Dear Illate:

How are you doing today? I’ve cleared my schedule, just in case you would like to continue editing your draft this weekend. We didn’t get too far yesterday, and I am willing to meet you again after four in the afternoon. If you are busy, then I understand, we can schedule a meeting at another time.

Sincerely, Itra Cardie

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While sitting on the couch, eating a bowl of fruits prepared by my sister, I received an email from Itra. I’d opened my laptop to continue revising my draft, when a notification blinked on my screen. Almost discarding the message, I caught sight of Itra’s name. Though I never knew her last name, she revealed it in the email. She also took time out of her day for me, again.

Leaning forward to set down the heavy bowl of fruits, I thought about how I should plan the day. Going back to that one park, like we did before, would have been good enough for me, but I didn’t know whether Itra would get tired of going to that park repeatedly. The only thing we could really do there was sit at that one picnic table, working on the story.

So, I mulled over the many different places we could have gone to, mainly focusing on places that had walls. Autumn began to reach its end, and the temperatures began to fall. Soon, we’d have to be wearing coats, if we wanted to go outside. Over the summer, I grew, and I didn’t know whether my old coat would still fit me.

Once I placed the bowl on the coffee table in front of me, I reclined into my couch, letting myself relax. I pulled my legs up and hugged them close to me, while I stared at the screen of my laptop. On it, the email from Itra still displayed, but the light dimmed due to my inactivity. To keep it from turning itself off, I tapped the mousepad.

“What are you working on there, Illate?” asked my sister Elliot, who just walked out from her room, “And do you still have some of those fruits? I’m feeling a little peckish right now.”

“I’m not working on anything,” I responded, “the fruit’s on the coffee table.”

In the midst of stretching, my sister made her way to the couch and dropped herself right next to me, causing me to jump a bit. She grabbed the bowl I had just set down, and began to eat the fruits, peering over my shoulder to look at my laptop. I found it odd that she was wearing a suit though, my sister rarely wore anything so formal.

“Hm, what’s this,” Elliot said, speaking to herself, as she grabbed my laptop from me.

“Hey!” I protested, but she ignored me and read the email I received from Itra.

“Oh? Is this the person that’s been on your mind all day?” Elliot teased, “Itra, huh? That doesn’t sound like a common name.”

“G-give back my computer!” I ordered, “I need to email her back!”

“So you’re going out somewhere with her, huh?” Elliot continued to hold my computer away from me, “Oh, I wish I could come with you.”

“W-well, if you want to come,” I stopped to ponder the idea, “I could ask Itra…”

“That wouldn’t work,” Elliot shot down my offer, “I have to go to a meeting today.”

Elliot halted her teasing, handing over my computer.

“If you like, I can give you a bit of allowance for your little date,” Elliot proposed, “you should be able to treat a lady.”

“I-it’s not a date,” I insisted, whilst taking the money Elliot offered. I can’t just say no to free money, after all.

“Heh, enjoy yourself,” my sister parted, taking one final piece of fruit, and leaving the bowl on the coffee table again, “I need to get to work.”

“Bye…” I said, after she picked up her briefcase and slipped on her shoes.

In response, Elliot gave a smile and waved, before leaving the apartment. Her footsteps continued to echo from the outside hall, but gradually disappeared from earshot.

Now, the apartment’s vacancy left me in silence. Except for, of course, the occasional noises from our neighbors. The people in the building were relatively quiet though, which I was thankful for. I’d heard stories of noisy neighbors, and they did not sound so great.

Finally, after a little while of brainstorming, I ended up deciding to meet Itra at the same park as last time. This way, we’d have a familiar area to use on studying, along with it being closer to Itra’s home. I had a bike, but I didn’t know whether she had any other transport to rely on. The temperature also remained on the high side today, which I checked online.

I wrote:

Itra:

Today has been going well, and even more so now that you’ve reached out to me. I’m always surprised by your generosity, and I didn’t expect you to email me at all. For your offer, I’m all for it, and I am all ready to go to the Taireah Public Park again. I hope I’m not imposing anything by taking up this offer…but I’m really excited.

From, Illate

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That left me biding my time at the park. Once I got a reply from Itra stating, “You’re not imposing anything, I’ll meet you there at four,” I immediately geared myself up and biked down to the meeting place.

Unlike the last time, I arrived first. Crazily enough, no one else could be found in the park. Did no one come here on the weekends? That would be sad for a public park to be empty at all times. No one seemed remotely interested in entering the path into the trees. Maybe the large sign at the entrance wasn’t enough to entrance the passersby?

Ridiculously, I only noticed the time after I entered the forested plaza. Itra told me that she would come by at around four in the afternoon, but I left as soon as the plans were made. The time read that I dropped myself off at two. Meaning, I would be stuck waiting there for two whole hours.

To wait for Itra, I decided that I would read through my own draft. We didn’t get through much yesterday, only deciding our course of action. My draft only acted as an overall outline to the story, and I would need to spend time working on each paragraph, which conveniently worked as the major parts of the story.

Itra also pointed out a lot of points I could improve on, but we decided that we could just work on it as an outline, rather than the actual story. So, I started my focus on the first paragraph. It read, “I never liked the Jainus Orphanage. We obeyed a strict lifestyle with only the bare necessities. Still, we had a family. A pseudo-family, is what Lilis Jainus called it. She acted as our older sister. I never believed it was a pseudo-family though. If anything, I felt as if it were the only real family I had.”

If Itra and I focused on correcting the paragraph, it would have become, “I never liked the Jainus Orphanage, where we obeyed a strict lifestyle with only the bare necessities. Still, we had a family. Lilis Jainus, our acting older sister, called it a pseudo-family, but I never considered it as much. If anything, it was the only family I had.”

Of course, the words worked a little more beautifully, but we didn’t need to worry about it. If I expanded the paragraphs into their own chapters, we would be working with completely different sentences. Spending our time working on the intricate details of the outline would needlessly take up our time.

Instead of slaving myself away at useless acts, I decided to attack the main points that the paragraph tried to cover. Of those points, I identified, “never liked the Jainus Orphanage,” “strict lifestyle with only the bare necessities,” “had a family,” “Lilis Jainus, our acting older sister,” and “the only family I had.”

Two of the points I found were focused on the orphanage itself, while the rest focused on the characters within it acting as a family. This meant that I could simplify the points even more. One point being, “harsh orphanage,” and the other being, “family.” I pored over these two points, trying to figure out what to do with them.

Barely noticing it, an hour passed, during my time working on the first paragraph. No progress had been made, and I still stuck myself pouring over the two points I identified. I had points, but I had no idea what authors were supposed to do with them. A part of me wanted to look up some help, but my laptop didn’t have any access to the internet far into the park.

So, rather than spending my time wishing to know what I should do, I continued to look for other important information in the first paragraph. Though, I couldn’t find anything that would help with the story, so I began thinking about what the first paragraph didn’t have. But, I couldn’t think of anything that it needed to have.

Hmm, Lilis Jainus is in there, but I didn’t exactly describe her, did I? Wait, did I even describe anything in this paragraph?

“If only Itra were here,” I found myself sighing, “she’d know what to do next.”

“What is it that I’d know?” sounded the familiar, flat, soft voice of Itra, “And, you know, I wasn’t expecting you to be here so early.”

“I-Itra!” I exclaimed, “You’re the one that’s early, you said you’d get here by four!”

“No, I meant that I’d be expecting you by four, I’m only thirty minutes early,” Itra replied, “I just needed the extra time to get ready for you.”

“Oh…” I mumbled, “Well, I came as soon as you agreed that you would come.”

“Wait, doesn’t that mean that you’ve been waiting for over an hour?” Itra asked, “That’s a really long time! What have you been doing while you were waiting?”

“Nothing much,” I responded, noting that thirty more minutes had passed since I checked the time, “just looking at the first paragraph of my story.”

“Really? Here, let me take a look at what you’ve been working on,” Itra offered, while taking a seat right next to me.

Being sensitive to Itra’s presence, I automatically scooted away from her, to give her space. As a response, she moved herself a little closer, so she could get a better view of my laptop. I put down all my notes onto a scrap piece of paper, so she made sure to look that over.

“Hm, so you’ve already gone and grabbed the main points of the paragraph,” Itra remarked, “have you written down your goal for this paragraph yet?”

“My goal?” I questioned, “What do you mean by that?”

“You know, what you’re trying to convey in your paragraph,” Itra responded, “did you not think of that for the one-and-a-half hours you’ve been sitting here?”

“Er…” I averted my gaze, “just what’s on the paper.”

“Hm,” Itra turned away from the computer to grab something from her bag, “then I guess this marks the beginning of our study session.”

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“It does? What will we be learning?” I asked her, tilting my head in the process.

“First, we’ll need to figure out what you want the first paragraph to do,” Itra answered, “then, we’ll focus on lengthening it into a more detailed section.”

“Okay, so,” I sat upright, “what exactly am I supposed to do?”

“I just said,” Itra explained, “you need to state what you wanted your first paragraph to do. Essentially, I want you to tell me the ‘author’s purpose.’”

“My purpose?” I questioned, “Well…I don’t really know.”

“So you just wrote it to write it?” Itra mused, “There has to be some reason, look at the two points you brought out from the paragraph, don’t they have something they’re trying to do?”

“Uh,” I looked at the two points I found before, “I just wanted to introduce those things, I guess?”

“That’s good enough for a purpose,” Itra took out a blank sheet of paper, where she began writing, “So your purpose here is to serve as an exposition, right?”

“What’s an exposition?” I asked, with a tight feeling in my gut. It really felt like something I should have known.

“It’s an introduction,” Itra replied without batting an eye, “where you ease the reader into the world that you’re writing about.”

“Oh,” I responded vacantly, “right.”

“You should write that down on your paper,” Itra advised, “so you can work with it when we start expanding.”

“O-of course,” I scrambled to note down the paragraph’s purpose, “what next?”

“Well, next, we need to bring up the details that you didn’t put in,” Itra brought up, “like, the members of the orphanage, what it looks like, and what the character’s appearances are.”

“That’s…well, I guess I did leave those out,” I lamented, “but, I don’t know how to describe it.”

“It’s okay,” Itra comforted in her flat tone, still writing things down on her piece of paper, “I’ll help you through it.”

“Y-you’re too nice,” I mumbled, fighting the urge to fidget with my hands, “thanks.”

“You are welcome to it,” Itra replied, “we’ll get more into descriptions once I’m finished with this study guide I’m making.”

“Got it,” I acknowledged, “and say…”

“Hm? Small talk?” Itra’s head slightly perked up, “What is it?”

“It’s just that, yesterday, you said something,” I recounted, “you were acting weird then, and you said that it was because of something troubling you, and,”

“Okay, we can stop there,” Itra halted our conversation, “let me just focus on this for now.”

Being stopped suddenly jarred me, and I could only reply with, “R-right, if, if that’s what you want, s-sorry.”

Itra didn’t bother to respond, only continued to work on her paper for me. I could see her drawing on it, but my mind began to focus on her refusal to talk about what troubled her. She acted so guarded to whatever bothered her, and my curiosity rapidly increased. Nothing seemed to get to her, but if something could disturb Itra so much, I just had to know what it was.

The money that Elliot gifted me came to mind, and I decided that I would try to get the answer to Itra’s discomfort. Itra’s troubles were mine too, that’s what I believe, as her friend. Perhaps eating somewhere with her could get her to open up. Harry told me about a superb cafe a while back, known as Hangman Cafe. Apparently, his savior Neuire brought him there once. If I could get Itra some good food and drinks, she might be able to open up to me.

“Okay, I’m done,” Itra announced, cutting off my train of thought, “it’s a list of advice for descriptions in your story.”

She slid the paper over to me. On it, she had columns of text surrounding a room with a bed in it. Along with that, I saw a dresser, window, and carpeted floor. A light hung on the ceiling, illuminating the room, and shadows were shaded in their respective locations, according to the light’s position.

The text boxes on the left were numbered, and those numbers showed up on the picture. Meanwhile, the text boxes on the right were unnumbered, leaving them with just simple advice that would apply to the entire picture, or other kinds of backgrounds. On the other side of the page, there were even more boxes, and a new picture. It had a drawing of a girl turned away, with a little glance forward, hands behind her back, and blushing. One of her cheeks expanded, her eyebrows were scrunched, and lips pressed together tightly.

“When you’re describing things,” Itra began, “you need to make sure to describe things, but only the things that are important, and that have an impression on the main character.”

“Okay, so…” I turned to my laptop, “to apply this information to my story…”

Itra leaned towards me to keep her eyes on my screen. Her breath grazed the skin of my hands, bringing a welcome warmth to them. A flowery fragrance also emanated from her, becoming apparent, only because of her proximity.

Was I practicing the tips Itra just gave me there? Maybe.

I scrolled down my document, and began rewriting the first paragraph to further enhance its details. The points I wanted to put in were the orphanage and the family inside it, but I swapped its order. Along with that, I decided to introduce the characters in a new way.

“Wait a minute,” I stopped myself, “maybe I could introduce the leaving of Leonas as the beginning scene.”

“If you like the idea, do it,” Itra advised, “I’ll check it once you’ve finished up with the first point.”

“No, I can do the second paragraph’s main point too,” I responded, “two paragraphs with one scene!”

Itra smiled, and kept herself quiet. Maybe she found my rambling to be amusing. Her silence kept her audible distractions at bay, save for her breathing and shuffling, so I used that to my advantage to keep focus.

I came up with: “Big sister Lilis! What are the big metal men doing?” I demanded an answer, “Why are they taking Leonas away?”

I stared up at Lilis’s red-brown eyes, as she watched the men clad in iron drag Leonas away. Her warm hands gripped onto my own with incredible strength that would have come in real handy for Leonas’s hunting trips.

A strange feeling gripped at my heart, as Lilis’s eyes dripped with tears. The warm droplets rained upon my hand, inspiring my eyes to do the same.

At the time, I couldn’t have understood that he had just been taken away to serve in the army. Now that I knew though, there was nothing I could do. News came in a year later, announcing the enemy side’s win.

Our run-down orphanage hadn’t seen the full force of the war, but the booming cannons near the city could be heard, even in the depths of the forest we resided in. Even our strict caretaker trembled when the ground shook.

We never heard from Leonas again, and Lilis’s bright smile only imitated the ones that our beloved brother gave her.

“We’re the only survivors of this pseudo-family now, Killean,” Lilis told me, “we need to make sure we survive.”

“How’s this?” I asked Itra, handing her the laptop, “Does this replace the first two paragraphs well?”

“It works,” Itra answered, “I think it’s good.”

I celebrated by pumping my fist and exclaiming, “yes!”

“Hold your horses,” Itra laughed at my overreaction, “we still have a long way to go.”

“We do,” I agreed, “but we also need to celebrate the little things!”

“Well, you have a point,” Itra mulled over my insistence to enjoy my glory, “taking in your accomplishments is important too.”

“That’s right,” I nodded, then I decided to propose the offer I came up with earlier, “you know, my sister gave me a bit of allowance today, how about we visit the Hangman Cafe?”

“Hangman Cafe?” Itra questioned, “That sounds like a gruesome name…”

“Oh, it’s based on the owner’s last name,” I assured, “and it serves really good food and drinks, Harry recommended it to me.”

“Harry? Is that a friend of yours?” Itra pondered, “I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned him to me.”

“Harry Ballman,” I elaborated, “he’s that one guy that almost got killed last year.”

“Hm, I think I heard a little bit about that,” Itra mumbled, “from that group of serial killers?”

“That’s correct,” I responded, “so, do you want to go?”

“Well…” Itra looked up, pondering the idea, “I guess there’s nothing wrong with me going.”

“Really? Then let’s go,” I grabbed my laptop and began packing up, “I’ve already memorized the route there, it’s not too far from the park.”

As I slipped my laptop and papers into my bag, I caught a glimpse of Itra’s shining smile in the corner of my eye. Her smile brought some kind of tight feeling in my chest. Its rarity gave it a unique value, and I made sure to memorize it.

“I’m all ready to go,” Itra announced, with her bag on her shoulders, “Lead the way, Illate.”

A few moments later…

“Are you telling me that you ride your bike without a helmet? That’s not safe!” Itra scolded me, “Stay off it, you’re walking it, you got that? You better not pull off a stunt like that again.”

“I-I’m sorry,” I apologized, “I’ll walk it…”

Itra puffed one cheek, “Humph! What an irresponsible boy you are.”

“D-did you just say,” I tried to point out her odd choice of words, but she stopped me.

“Hush, just walk,” Itra instructed, still puffing her cheek. My bad choice must have made her angrier than I expected.

I made note of Itra’s lack of transportation, as I walked my bike alongside her to the cafe.

We arrived at our destination at five. The trip to the cafe took ten minutes, but we spent the entire time in silence. I wanted desperately to try and speak, but I could only stare at Itra. No topics came to mind, only anxiety. Why would I get shy now? We had known each other for a while at this point.

Maybe what Elliot said about having a…crush had something to do with it?

No, no, that couldn’t possibly be it! There had to be another reason for it, like the fact that she’s keeping something secret from me. Yeah, that must be it, that’s why I’m scared to speak up. Agh, Elliot’s messing with my mind, even while she’s at work!

“Hey, Illate,” Itra reached over and pulled at my arm, “isn’t that our destination?”

“Huh?” I shot my line of sight up, “Oh, that’s it, yeah.”

A heat grew in my cheeks, as I noticed that we nearly walked far from the cafe. I quickly corrected my path, and Itra followed along, peering at my face. The heat I felt only increased, so much that it must have been visible. Knowing that, my face only grew hotter…making the cycle repeat itself. How embarrassing, I’m thankful that Itra didn’t comment on it.

“Welcome!” announced a voice, as I stepped in with Itra in tow, “Can I take your orders, you two?”

“I’ll take a hot chocolate with your signature Ham-Man Sandwich!” I responded “What would you like, Itra?”

“Hmm,” Itra took a long look at the menu, before turning to me and shyly going, “I’ll just have what you’re having.”

“Alright, that will be ten dollars and fifty-four cents,” the man at the counter responded, “I’ll bring your hot chocolate in a bit.”

I stepped up and paid him fifteen dollars, and allowed him to keep the change, before stepping back to stand side-by-side with Itra. Her business-like aura didn’t show here, instead, she had a warm atmosphere around her. The dark-brown hair on her head curled a little, betraying their original straight positions. She also had a less serious look in her eyes, like the muscles in them relaxed. Maybe the coffee smell that lingered in the cafe helped soothe her.

Itra then turned to me, with a question, “I don’t have any money right now, but should I pay you back tomorrow?”

“Huh? No need,” I replied, “my sister told me to treat you.”

“Your sister told you to treat me?” a corner of Itra’s lips twitched upwards, “Is- is there a reason for that?”

“Um,” I averted my gaze, “she might have, uh, had the wrong idea about our relationship.”

“Ahahaha!” Itra laughed, “Is that so? Ahaha! That’s funny.”

My mouth nearly fell agape. Itra laughed. She said that she found Elliot’s misunderstanding funny. Her entire line there was an uncommon occurrence. I never knew that she would ever laugh and call something funny.

I didn’t know how to react, and luckily, I didn’t have to, for the man at the counter announced, “two Ham-Man sandwiches and two hot chocolates are ready! Come and pick them up!”

“O-oh, let’s go get our food,” I suggested, “I’ll get the drinks.”

“Then that leaves me with the sandwiches,” Itra concluded, “alright.”

We took our food from the counter and made our way to a table for two. Like usual, we sat across from each other. Itra let out a sigh, as she sat, and she began opening the wrapped sandwich, causing the paper to crinkle heavily. I did the same, unwrapping it, leaving just a bit there for me to hold onto.

I watched Itra, as she bit into her food. Then, I noticed that she leaned a little to the wall when she ate. Hm, so she tilts when she eats? It looked a little weird to do, but maybe it was normal. Her body nearly touched the wall, and her head turned to keep her eyes level with mine.

Once she took a bite of her food, she reached for her hot chocolate. She took a big gulp, and that’s when I decided to throw in the question that’s been burning in my mind.

“Itra, what’s been troubling you?” I asked, “I’ve been wondering for a while, and you’ve continuously avoided the question.”

Immediately, Itra placed her cup down, saying, “Could you stop there, please?”

“Why? I want to help you,” I persisted, “I’m your friend, your troubles are my troubles too, so, you can tell me, okay?”

“Stop,” Itra repeated, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Her brows came down, into a scowl, an expression I hadn’t seen on Itra’s face before.

“I-I just want to know,” I said once more, “if there’s something that’s troubling you, then,”

Itra closed her eyes. She didn’t want to listen anymore, that much I could tell. Instead of staying there and hearing my pleas, she simply stood up and started walking away, towards the door.

“I-Itra?” I called after her, “Where, where are you going?”

“I said I didn’t want to talk about it,” Itra replied, stopping in her tracks, but not turning around, “thanks for today.”

Without another word, she left the cafe. A look of pity lingered on me for the rest of my time there, as I finished up my food. I felt as though a chain of guilt wrapped around my heart, holding me in place.

“Maybe I came off a little too strong there,” I muttered to myself, before leaving to go home.