the butterflies have broken wings

Dear Annie,

It's probably weird writing a letter to myself, right? But who else am I supposed to talk to?

Anyways,

Last night Jack and dad got into a fight... again. Are we surprised? No.

They've had the same issues for years now. I know dad went through a lot but we all did—which he doesn't seem to

always understand.

As for me—I've been having a lot of bad days lately.

The nightmares are back which Jack doesn't know and I can't tell him otherwise he'll start to worry again. I know he's just worried about me. He cares, but I don't want to burden him. I've already done enough.

It just feels like—like the forest is dark again, the trees have dead leaves and the butterflies have broken wings.

I'm okay though.

- Annie

Leo read the last two lines over and over again.

He wondered and wondered what it was that hurt Annie and why she was so broken.

He felt terrible, almost disgusted at himself as he held the thin piece of paper in his hands. Guilt poisoned his veins as he read her written thoughts—that she had no idea he could see.

He saw the piece of paper on the ground in the library yesterday and picked it up, figuring it was someone's class notes he could chuck out in the garbage. When he read it, he realized it was more.

Leo didn't usually care about things like this but for some reason, he couldn't stop reading it nor could he stop thinking about how worried Annie looked when he spoke to her after school yesterday.

He sighed, shoving the piece of paper in his pockets and heading out to his car to get to school.

Annie sat in the front of class in her homeroom which also happened to be Leo's homeroom. He sat in the back with his buddies.

He had noticed her a few times, just silently walking down the halls or writing in class but never paid any attention to her until now.

Now, he couldn't stop glancing at her, wondering what she was writing. He assumed it was another letter.

"Man, are you okay?" His friend Justin nudged his arm. "What's with you? Why are you so zoned out today?"

Leo looked at him and chuckled, forcefully. "Nothing, just tired. Rough night, didn't sleep much." he excused it, not wanting his friends to have the slightest clue about the situation with Annie and her letters because he knew they would make a joke out of it.

After class, Leo walked down the hall with his friends and paid attention to Annie who headed to her locker and shoved a folded paper in before walking to her next class.

Leo made the random decision to stick around until the bell rang and the halls cleared so he could get to her locker. He didn't know what pushed him to do it and he knew it was wrong and part of him felt guilty but he couldn't stop himself.

After cracking the combo which was easy for him, he opened it and quickly saw the folded paper she had left in there.

He glanced around the halls for a moment before quickly swapping out the notes, placing the on from yesterday in and taking the new one.

He didn't know why he did it. He couldn't help himself.

He quickly scrambled away before anyone could see it and headed out to the bleachers where he lit himself a cigarette before opening the new note.

Dear Annie,

Something weird happened yesterday.

Leo Smith talked to me... sort of.

It was very odd to say the least. A guy like him doesn't associate with people like me.

I'm trying not to think about it but I'm worried I may have done something wrong that I'm unaware of—or maybe there's a rumour going around about me that I don't know about.

Not that I'm someone anyone would have anything to say about to begin with.

I'm too irrelevant for people to even say bad things about me.

Unless they're making fun of how pathetic I am which could be likely.

Anyways, I'm thinking too much and Amari and Jay say Leo was probably just messing with me since he does flirt with every girl in the school.

Aside from that, uncle Kalvin is coming for dinner this Friday. That has got to be interesting though I may vomit at the thought of seeing him.

I am tired of fighting what happened.

For once, I think I'd like to be fought for.

Anyways, I'm okay.

- Annie

Leo read the note about four times before throwing out his cigarette and sighing in confusion.

He realized speaking to her only worried her, making her think she did something wrong which he felt bad about because it was nothing like that.

He didn't like that Annie thought he was a player though it was true but he didn't want her to have that image of him in her mind. It was confusing to him because he had no reason to care about her opinion of him since she was nobody so why did it matter?

He also couldn't help but wonder what the deal with her family was. The last note mentioned issues with her dad and brother and now her uncle, who it was evident she had problems with for some reason.

Leo sighed, shoved the paper in his pocket and headed inside, figuring he should get to class late rather than not at all.