Chapter Thirty-One

Letters from Leon

Savannah excused herself and ran upstairs to her bedroom.

She closed her bedroom door behind her.

She could hear her heart pounding and her heavy breathing.

She was sweating and shaking compulsively.

An overwhelming sense of calmness washed over her when she read the name printed on the front of the folder.

Leonard M. Thompson.

She traced her fingers on his name and gave a teary smile.

She took a deep breath and opened the folder to the first page. It was a letter, from 5-year-old Leon.

In very messy yet adorable hand-writing, it said:

Dear Savna,

I want you to kno that incase of enithing I leave evrything I have to you.

thank you for being a good friend to me and making me so happy

Love from, lee

Savannah squeaked, she covered her mouth and began to sob. She flicked through the pages and found a similar letter from 6-year-old Leon, 7-year-old Leon, 8-year-old Leon, all the way to thirteen-year-old Leon.

Every year, he wrote her a letter saying that in case of anything, he leaves everything he owns to her and that he loved her for the friend she had been to him.

When she got to the letter from fourteen-year-old Leon she read:

Dear Savannah, this year has been a rocky one, no shit.

I did some things I didn't mean, you said some stuff you didn't mean.

I'm not going to lie it's been tough without you, but I have good ol' Mitch with me.

If anything is to happen to me, I leave everything to you.

(having a lawyer as a dad ain't easy my friend.)

Please look after Mitch for me, don't break his heart.

(He's kinda got the hots for you ;))

From your greatest friend ever – Lee

She laughed as tears streamed down her face, feeling nostalgic and tragically happy at the same time as she got flashbacks of Leon when they were in eighth grade.

She'd forgotten how arrogantly charming he used to be.

She read the rest of Leon's letters with tears on her eyes and a grin on her face.

She felt like Leon was sitting right beside her, she felt his weight as if he was leaning on her and his harm dangled over her shoulder.

She reached the final page, a letter from nineteen year-old Leon.

She was devastated that it was the last one.

She sniffled for a moment, taking the last few letters in then began to read the final one:

To my beautiful Savannah Mae Brown.

If you're reading this, you better be crying, I mean if I died, you better mourn me with the tears I deserve, (I'm just kidding, but you already knew that right? Right?!)

But jokes aside, I don't want you to feel alone, or abandoned, I haven't left you, I'm with you every day, keeping you away from harm and away from travelling down the path of poor fashion choices.

Savannah chuckled out loud. It was as if Leon was sitting across from her, telling her this.

She continued:

I meant everything I've ever told you, you are gifted, spend your life touching other people's lives like you touched mine.

I know you well enough to know that you're strong enough to carry on without me.

I know there will be hard days but I will be there with you every step of the way.

And you'll see me again, I'll visit, I promise, in your dreams, when you're in a class you don't like, heck, I'm leaning on you right now, (your hair looks good btw Sav.)

Look after Mitchell for me – the boy is so in love with you Sav – if I wasn't already dead, Mitch would've killed me for telling you that.

The boy's had his heart through a wringer, so if you're gonna go there;

1. You have my blessing and

2. Look after his heart like you looked after mine

I won't say goodbye, because I will see you again and that's a promise that I won't break, so, I'll say, see you later instead.

Be you, be proud, and make the most of every day of your life okay?

I love you Savannah Brown.

"I love you Leon."