Letter to an Angel {Closed}

The letter had been pushed through the small space between the door and the ground. The white lined paper stood out against the clean bedroom floor. It was folded into thirds, a third portion was folded to a point like one would a paper airplane. It was then folded over to look like an envelope. The other side was his name in thin graphite pencil.

‘Leo’

The handwriting was Keirsta’s. He’d know it from anywhere. The handwriting was precise, meaning she put effort into it. When she doesn’t care about what she was writing, the letters would be looped together so badly that to anyone who didn’t know her handwriting would consider it illegible. Yet, Leo had never seen words written as perfectly as this.

With red plaid pajama pants and a white t-shirt for pajamas, the blond settled down on the ground near his door where the letter sat. The to-be father was not expecting what he was about to read. Never would he have imagined this.

It began with an obligatory, Dear Leo. Then went on to say that she was sorry, but couldn’t go on. Which caused the blond to flinch, was she going to try and do something like Freya did? Leo had ruled out that escape, but had Keirsta? Thankfully as the blond read on, that was not the case. Nothing could be worse than that.

The letter shared her fears about being a mother, how her own mother could barely be called one. She didn’t want to go down the same path and was terrified she would do the same to their child. It also shared the collective hate she had gotten from the other students, and how much she wanted to get away from all of it. It was hurting her, and she was not happy at Beata.

At this point, Leo was a third of the way down, and went to open the last fold of the paper. Leo’s spare room key fell out, landing on the floor with a mute thud. The one he had given Keirsta. Which explained how she had gotten into deliver the letter.

“Thank you” The next paragraph read. Thanking him for helping her when her father died, for her cat, Night. For being her friend, and someone she could rely on. The next words were blurs to him, blue eyes fogging up with unshed tears. ’Where is she going with this? Keirsta, please don’t do this…” His breath hitched, and tears slipped down his face. Leaving trails to be followed.

She was leaving.

“Goodbye”

It concluded. There was no signature. As there were no need for one. Leo knew exactly who it was.

The paper was put to the side, key left on the floor where it fell. The angel tried to calm his breathing, but was unsuccessful. A sob broke out through clenched teeth. He didn’t want to be here. Not in this room where everything first happened. He needed fresh air, and a place to cry. Through blurry tears, he stood up and stumbled out of the dorm. Leo didn’t seem to care that he was still in his pajamas.

His initial sadness was gone.

The trees waved in the cool wind. Morning sun rays came down through the canopy of the trees. Leo’s favorite kind of weather. Yet it mocked him. It mocked his sadness with something that would cause him joy. Birds chirped, squirrels went looking for their nuts that they hid last Winter. Scurrying about, back and forth. Ants began to creep out of their hills, marching long over a log. A overly interested rabbit peaked at the angel through a bush before darting away as he passed by. His eyes were unseeing to the joys of Spring. It felt dreary as a rainy day, a dark grey sheet of rainclouds covering the land.

Tear filled eyes failed to notice a root that stood up in the air just enough for Leo to catch his foot. He fell. Hard. His hands and knees were scraped. The whole tripping situation brought him back into a pool of memories.

’No more…

Leo remembered the day he had first arrived in Beata. He had tripped over his own luggage, and she caught him before he could hit the pavement.

But she was gone now. There was a lack of someone who would catch him.

There was no movement from where he fell, only rolling over to look up at the green canopy above him. And he cried, letting his sorrow flow freely from the corners of his eyes, down the sides of his face.

”Did I not do enough?” His words dripped with emotion. Did he not care for her enough? Did he not show her how much he cared? Was he unable to help her? Was he unkind? What went wrong? Why couldn’t she have stayed. Didn’t she trust him to be a good father? They were in this together...right? Could he have done more?

Scraped hands rose to his face, the tears stinging his open wounds.

Mikaela had been dancing through the forest like she loved to do in her free time when she saw what she thought was the Autumn Prefect stumbling through the trees, seemingly in his pyjamas. She turned off her music and pulled off her headphones, leaving them to hang around her neck. She followed the Prefect for a short distance before she saw him fall on his hands and knees painfully. She hurried over to him as he flipped over, and for the first time she noticed that Leo had been crying, and still was. "Are... are you alright?" she asked, concerned. She didn't know the boy, but she had heard that he was a good person.

Leo had not heard Mikaela follow him farther into the forest, too caught up by his grief to may much attention to his surroundings. So that when he went to wipe away his tears, blue eyes opened to met Mikaela's own. Immediately after seeing her, tears were brushed away again. No one needed to see him cry. Leo had enough of it all. His eyes did not seem to agree with the crying. They were puffy, and a uncharacteristic frown was etched onto his face.

Mikaela's voice made him flinch for a moment. Eyes peered out behind his hands. Was he alright? Maybe if he said he was, she wouldn't worry. Yet, after everything... Saying that he was alright would be lying. After a few long moments, the former prefect responded with a shake of his head. His chest heaving in restrained sobs.

Mikaela offered a hand to the boy. "Do you need somebody to talk about it with?" she asked. "Sometimes the thing that helps the most is a friend to talk to." In her case, whenever she needed somebody to talk to, she'd go to her brother. She and her brother had a close relationship, and they would talk about everything together. That is until he left two years ago and went off to join some nameless group of gifted.

"I-" Leo began, voice giving away to silence. Could he find the voice to share this? It hurt. Moist blue eyes landed on the girl's outstretched hand. He didn't move for a few moments. Why couldn't he lay there for the rest of eternity? Not aloud? Despite his desire to lay there, his hand rose to meet Mikaela's. He hadn't met her before, but it was innate to him to automatically trust her. Perhaps that was what got his heart broken in the first place. Yet again, Leo trusted.

Mikaela helped Leo up. He seemed a little more than distraught. "So, if I may ask, what is troubling you?" she asked him a little tentatively. She didn't know how he was going to react, they hadn't met before.

Knees were like jelly. Blue eyes shifted away from the girl. They had just met. He didn't feel up to standing. His knees were not supporting him. Heck, even if he agreed to tell her where would he start? Leo wasn't sure if she knew about his...predicament with becoming a parent. How would he start that? How could he even possibly tell the story? The teen's shoulders slumped and a defeated look crossed his face.

"Do you...know-" Leo paused to put his words together, none of them felt right. "My situation?"

Mikaela shrugged nervously. Despite having not actually met the prefect, his story had been spread around the school like wildfire. "Uhm... kind of? It's been spread around the school pretty well." she said sheepishly. She normally didn't pay attention to gossip, but Keirsta and Leo's relationship was everywhere.

Despite his ever present frustration for the way and the amount that the news had spread, Leo was slightly glad that he did not have to explain how that situation came to be. Blue eyes looked over the other student's face. His lips wavered as he took in a shaky breath. "She-" His voice cracked, then failed him. He waited a long moment, trying to find his voice again."-left. She left me a letter then disappeared. She didn't want to stay here, she didn't want.." Leo couldn't finish, his head dropped, and silent tears followed. "I did my best, I don't know what I could have done to make her stay." The blond managed to speak through hiccuped breaths. Shoulders shaking with each inhale.

The Summer felt incredibly bad for the former prefect. "Look, there's nothing you could've done. She had made her decision. She obviously wasn't ready for the pressures that would come with your situation." she replied. "Just know that none of this is your fault. You have no control of what she does or what she thinks." She wasn't sure what else to say, she didn't really know him that well.

She was right. Yet, none of the less it still hurt. He made no movement to look up at the girl. Even then, what was he to do now? Go on with his life as if nothing had happened? The relationship that he and enjoyed and already missed was gone. Leo knew that he had no control over Keirsta. Even if he did, there was no way he would make her stay if she wanted to leave. Perhaps it hurt even more that she had not come to him to converse about her fears. He couldn't be there for her if she didn't share her fears. "You are right." Came a rasp from him.

Teary eyes looked at the palms of his hands. Dirt clung to the edges of the scrape, and a slight red hue was already appearing. He'd have to wash it when he got back to the dorm. The sting had disappeared through the appearance of Mikaela. Which made him more thankful than ever possible.

Mikaela nodded. "The best thing for you to do would be to give it time. Things'll start to pick up again. You'll be back on your feet in no time." she said cheerfully, trying to pass on her cheerfulness to Leo. She suddenly realized that she hadn't even told him her name. "Oh! I completely forgot to even tell you my name!" she said, smacking herself on the forehead. "It's Mikaela, by the way."

Slowly, he looked back up at her. A smile found its way onto his face. It wavered every now and again. A effort to put up. Yet it was still there. Her cheerfulness was contagious. "Leo, but I guess you already knew." Especially if she could identify who he was based on looks. "Thank you." He needed to thank her for doing her best to cheer him up and comfort him. Even when he was a person that she didn't know, nor had a business to do it. Yet she did it anyways. For that, Leo found himself thankful for her.

"You don't need to thank me. I'm just doing what I know I should." she said. "Besides, I'm sure you'd do the same for me if I were in a similar situation." She felt that he was the type of person to do something like that. He was a literal angel, after all, and most angels were fairly nice.

A slight laugh escaped him, pulling one corner of his lips up. "You've got that right." Leo agreed. Taking in a deep sigh, he gave his hands a once over. "I mean, it still hurts. But I think it can go away with time, right?" His gaze shifted to the girl. A myriad of emotions were set in his eyes. Leo knew he'd continue to feel hurt for a while. Yet with someone there, he was able to get through the initial shock. He'd have to talk to the head master and see what he said.