinking when he got anxious. When the night ended, on their way out of the restaurant, Emilia had insisted on driving because she knew that Michael was drunk. He was acting very stubborn and one thing led to another and before she knew it, he had started a fight with her. A few hours later, Emilia woke up in the hospital. The attending nurse told her that her wrist was broken, and she also had also hit her head that might cause some memory loss.  
Emilia never ended up remembering exactly what happened. Michael did after he had his friend explain the story and hated himself for it. He couldn’t imagine he was capable of hurting her. Knowing what he did, he decided to leave her a note telling her they broke up and then he was gone.
Never hearing from him or seeing him again to this day, she sat there alone - she had never gotten married - wondering, could she have ever done something to help him? If she did would he still be alive? She continued to read. Anyways I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Finishing the note, she had noticed that there was something else in the envelope.
It was a ring.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.