Dear Devin,
How are you? I have news. I met a new friend—Anna. She's Maria's daughter. She helped me get back on my feet, and for the first time in a year, this house doesn't feel like a tomb. It doesn't feel so quiet anymore. I'm not lonely.
Allison paused, the ink pooling slightly. She didn't want him to think she was moving on too fast.
But you are still my best friend. No one can replace you. Take care... and wait for me. Truly yours, Allison.
Just as she finished writing, the bedroom door swung open without a knock.
"Allison, what's that, hmm?"
Anna stood in the doorway. Her sharp eyes immediately landed on the stack of blue-and-white airmail envelopes tucked beside the bed. Allison felt a prickly warmth crawl up her neck, a blush she couldn't hide.
"These... are letters. From him," she added softly.
Anna's eyebrows shot up. "Ohhh," she sang, dragging the syllable out until it filled the room. "So it's confirmed. He's the official boyfriend. The Prince of the Woods."
"No! No, he's not!" Allison protested, reaching for a pillow to hide her face.
Anna looked entirely unconvinced. She hopped onto the bed, the silk sheets rustling loudly—a sound that usually felt forbidden in this house. "Hmm... maybe not yet," she grinned, propping her chin on her hand. "But soon. I know that look. I'm an expert—I've already had three ex-boyfriends."
Allison stared at her, genuinely shocked. In her world, boys were people you saw at supervised galas or met through parents. "Three? Already? Anna, we're the same age."
Anna nodded as if she were discussing the weather. "One of them was a gang leader," she said, her voice dropping to a theatrical, gravelly whisper. "Who could resist such beauty as mine? Not the leader of the sharks, that's for sure." She suddenly stood up on the mattress, her shadow stretching long and jagged across the ornate ceiling.
"Hey! You'll fall! Get down!" Allison chuckled, the sound foreign even to her own ears.
"Actually... I'm a gangster myself. You should be careful around me, Princess. I might steal your jewelry and run off into the night."
Allison couldn't help it; a bubble of genuine laughter escaped her. "Are you serious? Have you ever even been a normal kid?"
Anna tilted her head, her playful mask slipping for just a second. The wildness in her eyes softened. "Aren't you scared of me?" she asked quietly. "Most girls like you would be. They'd think I'm 'common' or dangerous."
Allison's laughter softened into a gentle, sincere smile. She looked at this girl who had brought color back into a grey world. "No. I like you. You're clever... and you see things other people don't. You're my savior, Anna." She paused, her voice turning earnest. "You feel like someone the heavens sent to me."
Anna blinked, a rare flash of bashfulness crossing her face. She looked away, then flopped backward onto the pillows, cackling to hide her emotion.
"Don't tell me you're a church girl, too. You've got that 'bless your heart' energy."
"I don't know much about church," Allison admitted, her gaze drifting to the locked balcony doors. "I've been... locked up here. My parents, they don't really talk about God. Just about status."
Anna's smirk faded. "I was joking about the gangster thing," she said softly. "But you should visit a cathedral someday. The one in the city—it's interesting. Huge gold altars and candles everywhere. They say it's the only way to get to heaven." She paused, then flashed a white-toothed grin. "I can't believe I'm roommates with a little atheist."
"What's an atheist?" Allison frowned.
Anna waved a hand dismissively. "Probably what they call rich kids who skip Sunday school to play golf. Anyway! Enough about God. Tell me more about this Devin."
"Since you mentioned heaven... okay," Allison leaned back, a dreamy look taking over. "Well, Devin. His eyes were always deep. A real one."
"... and? Go on, Ali. Give me the details."
"You know that kind of deep... he's hiding something, but he's just mysterious. It's always his eyes that got me. Like they were looking at a world no one else could see."
"Aha! So you are confessing now. You're in deep, Princess."
Allison smiled, finally letting the truth breathe. "Anna... what else can I do? He's got the tantalizing eyes of a sorcerer. But of course, I could never tell him how gorgeous those eyes are. He'd probably just blink and look away."
"Gosh, I have never seen you so happy. Keep it up," Anna told her, a hint of protective pride in her voice. "We're going to get you back to your sorcerer if it's the last thing I do."
Thousands of miles away, Devin Austin sat on the edge of his bed in the sprawling Austin estate. Through his window, he could see the distant glow of the Atlantic. A single lamp cast a long, lonely shadow against the wall, highlighting the stacks of blueprints and books on his desk. In his hands, the airmail paper felt thin and fragile, as if the humidity of Spain had travelled with it.
His eyes snagged on one name: Anna.
"So... she's a girl," he murmured to the empty room.
A strange, tight knot in his chest—a tension he hadn't even realized was there—suddenly loosened. He hadn't even realized he'd been holding his breath, terrified that Allison had found a new 'best friend' with a deep voice and broader shoulders who could take her to dances and hold her hand in the sun.
But then, the relief faded, replaced by something sharper. Greener. I'm not lonely anymore, she had written.
"Wait..."
He looked at his reflection in the dark glass of the window. He looked older than thirteen, his face settling into a mask of quiet intensity. "Am I... jealous?"
The feeling was jagged and unfamiliar, like a splinter he couldn't reach. The idea of Allison laughing with someone else—even a girl—made the miles between them feel like lightyears. He wanted to be the one making her laugh. He wanted to be the one who made her house feel 'not so quiet.'
The door creaked open. "Devin?"
Uncle Ben stood in the hallway, the light from the corridor framing him in a golden rectangle. "You okay? I thought I heard voices. You aren't talking to the walls again, are you?"
Startled, Devin froze. The letter was still in his hands when Uncle Ben appeared in the doorway.
Ben's eyes landed on the blue envelope. For a moment, his expression shifted—a flash of profound sadness crossing his face. It was as if seeing that color, that familiar airmail paper, had triggered a memory he'd buried years ago.
"What's that?" Ben asked quietly.
Devin quickly shoved the letter under his pillow. "Nothing! Just... practicing reading. For a school presentation."
Uncle Ben leaned against the doorframe, his tie loosened, his eyes weary. "At midnight?" He paused, looking at where the letter had disappeared. That sad smile returned—hollow, distant. "Get some sleep, son."
After the door clicked shut, Devin remained staring at the wood. What kind of tired makes a grown man look at a teenager's love letters with such longing?
He pulled the letter back out, his fingers tracing the loops of Allison's handwriting as if he could feel the pulse of her heart through the ink. He didn't realize that across the street, in the mirrored townhouse, two new neighbors were still awake, watching the glow of his lamp and wondering what secrets the 'quiet boy' was hiding.