Summer Letters to Sally

Letter Eight

Hello Sally,

The gladioluses were as beautiful as your spirit and they gave me the strength I needed to get through this week, thank you.

Thea is home.

She arrived in a carriage from our grandparents' first thing Sunday morning; surprising my parents as much as me. My grandparents said Thea said she needed to come home because "something is wrong with Theo and he needs his sister" mama and papa swear they didn't tell her anything about what happened as I asked (yes I asked them not to because I didn't want to ruin Thea's holiday).

When I asked Thea why she came she said at night time she couldn't sleep and during the daytime, she was unbelievably sad and filled with fear. She told me she was fine then feelings of sadness just took her over suddenly and she hadn't seen a dead puppy or anything to make her sad or fearful so she knew that there must have been something wrong with me. She said she had expected the feeling to leave soon but when it kept getting worse she knew she had to come home.

Thea and I have never been extremely close, we're the same but at the same time we're completely different; all that aside we're always there for each other no matter what.

My grandparents stayed for dinner that evening and surprisingly the conversations were not focused on a single twin but they spoke of both Thea and I equally and not once did they mention the Scarlett Plantation House.

As soon as dinner was over Thea dragged me outside, I had written to her once telling her about Amanda, Joseph, and Liam and she has been dying to meet them since; I remember I asked her how she knew she'd like them and she simply said: "if they're good enough for my brother then they're good enough for me".

Summer school ended last weekend and so that Sunday we spent most of the night by the river. We laid flat on our backs in the green grass, our feet in the ice-cold ever-flowing stream; eyes fixated on the orbs thinking above us.

The wind was gentle that night, moving the trees in a slow dance; the moon, full and in all her glory was the brightest I've seen in weeks. The nocturnal birds sang a beautiful song to the winds' tune. The nightlife was awake and lively, filling us with tranquillity.

Thea forced us -gently- to speak about what we saw at the Scarlett Plantation House, she said she didn't want us to suffer alone, she said she wanted to help us to feel better. Amanda was the first to speak and I was the last; surprisingly it felt good to let it all out. I was afraid at first but the more I spoke the better it felt to finally get it all out.

We laughed that night, genuine laughs that lasted longer than a couple of milliseconds.

Thea in her chaotic nature brought us peace.

She forced me to eat all week, not in any way one would consider gentle. She screamed at the top of her lungs that she didn't want a dead twin so I need to eat, she slapped me too (I have realised that a lot of women are violent I don't think I will ever understand why) but in about two or three days she screamed my appetite back into place.

She has been everywhere we have been this week; she treats us like a mother hen would her chicks. She makes it the point of her duty to wake up before me and ask our mother to make lunch for all of us, she makes sure we eat lunch as soon as the sun is directly overhead no matter where we are and she makes sure that we're okay. Whenever someone mentions the Scarlett Plantation House she steers the conversation in another direction (a skill every Lancashire picks up after spending time in the house of our aunt Helen and uncle Eddie).

When we get home for the night she hugs me in bed to offer me a sense of security and just yesterday she organised a sleepover and took turns hugging Amanda, Joseph, Liam, and me in bed trying to make us fall asleep.

The night before last night Thea and I were talking and I told her Amanda and I are to get married and instead of asking me if I know what marriage is she asked me if I already had a ring. I told her I didn't, the truth is I didn't even know I needed to have a ring, I thought I could just give Mandy some flowers and that would be it.

But Thea said mom wears a ring so that means I have to give her a ring. None of us know what weddings are or what marriage is but Thea and I spent an hour making a flower ring with beads; we made a daisy ring hoping that it can fit Hazel's finger.

Theodora really lived up to her name this week; she has been a true gift of God.

Your gladioluses gave me the strength I needed to get through this week and your spirit stopped by to see how I was doing from time to time. Don't think I'm weird but I felt your presence and I loved that you were there for me even if it was just in my head.

And it turns out you were right and I should've trusted you, everything really does get better with time.

I'm really excited to see how you spend your last week of summer; don't take too long to write me back,

Love,

Theodore.

*****************************
a/n: Stan Thea the clear skin queen.

The way Thea felt Theo's pain is so cute🥺 I don't know if that's how it is for twins in real life but I remember when Pietro died in Age of Ultron Wanda felt it so I just worked with that and besides even if it's not like that in real life all is fair in love, war and fiction.

Anyways thanks for reading, hope you guys are having an amazing day❤️