𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐨𝐞 ✾ (𝐧. 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩)

TWO !

DEAR CHLOE !

Rowan lykemi folded the crisp, white piece of lined paper. on the blank part that was folded, she took her pencil and wrote '10/14/18'. she glanced up at the clock, only to look down at the paper again and write '1:27 AM'.

she stuck the letter in her back pocket, pulling her sweatshirt further down to cover it. this was for two reasons; incase anyone was downstairs, and so the early october snow that new york was getting didn't soak it.

unfortunately for rowan, her father was laying on the  living room couch, again. there wasn't anything unusual about it. a beer bottle in his hand, some sort of action movie on the TV, probably texting some girl he met off of tinder. it didn't necessarily bother rowan, only when her little sister would start arguments with their father. then, everything got loud and crazy. rowan liked peace and quiet.

she stopped at the bottom of the steps, thinking of a game plan. she couldn't just walk out of the house, her dad would be suspicious. not that it's any of his business anyway, why should he care?

she walked into the pantry, grabbing the heavy bag of dog food. then, she walked over to her two year old german shepard, stitch.

"c'mon, stitch! wanna go outside?" she said with a high pitched baby voice, leading her dog out side with her.

"where are you going?" her dad slurred from the couch.

"taking stitch outside," rowan rolled her eyes, but making sure her dad couldn't see her.

"at one thirty in the morning?" hank lykemi said, not believing his daughter.

"i just need some fresh air, okay?" she huffed, pouring food into the dogs bowl and water into the water bowl. she let stitch eat and drink for a few seconds, then they went outside.

"maybe you'd be asleep if you just got that dumbass dead girl off your mind!" he shouted while slamming his beer bottle on the coffee table. rowan heard him from the front porch, tears stung her eyes. chloe wasn't just a dead girl to her. she was her best friend.

rowan started walking to the next door neighbors,
the schnapp family, backyard, making sure the lights were off in the house and the window was closed. she pushed open the gate, then closed it. letting go of the leash, stitch roamed around the yard that he used to hang out with the girls in.

she climbed up the ladder into the huge treehouse that chloe's father had built for them. sitting down in a bean bag chair, she let the tears spill out of her eyes.

why couldn't things be the same? a little over three years ago, everything was perfect. mason would chase them around the yard. dad cared about mom and his kids. chloe and rowan would always try to hide from noah and his friends. things were just... simple.

rowan let out a big sigh, and wiped tears from her face. she pulled the note out of her pocket, and stuck it in the drawer of a wooden cabinet. that's where she kept all of the letters.

suddenly, out of the treehouse's tiny window, a light flickered on in the house. it was noah's window. rowan scrambled down the ladder, trying not to fall. running, she got ahold of stitch's leash and ran. panting, she opened the back door to her house and hurried in. lucky for her, her dad must've went up to bed, which sounded like a good idea to her. it was just after two in the morning, she was tired.

stitch followed her up the steps, and the two went in rowan's room, curling up in her bed. the dog put his head and front paws on his owner, and the girl pulled the comforter over them. late night thoughts traveled through rowan's head, but one in specific worried her.

she forgot to shut the drawer.

if anyone went in the treehouse, they'd be able to see the notes. and read them.

KARLEIGH SPEAKS !
i hope stitch isn't too cringy of a name for y'all lol oops i thought it was cute