His First Love's Slow Poison
Once I recognized Vanessa's handwriting, I realized most of what filled those two boxes had come from her.
They saw each other every day, and yet they'd still chosen to write letters to each other.
A boy's shy, tentative overtures; a girl's answers laced with a hint of insecurity—it was all there, plain as day, between the lines.
Letters, postcards, scraps of paper, bookmarks, even candy wrappers—he'd kept every piece of her he could.
I flipped to the class photo on the first page of the yearbook and found her.