Laila Kennedy
August 08, 2016 3:49 PM
An owl for Wu Peizhi by Laila Kennedy
Dear Wu,No, that wasn’t quite right. Laila crossed it out and started again.
Dear Peizhi,
Again, Laila crossed out the opening line to the letter only this time she made a few extra strikes for good measure. Nothing seemed appropriate. Wu was what her friend seemed to prefer, and culturally speaking Laila supposed that’s who she ought to address the letter to. But from Laila’s point of view it seemed too formal for someone who she cared about that deeply. However she didn’t want to offend her quiet friend who had taken to avoiding the lot of them recently. Jax didn’t seem to want to talk about it, and though logically the distance pointed to an altercation between the older boy and the Teppenpaw, Laila still worried she might have done something to upset her. Her base instincts told her to let Wu be, but her mother had always said that an apology note was in order after one party gravely offended the other and so that was why Laila was sitting at her desk on her third sheet of paper, trying to figure out what to say.
Finally, she made up her mind. The rest of the letter flowed rather naturally until it filled four sheets, but she crossed most of it out and rewrote it to something much simpler that was more to the point and less likely to cause a heart attack or an aneurysm when read by the more reserved girl. Satisfied with what was left, she copied it all on a nicer piece of paper—a pretty blue and gold stationary that her mother had given her for Christmas that year, and set off to the owlery. She had considered giving the letter to Tobi at dinner and have her friend hand deliver the letter, but she had rethought things in case Wu didn’t want their personal grievances aired to the public—surely involving more people would be cause for some sort of strife because even though Laila didn’t know what it was, something was definitely wrong.
The final draft of the letter as it sat on Wu Peizhi’s desk that afternoon after having been delivered to the Teppenpaw Third Year Girl’s Dorm was as followed:
Dear Friend,
I didn’t know how to bring this up with you and I don’t want to offend, but I really miss you and if I’ve done something to upset you I’d rather know than not know so that I can apologise.
Lots of love,
Laila
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Laila Kennedy
An owl for Wu Peizhi
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Wu Peizhi
August 09, 2016 4:50 PM
An owl back by Wu Peizhi
She wanted to start the reply that way since Laila had addressed her as such in the first letter, but Wu was still afraid of the word, tentative, and didn’t feel like she deserved to use it now, even if she wanted to. She scrapped the paper; goodbye, first draft.
Wu sighed, grateful to have the room alone for the time being. She liked Abby, but if she had to be a failure, she would have rathered be a failure in solitude. These things were so hard; she didn’t know why she was so underprepared for all these things Sonora had thrown at her. Her parents thought she was ready for American school because she spoke English well, but there were so many more nuances she had yet to master. Being a good human being seemed to be one of them.
Laila,
You have treated me with nothing but kindness. You are not the problem. I am. But I am working on it. Very hard. I just need time.
She paused, her mind fluttering back to her recent talk with Abby, the words she had said in passing that still reverberated in Peizhi’s mind.
Trust me.
Wu Peizhi.
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Wu Peizhi
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Laila
August 11, 2016 12:43 AM
A ...... back by Laila
When she returned from dinner, there was a letter sitting on Laila's desk. Her heart beating really fast, she knew it could only be from one person. But she was frightened to open it, imagining all the terrible things that she had done to cause Wu to stop speaking to her. In the end, she opened her Transfiguration book and attempted to study before finally caving in.After reading it, Laila sat on her bed, still and quiet. She didn't really know how to respond--she didn't even know if it was the sort of note that one did respond to. She didn't want to leave it unattended too in case Wu expected a response, but there really wasn't that much Laila could say.
That last line was especially ominous... "Trust me." What did that mean? Laila frowned, her fingers wrinkling the paper slightly. Biting her lip, she leaned forward over her knees and examined the letter from Wu. It was in those quiet moments of reflection and conferring with God that Laila knew what to do. Picking up a stub of pencil, she pulled the lead out of it so that it would be easier to transfigure and then she transfigured the old writing utensil into a little wooden heart. Then, she took an old ballpoint pen and into the surface of the heart, she scratched only three words.
I trust you.
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Laila
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