AN: Ok, I came up with this after a dream I had of a similar nature and it took me…let’s see…. (Counts in her head) about three days to write. So, if it’s not very good, that’s why. Lol. Well, read and enjoy! (Hopefully!)

Kiro

By: TheEightTerrors

Dear Mr. Wright,

I am writing this letter in hopes that you will understand why I didn’t wish to share my story about my experience last Friday with my classmates, like you asked me to. When you asked why, I felt the explanation would be too long for me to tell vocally. Writing seemed the best way I could think.

As you know, last Friday, October 27, the county police issued a missing persons report for me after receiving a call from my older brother. He told them I had a day off from school and that I told him I was going to stay home all day, until he arrived home from work at seven thirty that night. When he arrived, however, I was nowhere to be found. Peter, my brother, called all my friends, but no one had seen me. After searching the house once again, he called the authorities. The police came to my house and staked it out. They searched the place again, looking for signs of a break-in, thinking someone may have abducted me. They found nothing out of the ordinary, however. They questioned Peter furiously, even though he had no answers. They were getting no leads, nothing they could use to find me. But finally, at three thirteen A.M., I came stumbling up to the front yard of my house: breathless, exhausted, and bloody.

I told everyone I didn’t remember what happened. That all I remember was that I was in my parents’ room and suddenly, I was outside nine hours later, weak and confused.

That, of course, was a lie.

The truth is: if I had explained what had really happened, no one would believe me. They would claim that whatever had happened to me had driven me mad, and they would stick me in a mental institution. So, I just told them I forgot. I only wish I could forget. No one knows what really happened, not even Peter. The only reason I’m telling you is because you figured out that I was hiding the truth. Why tell more lies than you have to, am I right?

I will start on Friday morning, just before Peter left for work. My parents were on a cruise in the Caribbean and so they asked Peter to stay here with me, instead of his dorm. Apparently, seventeen isn’t old enough to stay home without a baby sitter.

Just before he left, Peter made a comment to me to stay out of trouble while he was gone. I was a bit hurt that he didn’t trust me. Okay, not hurt. Angry. Granted, I had done some wild partying in some of my past experiences, but I didn’t need my stupid older brother telling me what I could and couldn’t do. That was mom and dad’s job. Besides, how would he know? He was never around to know. I expressed this to him and he only explained that he was trying to protect me. I only scoffed at this. “Protect me, my ass!” I said. Did he ever once try to “protect me” when he was in high school? No. Why should he start now?

Before the argument became too heated, Peter said, “We’ll talk about this after I get home,” as if to resolve the conflict. But the conflict was far from resolved. I was still angry at him and he was still angry at me.

I spent the day doing bored activities. Watching TV, playing a little Halo on Peter’s Xbox. That sort of thing. By five in the evening, I had had just about enough of the tube and decided to call up some friends. First I called Sam. She was baby sitting. Then I called Trish. She was grounded. I called Jessica. She was going out with her boyfriend. I went through Erica, Melanie, Sarah, Jade and Leanne and they were all busy. Great, I thought. Now what was I supposed to do? All of my friends had plans and I was left alone. I wracked my brain to find things to do.

I decided to go pick a book out of my mom’s bookcase in her room. There was always a good book tucked away in there somewhere. At least the ones I read were good. As you know, I’m not a big reader, but I will read if I feel up to it. I went to the master bedroom and walked to the shelf, thumbing through the many books. Most of them, I found, were for middle aged women or were one of the classics, like “Moby Dick” and so on. Nothing seemed to really peak my interest. I was about to give up, go back to the living room, and turn the TV back on.

But then I heard a book fall.

I turned back around. A thin, hardcover book had clapped onto the wood floor while I wasn’t looking. Huh, I thought. That’s strange. Instinctively, I picked up the book. It was very smooth, as if it had been polished or sanded. Of course, out of curiosity, I had to open it.

But just as I lifted the cover off of the yellow pages, there was a flash of white light and I felt like my flesh was being pressed down upon. Like on a roller coaster. I wanted to scream, but my vocal cords were compressed. When it finally stopped, I fell to the cold, stone ground with a sickening thud.

I groaned in agony. I had landed on my left arm awkwardly and pain was shooting up it fiercely. I didn’t think it was broken but it wasn’t all right. As I lay on the floor moaning, I heard a voice from behind me yell, “What on earth?” It was a boy’s voice. No, not a boy. A man, just out of boyhood. Maybe eighteen or nineteen years old. A hand turned me over on my back and I was looking him in the face. He was a handsome man. Beautiful green eyes that had a hint of another color around his pupils, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what one. He had a beautiful full head of black, curly hair that fell across his face. I could tell by his expression he was expecting me. “What on earth are you doing here?” he asked quietly, yet frantically.

Despite how worn I was from whatever I had just come out of, I was able to murmur, “I don’t know.”

“Can you sit up?” he asked.

I nodded softly. “I think so,” I said. I shakily rose to a sitting position. I took a look around me. I was, apparently, in a cave of some sort. I was surrounded by a room of dank stone that was dripping slightly with moisture. One lone ray of light coming from a hole atop the ceiling across the room was all the illumination there was to help my sore eyes. I knew I was far away from home. Far, far away.

“Where am I?” I asked, hearing my voice reverberate off the walls and back to me.

The man looked around as I did. “You’re in Corcova, in the hills,” he said.

I looked at him. “Corcova?” I questioned. “What’s that?”

“What’s that?” he repeated with a laugh, as though I was insane. “Corcova. Just south of Ternor.”

“Huh?” I asked.

His smile faded. He looked at me sadly. “You don’t know where this is?” he asked.

I shook my head.

He kept his expression. “My God, what have I done?” he whispered to himself.

That wasn’t a reassuring statement, as you can well imagine. “What?” I asked frantically. “What happened?”

The man got up off his haunches and walked over to the ray of light. He was a very handsome man, especially in the light. “Where do I begin?” he said to himself with a sigh. “What is your name?” he asked me.

“Evey,” I said.

“Evey?” he wondered.

“Short for Evangeline,” I explained.

“Ah,” he nodded. “Very well. Evangeline-.”

“I prefer Evey,” I said.

“Evey is too informal for my taste. Evangeline suits you,” he explained. “Now, Evangeline, where you come from, is there such a thing as magic?”

“Yes,” I answered. “Well, no. Well…” I sighed. “I know what it is, but it’s not real. It’s fictional. Make-believe.”

“I see,” he said. “Well, here in my world, magic is all too common.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Really?” I wondered.

“Oh, yes,” he said, smiling at my enthusiasm. But it faded quickly. “At least it was, once upon a time. You see, Evangeline, in this realm, ones who are most powerful in magical spell bindings are called Mindbenders, simply because they can control people’s actions by getting inside their thoughts. Over the past century or so, however, the Mindbenders have been over-run by the kingdom. I’ve had to retreat out here for safety.”

“You mean,” I asked in astonishment. “You’re Mindbender?”

The man nodded. “Indeed. And it’s that fact that explains why you are here. I was writing in my diary when out of nowhere, I started chanting an incantation. Out loud and I couldn’t stop myself. It was in an ancient tongue and I had never heard the spell before in my life. And once I got myself to stop, here you fall from the sky. My guess is that I accidentally opened a portal from your world to mine. I can’t believe it. How stupid of me?”

“Slow down,” I told him. “I can only process so much so fast.”

“Sorry,” he said. “I have to get you back.”

“Whoa! What’s the rush?” I asked. “You don’t like me already?”

“Well, aren’t you frightened? Aren’t you worried you’ll never see your family again?” he asked.

I laughed a bit. “Not so much,” I responded. “My brother and I had a fight this morning, so I’m not exactly itching to go back.”

“Well, believe in me, eventually, you will want to go back,” he explained. “The problem is: I’ve never done a spell like this before, so I have no idea how to reverse it. It could take two days to…two years to find the reverse spell.”

“Two years?” I yelled. Granted, I didn’t want to go back right away, but two years? That was much too long.

“I’m fairly certain it will not take that long. But never rule out the impossible,” he said. “Until I do find the spell, you should stay here with me.”

“Where would I stay otherwise?” I asked.

He smiled again. It was a brilliant grin. It seemed to glow, almost.

“What’s your name?” I asked him.

His smile faded again. It seemed that I threw him into an awkward position. He scratched the back of his neck. “I…” he began. “I don’t…I’d rather not say.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Why not?” I wondered.

“Just in case,” he told me.

“Well, then,” I said. “What am I supposed to call you? Sir?”

He laughed again. “No. You may call me…you may call me whatever you wish.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

He nodded, his black curls bouncing.

“So, I just pick a name for you and you’ll roll with it?” I asked.

He gave an amused and confused smile. “Sure. I will…roll with it,” he said.

I smiled then. I searched my thoughts for a fitting name. “I know,” I said. “Kiro.”

“Kiro?” he repeated. “Where did you come up with that?”

“It was on a TV show I watched this afternoon,” I explained. “Dorky little cartoon.”

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “What is a ‘TV show?’?” He asked.

I only laughed.

Over the next week, Kiro was my only companion in the dank cave that was his living quarters. I learned many things about the world in which I was in. It was a world very much like this one, only about seven hundred years in the past. It was basically medieval earth. I could tell by Kiro’s attire, which was usually a baggy, white cotton shirt with dark and heavy pants. I don’t know if they were made of burlap or what but they were definitely not a material used today.

For a good part of every day, Kiro spent his time flipping through a huge book, his spell book, trying to find the reverse spell. He explained to me that if wasn’t always about finding spells and performing them. Much of the time, you had to combine spells or modify spells and so on to make them work. It was much more complicated than I had imagined. Nothing like Harry Potter or anything else in our world had led us to believe.

The other part of his day was spent socializing with me. He loved hearing about my life and my world and everything like that. He never talked about himself unless I asked a direct question. I think I was a welcome relief from his hum-drum life of solitude and isolation. I was curious about him as well. I asked questions by the barrel, therefore learning much about him.

Kiro was nineteen years old and an orphan. Both of his parents had been Mindbenders and killed by the Duke of Ternor’s Army when he was about five. His aunt and uncle had taken him in, until they were taken by the Army when he was ten. He then retreated to the hills of Corcova to perfect his magic and keep the race of the Mindbenders alive. When I asked why the Mindbenders were being killed off, he simply said, “The Duke of Ternor, who has the main power in this realm, feels threatened. Paranoid that we’ll cause an uprising.” I said nothing more on the issue after that.

When Kiro was growing up, he had wanted to be a writer, a poet. His diary, which he let me look at one day, was filled to the brim not with his daily activities, but poems. Beautiful ones about the outside world he longed for and the life he wished he could live and how someday, all his dreams would become a reality. Every night, I prayed that something would release Kiro from this prison in which he was kept in to no avail.

The thing that I found most interesting about Kiro was the fact that he was able to make me talk about things I never talked to anyone else about. My parents, my brother, my friends. Everything. Mainly because he was the first person who really asked, but also because I trusted him. In just a few days, he had become the best friend I had ever had. I was able to talk to him with such ease, it amazed me. Two weeks or two years. I wouldn’t mind staying away from home forever. As long as Kiro was with me.

About a week after I arrived, however, something happened.

Kiro and I were talking casually (I don’t remember what about), when he heard something. I didn’t and suggested he was merely imagining things. He explained that Mindbenders had a heightened sense of hearing and that he was sure there was something outside. I told him it was nothing, but he paid no mind to me and went to check it out.

A few minutes later, Kiro came panting back, pale as ever and scared straight. “You need to get out of here,” he said, pulling me to my feet. “Now.”

“What? Kiro, what’s going on?” I asked as he led me to the hole in the ceiling. I was scared already as to what was outside the cave.

Kiro stood directly under the light of the hole and began muttering an incantation in a different language. I just watched him, mesmerized, as he began to sway back and forth and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. When he finished, a ladder appeared out of nowhere that led up and out of the hole.

Kiro regained his composure and turned to me, quickly. “Climb up there and run,” he said. “Run fast and run far. Don’t let anyone find you. Do whatever you can to find another Mindbender.”

“Kiro, what’s happening?” I asked.

“Just go, Evangeline,” he yelled.

“But Kiro-.”

“Go now!” he yelled.

“I’m not leaving without you!” I screamed.

His anger faded from his face and he was speechless. He knew he couldn’t convince me. And it saddened him to think it.

Without warning, I heard pounding footsteps from inside the cave. “Who is that?” I asked, lowly. But my question was answered when two burly looking soldiers came into view. In the blink of an eye, one of them had a hold on Kiro, yanking his arms behind his back as he struggled to break free.

When the other came after me, I tried to dodge him, but he was too large for me to avoid. He brought his thick arm around my chest and restrained me. I wasn’t going to give up that easily, however. I elbowed him in the stomach and once he groaned and loosened his grip on me, I broke away, grabbed the ladder and began to climb. I was half-way up when he pulled on the back of my jacket and I lost my footing and fell.

I don’t remember anything until I woke up in a prison cell later that night. My head was pounding as I sat up and looked around me, frightened as a mouse cornered by a cat. Where was I? Where was Kiro? Why were we here?

Of course, these were probably the Duke’s men. They had come for Kiro. They had come to execute him. But why was I here then?

“You, girl,” I heard a gruff voice call.

I looked up. Another soldier was standing outside the cell, gazing at me with cruel, black eyes.

“Yes?” I whispered.

The soldier took a ring of keys and unlocked the cell door, opening it. Once it was open, he stood in the doorway and threw something at me. When it landed in front of me, I picked it up to see what it was. It was a burlap sack.

“Put that over your head and come with me,” he commanded.

I just stared at the sack in my hands, paralyzed with fear at what could happen after this.

“Do it, lest you wish to die a death throughout the land,” he bellowed.

I looked at him with wide eyes. His jagged face showed me no sign of sympathy for me. If I didn’t do as he said, his face told me he would not hesitate to destroy me. Regrettably, I took the sack and slipped it over my head. The soldier bound my hands behind me back with rope and then proceeded to lead me out of the cell.

The entire time I was in the dark of the sack, I was whispering silent prayers to God for both Kiro and I to make it out of where ever we were alive. It was strange to think that a week ago, I had never even met Kiro, and now, I cared for him more than I cared for myself. I only wished I knew where he was.

I soon found out, however, for the soldier stopped and threw me to my knees. As I bit my lip against the pan of my skinned legs, the soldier tore the sack off my head. The first thing I saw when the sack came off of my head was Kiro. He was on his knees, as well, and his hands bound like me. The only difference in our situations is that he seemed to have been beaten. Bruises had formed under his eye and around his jaw line. When he saw me, his face both brightened and darkened. He was glad to see me alive, but angry that I was even here to begin with. It was the same feeling I had when I saw him.

We were in the center of a torch lit room. It seemed like one of those rooms out of those horror movies where the psychotic guy is going to perform some sort of voodoo ritual on the main character because he’s a follower of some cult religion. That’s why it gave me the creeps. Nothing good ever happened in a room like that. There was a door at the far end of the room that the soldier who brought me there was guarding.

Behind Kiro, there stood another man. Not a soldier. He was too well-dressed. He was tall and slim with a nasty sneer upon his thin lips. His black hair stuck out at all ends of his scalp. He put the finishing touch to the room, and put the hopeless feeling into my heart that made me think that Kiro and I weren’t going to make it out of this room. At least, not alive.

The man walked around Kiro, nudging him fiercely, making Kiro bite his lip in pain. The man walked around to face me and I couldn’t look him in the eye. I feared I would vomit if I did. “Is this her?” The man asked Kiro.

Kiro was looking at the floor as he nodded with hesitation.

The man took his focus off of Kiro and then directed it toward me. His cold grey eyes were staring knives into the top of my head. I could feel them bore into my skull. “Do you know this boy? And do not lie. I will know.”

I had very strong feeling that this was the infamous Duke of Ternor, which didn’t make the situation any brighter for me. I nodded shakily.

“Tell me! I do not want a nod,” the Duke yelled, frightening me even more. “Do you or do you not know this boy?”

“Yes, I know him!” I screamed back. Tears started slipping down my cheeks.

The Duke didn’t hesitate to ask his next question. “Did he or did he not bring you here from a different dimension?”

“Yes, he did,” I stammered between tears.

“And,” he said. “Did you or did you not witness him performing magic?”

I hesitated briefly, but answered, “Yes, I did.”

The Duke only observed as I sobbed silently. He seemed to be entertained at what he was doing to me. A sadist if I ever saw one. But he softly said, “I can make a deal with you, Evangeline.”

I looked up at him. He reached for something on his belt and unsheathed a long sword. It was a thick sword with a bejeweled hilt. It looked like one of those medieval artifacts out of a museum. The Duke held it at his eye level and examined it for a moment. He walked behind me and slipped the blade between my hands and sliced the rope off of my wrists. I pulled them out in front of me and rubbed them from the rope burn. The Duke walked back around to face me, still examining the sword. Then he flipped it in the air and caught the blade in his hand, the hilt pointing to me. “Kill him,” the Duke said to me. “And I shall send you back to your world. Failure to do so shall result in your immediate execution.”

“Do not punish her like this,” Kiro pleaded. “She did not do anything.”

“Silence!” the Duke yelled. Turning his attention back to me, he said, “Well, Evangeline…do we have a deal?”

I couldn’t take my eyes off of the sword. If I killed Kiro, I would be able to go back home, which I was really missing right about then. The part of me that was homesick made my hand reach out and take the sword from the Duke’s grasp. As I held it in my hand, I realized how idiotic I was for even considering killing Kiro. What kind of person would I be if I did that? But the other half of me was telling me that it was the only way.

I just stared at the blade, my mind racing. My differing views began to make me tremble. The two decisions were fighting over my judgment, tearing me apart. Silently. I couldn’t decide what I wanted more: Kiro alive and out of this hell… or to be home and to forget about all of this, to convince myself that it was all a dream. The two thoughts kept feuding. I looked from the sword to Kiro and back to the sword. The tears started coming out faster. I would destroy myself before I came to a decision.

And then…I decided.

One of the parts had overcome and I knew what I had to do. I gazed at the blade in my hand and then back at Kiro. When I did, I feared the choice I had made was a dangerous one. But there was nothing I could do now.

I let go of the sword.

As it slipped out of my fingers, I began questioning if that was the smart choice. But I know it was. Kiro’s life was much more important than my own. I couldn’t betray him like that. “I can’t do it,” I sobbed.

The Duke seemed unshaken by this. “Very well,” he said. “So is your choice.”

“Wait,” Kiro yelled. “Let me talk to her.”

The Duke said nothing, but gave him a disapproving look.

“I need to convince her. It is not a conspiracy of any sort. Please. Just let me speak to her,” Kiro begged.

The Duke kept his expression, but I could see he was contemplating. “Very well,” he said, finally.

Kiro gave a nod of gratitude to the Duke and he leaned closer to me. “Evangeline, you must do this,” he whispered.

“What?” I asked. Was he asking me to kill him?

“I know it does not make sense, but if you do not, both of us will die. I don’t want that to happen. I told you I would send you home. This is the only way,” Kiro explained.

“Kiro, I can’t do that, ok? I just can’t,” I told him.

“You are going to have to,” Kiro said. “The Duke will be able to send you back. He may not be a Mindbender, but believe in me. He can send you back.”

“I can’t kill you, Kiro,” I screamed.

“You are going to have to,” he repeated.

“No.”

“Evangeline-,”

“NO!”

He said nothing as I bit back my tears. I couldn’t believe he was asking this of me. No one would do such a thing to some they knew and cared for. They couldn’t. “I’m sorry, Evangeline,” he said softly.

“What’s your name?” I asked him.

“What?” he asked.

“What’s your name?” I repeated. “Your real name?”

Kiro just looked at me with confusion. It wasn’t as hard question. Why couldn’t he just answer? But he just shook his head and said, “I…don’t remember.”

Now I was confused. “What?” I asked.

“When you came, I had been alone for near to ten years. Ten years without anyone to say my name, telling me who I was. And so…I just forgot,” he told me. “That is why I did not tell you my name before. I did not remember it. So…my name…is Kiro.”

I didn’t understand it. How did someone forget their own name? But it didn’t matter any more. Now wasn’t the time to force answers out of him. “I can’t do it, Kiro,” I said again.

I could tell he didn’t agree with me, but he nodded anyway. I was too stubborn to convince. But then, something flickered in his eyes. Something dangerous. “Then, I will,” he said.

Before I could question him, Kiro’s eyes began glowing red. That was the other color in his green eyes that I couldn’t pinpoint. It was a faint red. As I looked into his eyes, I felt overcome by an out-of-body force. Like something was taking over me and I couldn’t control it. Before I knew it, I had a hold on the sword’s hilt again. I knew what was going on. Kiro was controlling me. He was forcing me to kill him. To save my life. To do what he promised he would do.

Why? I wondered. Why did it have to come to this?

I stood up, sword in hand, aiming toward Kiro’s back. I tried with all my might to resist Kiro’s commands, but it was no use. The power of a Mindbender was no match for an ordinary human. I couldn’t stop what I was doing. Kiro and I were still looking each other in the eyes. I wanted to start crying again, but Kiro wouldn’t let me. Just before I gave into him completely, I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

And Kiro whispered the same.

I found enough will power to at least close my eyes before I plunged the sword through Kiro’s back. I couldn’t bear to watch myself do something so horrendous. I kept the sword in place for a moment or two, until Kiro’s hold on my mind finally broke. I pulled the sword back and threw the blade to the stone floor, crumpling to the ground in shame and sorrow. I couldn’t believe I had let Kiro do that. It was too terrible for me to even accept.

“And to think I thought you were not going to carry it out,” the Duke said, seeming very pleased.

I don’t know what made me do it, but I did it. I opened my eyes and looked at what I had just done.

Kiro’s bloody body was lying limply on the floor, the sword right next to him, glistening with his blood. I was horrified at the sight and the tears began to pour out again. This wave of emotion wouldn’t cease, and I couldn’t regain composure. I was so distraught that I took Kiro’s body in my arms and began rocking him back and forth, like a little child, thinking the entire time, My God, what have I done? What have I done? What have I done? I cared not that his blood was staining my blue jacket I had received for Christmas last year, the one that I loved so much. I cared not that the Duke was standing over me, watching me in my moment of weakness. I cared not about anything. Only about Kiro.

“I suppose what is done is done, then,” the Duke said. “You will be returned to your world now.”

Before I could tell the Duke off for being the reason Kiro was dead, the soldier came away from the door and pried me away from Kiro’s body. “No!” I yelled in protest, kicking and fidgeting with all my strength. It was no good, however. The soldier was much too strong for me.

“I’m quite sorry, Evangeline,” the Duke said, even though I knew he was far from sorry. “But there is nothing more you can do for him now.”

As he raised a hand, I squeezed my eyes shut and yelled “No! You did this to him! It wasn’t him! It wasn’t me! It was you!” But when I opened my eyes to face him, I found I was no longer in the room, but face down on the ground in a park.

The park just down the street from my house.

For a long few moments, I lay there in the grass, wondering if the last week was real. If Kiro or the Duke or anything in that world had even existed, or if it was just a dream. Once I sat up, however, I knew it was no dream.

Kiro’s blood was still all over my jacket.

I stumbled down the street to find my house crawling with police officers. The lights from the tops of the police cruisers were blinding in the night light. I looked amongst the officers, but I wasn’t finding who I was looking for. I crossed the street and came upon to the sidewalk. “Excuse me?” I said to a police officer who had his back turned to me.

“Yes?” he said, as he turned to face me. Once he set eyes on me, however, he knew who I was and couldn’t believe what he saw.

“Do you know where my brother is?” I asked.

“Evey?” I heard a voice from behind the officer. I looked around him and sure enough, there was Peter, running to me.

“Peter,” I said, lump still in my throat from my bawling. “Peter, please don’t be mad at-.”

Before I could finish my sentence, Peter had pushed his way past the cop and pulled me into his embrace. It was the reaction I least expected. But I loved it. I just stood there, letting him hug me and whisper in my ear. “You scared the heck out of me. Don’t ever do that to me again. You’re so lucky mom and dad aren’t home.” I listened to him say those things until I slipped into unconsciousness.

The rest of the details are quite superfluous. The next day, I went into the doctor and they found that the blood on my jacket was not mine. I had no wounds except for the lump in the back of my head. The police came by my house again to question me, but I told them that I only remembered going into my parents’ bedroom and nothing more until I woke up in the park. I knew that they can try as they might to find out what happened to me, but they never will.

My parents came back that Monday. Time moves slower in our world than it does in Kiro’s world, so I was only gone for nine hours. However, Peter explained what happened and mom and dad were as concerned as ever. Peter and I explained that it was fine and the police were trying to figure out what happened to me, but they were still worried. Mom swore she’d never leave me alone again.

As the days went by, I tried to have things go back to the way they were. With all the questions the kids at school asked, though, it was the most difficult thing I had ever attempted. My friends knew well enough that I didn’t want to be bothered. It was everyone else that was the problem. To make things worse, you, Mr. Wright, knew that I was hiding something and asked to explain what happened in class. You’re smart, I’ve noticed, and expected you to attempt to drag it out of me, and you only proved me right.

The reason, Mr. Wright, why I didn’t tell you, my parents, my brother, my friends or anyone else what really happened to me is because I didn’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else. Once you’re exposed to death, it never leaves you. It stays with you, clouding your mind, tearing at your soul. Every other thought you have is, “What if I go home and someone is dead? What then?” Even hearing about it will do that to you.

Kiro will haunt my memories to my dying day. His death will affect me for decades to come. And I don’t want anyone else to hear of what happened to him. For their sake. Let them continue through life, blissfully unaware of what lies ahead. Death is inevitable, but the least anyone can do is think otherwise.

I’m sorry for the length.

Sincerely,

Evangeline O’Malley