Letter 9

Poppy,

I finished the last letter a matter of hours ago, but now my heart has stopped pounding, and my adrenaline has dropped, I can't stop crying.

Of course you were the first and only person I wanted to tell about what happened with the wraith. But I can't. Because you're not here anymore.

It hits me in waves you know. Sometimes it's nice to pretend you're alive and to write to you as if you were. But knowing I'll never be able to talk to you again and never be able to make it right, it eats away at me.

I don't know if you know everything that happened, or if you know why you're dead. I hope you don't. I hope you're at peace in the next world.

It was Marcus. He used his earth power to open a fissure in the earth, right under Greenhouse 1, and it spread all the way through the accommodation and office quarters. When I last heard, the tear in the earth was a couple of kilometres long.

I didn't know anything about it, but I heard it. The sound of the earth tearing was unmissable, and then the Greenhouse was coming down. All of our hard work, gone in an instant. By the time we climbed out of the rubble, Marcus was gone. And so were you.

I found out that you were in the basement, labelling and categorising this year's seeds in the methodical way you always did. The fissure tore right through there, and now you're not here.

I miss you Poppy.

We all gathered in Greenhouse 3 to try and figure out what happened. Covered in rubble, dust and earth. I looked everywhere for you but you weren't there. And then I got the news. I felt like the world ended. I almost jumped into the fissure right behind you. The thought of you down there alone was too much.

People all around me were planning the clean up and what to do next. I was the project leader for Arcane's sake, and I was lost in my grief. That's when I heard someone say that we were lucky there was only one death. I lost it. I lost it completely. How could anyone think that was lucky?

Before I knew what was happening, before I had a chance to breathe, let alone speak, flames poured from my body, spreading in every direction. My power was out of control.

I didn't hear the screams as everyone left the Greenhouse, but I saw their open mouths and wide eyes. I saw the fear. I saw the shock. I still can't believe that no one was hurt. I can't say the same for the plants. Every plant we had nurtured together in Greenhouse 3, Poppy I burnt them all. There was nothing left.

As if what Marcus had done hadn't been bad enough, I took out a second Greenhouse by myself.

I don't remember what happened next. I remember the blissful cold feeling of the iron chains and being led away. I remember the darkness. I remember the nightmares. I remember standing in the courtroom and not believing what I was hearing when the Grand Justice sentenced me to this position at the Library. I don't understand why he saved me from the dungeon, but he said something about the Arcane Guild making me choose only two elemental powers to train, and the devastation untrained fire powers can lead to.

So here I am. Somehow with my life, and my freedom, while you're dead. And the Greenhouse Initiative is dead.

I still don't know why Marcus did it. He vanished shortly after, and so did his belongings. Remember that purple book with the strange symbol, the one he carried everywhere? Well that's gone too. It's like he never existed.

But I owe it to you Poppy, to try and find out what happened to him, and why he did it. Nothing makes sense now you're gone.

That's why everyone hates me. That's why I hate myself.

I'm so, so sorry Poppy.

Your undeserving friend

Willow