CHAPTER 7

Lillie

I walked to my door and waved Sassi goodbye as she drove off. I was glad to be home. The afternoon at the charity event was pretty good. And the previous night was all forgiven and forgotten. It was a good distraction after my confidence took a slight beating.

I won a raffle prize, which was a cookbook about Italian cuisine. I loved it since making food was one of my other pleasures in life, apart from the violin and teaching.

I had the rest of the Saturday to myself.

Her words echoed in my thoughts.

"Just give it a try... No harm will come from it."

I placed the cookbook with the envelope on the side desk near the front door. I dashed upstairs to my bedroom to dress in something comfier. I slipped out of my dress, replaced it with a shorts and baggy top, hung up my cardigan and kicked off my shoes.

I ran down the stairs, and walked to the living room to catch up on violin practice for the concert that Kenny was down on throats about. But my eyes quickly glanced at the desk where the envelope sat. Unfortunately, my curiosity got the better of me.

I approached the envelope with number 29901 on it and opened it up. I couldn't help but wonder the name I would write to. My fingers held a plain card with the man's name and surname, age and what he was incarcerated for, including his serving sentence. I thoroughly inspected the card.

Jeez, car theft. That's somewhat unsettling. I thought this was for criminals who did petty crimes. I reminded myself to bring that up with Sassi. I immediately wanted to discard the card and the envelope and reject this whole idea. But I looked at the man's name.

"Dimitri Hawke – Inmate no: 29901." I mumbled to myself. Hmmm, a strong name, I thought. His name strangely intrigued me. But I snapped out of it and shook it away.

"Age 28," I continued. Okay, he's at least still young and not some old man, I thought cautiously.

I pondered for a moment, contemplating should I go through with this. Trusting this wasn't a mistake, I came to a decision that I'll write this Dimitri a letter. I hated the idea of Sassi saying I was scared or something. I was determined to prove her wrong, and anyway, it was safe. I shouldn't overthink this. It's no big deal.

Before I lost my nerve. I sat at the desk, pulling a chair. My hand pulled out my notepad and a pink envelope. Suddenly realizing I only had pink envelopes. I froze. Gosh, I hope this guy won't think too much of it. Deciding against buying new ones. I took my pen to paper. I hovered above it, not quite sure what to write. How does one start off a letter for a pen pal, no less an inmate in prison? I tapped the pen to my lips lost in thought.

I started with a few sentences. But abandoned them as soon as I read it. It wasn't good enough and was not happy with any of them. After a few scrunched up papers in the bin, I was finally satisfied with my letter. It didn't come across as too formal and wasn't too over friendly, avoiding giving this guy any wrong ideas.

With a tight smile, I closed the written letter in the pink envelope and wrote the prisons address in front and my PO BOX address at the back. I ensured I didn't give my physical house address and a PO BOX address instead, where I'll happily collect the mail in my box, separate from my house. It felt weird writing this. I slightly bugged out.

Before my courage totally left me. I rushed to the door and briskly walked outside to the post box opposite my street near the gas station. Completely ignoring my bare feet. I popped the letter in and walked back home. After I closed my door. I leaned back and sighed, clasping my face in the palm of my hands.

"Oh dear! I hope I don't regret this decision."