Sisters of the Fields

 * Lillian *

Lillian looked at the faces beside hers in the picture. They were all beautiful. Lillian's lips spread into a still small smile. Searching the faces of Nichelle and Rachel, Lillian could see the best within herself. The person that was brought out of her within their company was kind, lovely, sweet, funny and so much more. And somewhere between where the blue sky met lush grass, Lillian truly found herself. They had spent that summer going on grand adventures. Venturing through unknown property which usually involved trespassing and spending late nights on a trampoline beneath the stars, Lillian never thought those days would end. To sum their summer up it was more than just the sweet taste of a mango snow cone. It was endless green fields, music you could dance to, and the smell of campfire clinging to every article of clothing. It was the summer a sisterhood was born.
Lillian's smile wavered just a bit. It seemed only a summer ago when they were this close. Now nearly three years later she had never felt so lost and lonely. Currently on summer break after attending her second year of college Lillian had buried herself into a rigorous study habit. Since school was over Lillian couldn't find too much to do. She had a book at her feet, a hard backed version of Pride and Prejudice. The cover was that of older times, but the pages remained untouched.

Lillian sighed in defeat. She looked over her room, clothing scattered all about the floor. So much to clean up but she lacked the ambition to do so. So she just stared at everything...her bookshelves, the paintings on her walls, her long forgotten craft projects. Her room was just so busy with everything she loved. Although it felt full Lillian felt empty. She felt like her discarded craft projects. Dusty and forgotten. Lillian's dresser was filled with random odds and ends, she never could keep it quite organized. There she saw it. The letter. Sloppily written on the white envelope was her address. The hand had written it in permanent marker the smear at the end showed that it was hastily written.

Elder Mitchell James. Lillian swallowed the lump in her throat. Anxiously she shut the open door to her room, she reached over to her aqua desk, snatching a pen. She pulled out an old competition notebook filled with doodles opening up to the first blank page.

Dear Mitch, she began. Crossing out the letters she she tore out the pages balled them up and flung them at the garbage can. The TINK of a miss sounded in her ears. She started again. Dear Elder James...she stared at her long skinny letters. Her heart thudded again. As she began to write about all that had happened, a letter 4 months late, lost in the mail troubled her as she penned the very end of her letter.

Love,

Lillian Dupree

She stared at the word love. She had taken too much care to write it. She hoped he wouldn't be able to tell. They didn't have that kind of relationship before, maybe he'd just assume that that's just how she signed her letters. She swallowed hard as she licked the envelope, sealing it closed. Placing a stamp neatly on the corner, thumbing it down, Lillian prayed that it'd get to him in time.

Palms sweating she raced out to her mailbox. She looked down the street to his home, his mother wasn't home. She shoved the letter into the mailbox closing the door to the box roughly. With a flick of her finger she lifted the little red flag. Panicking a bit, she hoped the mail woman or man wouldn't judge her. What if Mitch's mom could see the flag from her house? Surely they'd know it was her. Lillian began the walk back to her home. Her blue rock sided home brought comfort to Lillian's beating heart. A breeze ruffled her hair a bit and like the first dandelion of the spring, Lillian felt joy popping up in her stomach. Behind closed eyelids she saw bursts of yellow.

To be continued...