Crystal Plains

Violet Evergarden

Dedicated to my dear husband and to DarkLightWorld

A letter that every woman can identify with, one that can make every man's heart pound.

All lights on me. The scene has come. The scene where I read the letter the lover never got to send to her beloved. This, the climax of the play I have worked hard on, has finally come. With shaky hands I open the envelope. "Tell us, Violet. What does it say?" A man dressed the part of the lovers father in law states. In a loud voice I read:

My dearest Jacob,

At long last I write to you. The heaviness of my heart has kept pen from paper. My love for you has deepened over the course of this war. Even though it has ended, I have not found you. Your heart beats in mine, forever with me. I hope you return to me. I pray you are safe. Your voice comes to me as if on a breeze, "I love you." Nothing more than a whisper. "I love you. Come to me." The yearning, the pain, the tears never cease. Your warmth is gone from me. Your touch is desired. To hear you still live would bring me much joy, alas, I'll never know. This hole in your absence is unmistakable. This void cannot be filled. Come home to me. Don't leave me.

This war has taken so much from us. It has taken more then I can bare. This letter will never arrive, but you must know how the amount of love I carry for you overflows with every word. I won't leave you, I can't leave you. Not in those fields of death and ruin. Not in the hellish fires. Not in soot covered ground. NO! I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU THERE! THERE IN THE DARKNESS AND DESPAIR!

I love you!...
I love you!...
I love you!...

Forever your flower,
Violet

Tears blurring my vision I say the next line after a dramatic pause. "It's my letter to him." Then make my exit to the room on stage. Flinging myself on the prob bed I openly weep with the letter clutched to my chest. This is the wrong letter. This is not the letter meant for the play. This is my missing letter to Eric. The one I wrote after he didn't come back. After he was declared missing in action. The war is still fresh in all our minds and hearts, but this is to much. Who switched them? Who could do this? Eric's not coming back, and now everyone knows. All of London is watching. Watching a very real scene of anguish.

The cast knows this isn't the real lines, the real letter. Yet, they continue to perform. The actor playing the father in law comes into the stage made room, sits on the bed prop, and chockingly states, "Violet.... he has come home." I look to him, this actor, and sob. "The dead remain dead." Standing he offers me his hand. "Come. See." Taking it, I stand. This isn't part of the play, but it works. He guides me into the parlor made stage and sits me in a chair. A man in a dark blue cloak enters the stage. Gasps are heard from the audience. Suspense is dripping from every rafter. "Evy. ... I love you!" Eric? That is Eric's voice. Out of breath, I walk to him and pull his hood off. The entire building goes quiet. Every person holds their breath. The thick silence made my whisper sound like a scream. "Eric." Time stopped for us all. However, to me it finally came back. ...

"I love you too!"