feeling...

Peaceful right?

feeling... sharp. dangerous. full of attitude. which, I guess, is just what a girl about to go to college ought to feel like. When you, future Anna, get this, it'll be ten years from now, and the passport that you got today will have expired. How was going to school in another country? Was it far enough away from your parents? What prompted past-you to write this (besides the fact that the trusty sketchbook/journal has gone missing) is the fact that, among all of the suitcases you were looking for in the attic today, you also found a hefty dose of family history. History from 1840. A picture of the family goat. Hand drawn sketches of the cottage. Letters back and forth between two feuding families. One family claims its daughter was starved to death whilst visiting the other. The other family is outraged because of a false arrest upon an unfounded accusation of THEIR daughter being a member of a house of prostitution. All insults and accusations in flowery, minute, faint 1840's penmanship, of course. I don't even know what the point of this email is. I just think it's weird that on the eve of your departure to distance yourself from your family, just when you're feeling incredibly independent, the attic delivers. Now, past-you wants to stay connected, be Bess's great great great great granddaughter, add her own tale to the many family stories. Past-you wants to stay in the attic forever, reading the family history. But I guess that's why college is good. So you can get the hell out of that attic and this house and make your own history. Go on.

Epilogue

3 days later

Ten years ago, I was a senior in high school aching to go to college as far away from home as possible. I wanted to see other countries and make...

My onw siotrse. Efuholp i i,t eveal tlfe heom thta ubt sa diet dlepann etlnmunamo nryvgeteih aws ko ot ot i adn fetl eenv —. Rfbeeo ym no up em ueruft like sinwg asw nipgeno gnmitoshe. .
.
Leocs cyrza aayw eipwd ag,ian meesosimt nac vslei woh ?awht eb nca tbu st’i uuerft the our down oyu dna nowk. Mnshto how etlrte osesln isht bfereo esray ubt nwiettr sah lvied teh okwns le,lw net yeaonn gao uabot thta ewll hrutgoh i 2020 rafte xis lnedaer asw hta,t ptyter. Ccnrae errbtoh i saw asginddoe my thwi nda —.
.
Stalom tat’hs ,ysa erhte gnueoh ot ritgh. Never homce few rfeat enr,eeiexpc eolglec got eplh i a hwti hniifsed ainktg with i teh ihm edn htgouh fof aelletnyuv ayrse even piycatl hte be to in nda neht. Cleogle, i in eb ro ot go rnhtoae ttah fles yaaogneer-t- ngidttnae tldo tnocuyr, id’ sadvtedate eb ehlwi olgelce fi nvee ogt or ym i iseemorm, evrne ot yapph cytilpa amke clegoel. Robthre fo tath osls hmpurasoo tub olleogehecp- nghtoni fo ym si i teh esmo het nowk to onw sols dmocraep.
.
Elef ta myplletceo raye iemmstseo i dlo okol 81 elsf ofmr hre i psenor kile kbac ftrdnfiee my a nad. Uesdito eseeomhrw etnh plrlalae i btu reh fo itme in iganmie a iixgsnte i,sevreun. L,dorw sratt in eethr file waay nrgwtii stih gte touab dan ehr to nad elttre nitgawn gsntiti htat ehs’s. Csium obaut om,ro ltngiak for otin hte nda nda nad tjsu tiisntg rtoegeht gahinlug rat, ’sshe nda ethn dna adn swkal nowd nad fnesidr her hte’rye ngiog obrrs’het adn cosokei onw ngmaik ingerwnda orlfo no. Dya tnwa ot nylo ekil wtah yeth eiosrmem hvea gothteer noe eth dinecal eht net touba lkntaig rhgti etim ti of lief tmeh one athn wlli ety’reh hwo algtink adn ni be to nad mero wo,n that armesd riiznalge no ees goen og esya,r iwll to lohd taht eonn remsatt eth ot erhto heotrnrn oklo to inegdnps gthsi,l one otn of day liwl otaub. My esbt saw eh redfin.

This user has written an update to this letter.To see what they wrote, please

Press ← and → on your keyboard to move between letters

Write new comment

Load more comments