fragile | jelix

chapter 3

dear felix,
thank you for the letter and your interest in being seán's friend. we showed him this letter and he was very flattered, it meant a lot that somebody is showing interest in him. he said he is happy to write to you, but we unfortunately don't allow anybody apart from me and his father to be around him, so you would only be able to write to each other. inside this letter is another one from my son, so be sure to read that one too!

kind regards,
mrs mcloughlin

i sat in my room on my bed, staring at the letter i had just recieved. a letter from the boy's mother. i was super delighted that she wrote back and that her son, who i had learnt was called seán, had wrote me a letter himself. but i was bummed that for whatever reason i would never be able to see him in person. i was determined to find out the reason, but i wouldn't ask just yet. i'd get to know him first.

i slowly pulled out the other letter that was from seán. i unfolded the paper to see rather large and slightly messy handwriting. i was kind of worried i wouldn't be able to make out what he was saying and i would miss something important.

deer felix,
thanks for writing and saying you wont to bee my frend. i hav never had a frend and i always thought i wood never hav one. your letter made me very happy. so, sum basic informayshun about me: my name is seán, but you can call me jack if you wont. i turned 15 a couple of munths ago, my birthday is the 7th of february. tell me sum stuff about yourself.

from,
seán (or jack)

i folded the piece of paper back up and put it in a drawer in my desk before grabbing my own piece of paper and a pen. seán seemed like a really nice and cool guy. he seemed just as excited to talk to somebody new as i was, which i admired. i noticed how his handwriting was quite childish, and he seemed to really struggle with his spelling, which lead me to believe that he had never gone to school before, and most likely didn't get taught a lot at home. but i obviously wasn't going to point it out, because that would be rude. after thinking about what to say for a little bit i finally put pen to paper and began writing.

dear seán,
i'm so happy you agreed to write me, i was really hoping we could be friends so this is great. i also think i'm going to call you jack, if that's alright with you. both names are cool. do your parents call you jack or something?

anyway, my name is obviously felix and there isn't anything else you can really call me. i'm 16 and i'll be turning 17 in a few months. my birthday is on the 24th of october. my favourite hobby is playing video games. whenever i have free time it's usually all i do. what about you? do you have any hobbies?

kind regards,
felix