[Fiction] A Letter of Farewell

[Ptesan-Wi]

Dear Rianna,

There’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just come out and say it. I can’t come back.

It’s nothing that you or your sister has done; you’ve both been wonderful, and I am thankful for the helping hand you gave me. I’ll find a way to pay you back, even if it means sending you venison for the next ten years.

The problem is me…or rather, me around people. Every day, I have to look into people’s minds, and every day, it sickens me just a bit more.

The ones at the office are only part of the equation, but they’re bad enough – they plot, they lie, they cheat, they find whole new ways of backstabbing each other and anyone in their way, and all I can really do is fight to keep my stomach down around them.

And then there’s the people on the street, the ones that I have to sort of spot-check if I see them too often, to make sure that they aren’t from Utopia. And they can be just as bad – and worse – than the ones at the office. I see the minds of rapists and murderers, Rianna, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about them, because if I tried, I’d be found out. And that sickens me more than those creeps we fired last week.

What it comes down to is I can’t be around people. And unless I want to be a complete shut-in, I can’t stay away from them in Denver.

I’m going to stay with Wakinyan. I’m good for him…and he’s good for me in a way I can’t quite explain. We both just don’t function around this screwed-up excuse for a civilization, and we’ll be both safer and happier on our own in the wilderness, where I can talk to him and the deer and the birds and a hundred other things that don’t try to find new and inventive ways to lie to one another.

I will miss you, but this is for the best.

Love,

Renee

[Iron Rose]

Renee,

I had a feeling this was coming. I could tell the night you left with him. Perhaps it is for the best that you do disappear. I'll give you the advice my father gave me many years ago. Do what your heart tells you to do, and in the end things will work out.

You talk as though we'll never see each other again, that's what distresses me most. You have become like a younger sister to me in the time you've been with us. I would hope that every now and then Liz and I could come for a visit. Don't be a stranger. I wish you well little sister, you'll always have a home with us. Stay safe, little sister.

Love,

Rianna