Gabriella
Weeks pass by after I come back from the North.
The letter in my hand crinkles as I reread it again, Elijah's loopy handwriting as comforting as a blanket wrapped tight around my body on a cold night.
Since getting back, I've been secretly sneaking into town to send him letters and check the PO Box that I opened up with some of the money Raya stashed for me when she'd come to visit a few days after we'd gotten back.
"So you can write to your mate back in the North," she'd said with a twinkle in her eye.
I still haven't told her who I'm writing to specifically, but sending a letter to him was a genius idea that I'll never be able to thank her enough for.
Getting up to head over to my desk to write him a new one, my body stiffens and a shot of pain shoots up through my hip to
