Dear Alyx
My hands shake, making it hard to Read. I miss her so much. I miss her lessons and her little jokes. I don’t miss her nagging. I was going to have to go to School. She was just trying to make it easier for me. I don’t know how I’m going to make it to the Test, that lets you into School. Would I even remember how to Read and write? I have to.
I have written this, knowing you will be the only one to Read it (we both know your brother or mother won’t suddenly Read it.) You have been my star pupil and well, my only pupil. I want you to think that going to the School is a good thing. You have so much potential and well, the government would kill me if they thought I wasted my time.
Please, as my dying wish take my money, every last coin. I have no other heir, I never required one till now. Think of School as your way to pay me back. (I know you too well, now you have no excuse to refuse my money.)
Alyx, thank you
Kassandra
I look at the scribbled signurter. It almost looks rushed. I wonder when she wrote this. There is no date, but it seems recent, based on the way she talks about me and my family, and how she knows I haven’t decided to go to School yet. I'm happy someone will talk about my family like the mess we are. It also makes me sad. I had been hoping for some tips at School or some comforting words. I’m always surprised when I think that the Gods went out of their way to bless me to Read and direct a scout to our little town. Almost everyone knows about the nuclear test, whether you can Read it or not. Our ancestors made the whole planet a toxic waste zone, with their need for nuclear weapons, gas for cars, and fossil fuels. The death that followed for years, and the desies. Only a few people made it out. Only a few have descendants on this already over-populated planet.
Normally, people like me, Read’s, become scouts or professors. Sometimes they become really rich and don’t need to work. Technically, the King and Queen are supposed to choose a cadet to become the next heir, but no one has been chosen in 50 years. I don’t think anyone will be chosen soon.
I didn’t want any of those. I don't want to travel or teach. I don’t want to just sit, and I definitely couldn’t rule Bliahath. Instead, I wanted to be a gardener. It always relaxed me, when I was little and my parents would fight, when Kassandra came, when Landon asked me out. When there was a chance the Disease was back and we had to quarantine for months, no contact outside of our families.
I wonder, in another life, would I be a gardener? If there wasn’t the disease, or if I couldn’t Read. Or would I be a house lady, like so many others? I shiver at the thought and hide the letter in a book under 169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73sFkWfcTn
