Unwritten Pages

Chapter Twelve: New Hopes

     I sit in my bedroom and stare at the journal. I haven't been able to open it. All I'm doing is staring at the cover. I think back to earlier along the day—right after art class was over. I had asked Arianna about the notebook.

     “Ari!”

     Arianna turned to look at me. “Yeah?”

     I held up the book. “This—did you read all of it?” I wanted to know what her thoughts were on it...and if this book contained any important information.

     Arianna shook her head to my dismay. “Well, just the first page or so.”

     “That's it? Weren't you curious?”

     Arianna thought about it for a while. “Yeah, but her parents told them to give it to you first. And I don't like reading it. It kind of makes me feel...odd.”

     I kind of understood what she meant. The book that I was holding may be full of secrets in Winter's life. Secrets that I may not want to know. Plus—she was dead. I guess it would feel weird to pry into a dead person's privacy.

     “Her parents?”

     “They thought you might want to read it first—before they gave it in to the police and stuff. I don't think they thought there was anything important in there. But there might be. Though I think the possibility is pretty low.”

     “Oh,” I said. I thought of her lyrics. Could this book possibly contain what drove her to commit suicide? Suddenly, this book felt heavy in my hands.

     “So...” she said, “I think you'll have to give it to the police or something by the end of the summer.”

     “Yeah...” I managed to say.

     “You're going to University out of Canada, right?”

     I nodded. “With Desiree,” I added.

     Arianna smiled. “Good luck at University,” she said. “You can visit me anytime, I'm attending College here.”

     I nodded again. It felt a bit odd to talk about these things. In a few months, I would be starting University in the States with Desiree (though we still haven’t made up yet) and Arianna would be starting College. And Winter wasn't here anymore. She was lying at her grave—underground.

     Usually, Winter would have such a big part in this, but she was dead.

     “See you on Monday,” Arianna said as she began to walk away.

     “You too,” I told her as I watched her figure get smaller as she went.

     I sigh as my memories are interrupted by a crash downstairs. My mother had probably dropped something.

     Soon, 'Monday' will be 'next holiday' when we're completely finished high school. And maybe even then—we might not be able to see each other on the holidays.

     “Property of Winterlyn Evaline Lawly,” I read out loud. The book feels heavy it my hand. Holding this book I feel like I'm an old feeble man. My hands feel like they're shaking, but when I look at them, they're still.

     I take a deep breath. I don't know why this book is so hard to open. I force my hand to just flip the cover over.

     It's not so hard. Until I look at the page.

     The page is full of writing. The writing to bubbly, big, and messy. It's written to fill up the whole line and the words are printed, but you can see faint lines that follow every letter so it makes it look like cursive.