GREETINGS FROM W

Fourteen

“Dear Shadow, 

I don't know what I would do without you. I know I'm older than you, but you're the mature brother and the one who always took care of me. I wish I could have given you more, but I was scared not to be a good guardian after our parents' death. 

I still remember that night in the car. I saw the orange light, and I told dad not to drive yet. But he didn't listen.  

Do you remember the time we used to argue about yellow while you were designing your first web page? I tried to convince you plenty of time that it's a nice colour, but you always thought it looked disgusting and that it made the page smell like lemon for some reason. Well, I just wanted to tell you that you're probably right. Yellow doesn't suit your pages.

Blue is your colour, though. You've loved it since elementary school, and you asked mum and dad to buy you everything in blue. 

Keep wearing blue, Shadow. That's who you are.

Greetings from W.”

“What the hell does this even mean?” Jay frowned as he read the letter again and again. “Do you get it, Shadow?”

Shadow shook his head slowly as he took a deep breath. “Wolfe never mentioned the orange light before,” he mumbled quietly,

“He always said he didn't remember much about the accident.” 

“He mentioned three colours,” I said, highlighting the words orange, yellow, and blue.

“I don't believe it's only a coincidence. It has to mean something.”

“Well, I do remember that we used to argue about yellow,” Shadow rubbed his chin, “I got my first job as a web designer, and I wasn't sure how to start, or which colour to choose as the client didn't specify what she wanted,” he looked at me with a confused face.

“But I don't get why he's talking about this in a latter... his last letter,” he furrowed a brow and shook his head, “I was expecting more, you know. Like at least a take care of yourself, or I'm sorry, or I love you,” he finished with a shaky voice as he took deep breaths to stop his tears from falling.

I looked at him, and I sighed as I felt sad for him, and I didn't know how to comfort him. Shadow was right. Wolfe should have written more profound words to his brother.

He has been his guardian since their parents died nine years ago— Wolfe was eighteen and Shadow was seventeen.

Although it took Shadow only one year to become a legal adult, Wolfe always considered himself a parent to him, and he monitored his every action to make sure he doesn't get hurt in the process. 

Wolfe's words on Shadow's letter were stranger and more enigmatic that the ones he wrote to me. He skipped all the brotherhood feelings and the goodbyes, and he chose to speak about colours. Why would a man, who knew was going to die soon, write about orange, yellow, and blue? 

“Let's not forget colours have a meaning,” Kaela said, “That's something they taught us at fashion school. We never chose colours only because they looked good, but because they expressed something.”

“Exactly,” Tyler nodded as he looked at Shadow, “That's one of the things I learned at the film academy. Even us, directors, have to be careful which colours we use in the image to deliver a message to the viewers.”

“And what do these colours mean?” I asked, pointing at the three highlighted words. 

Tyler shrugged, “They might mean a lot of things, Skylar. Each colour has more than five meanings, or maybe even more than then. And it depends on which symbolism we are looking for; in psychology, or business, or religion, or more,” he looked at me and pressed his lips, “It depends,”

I nodded and stayed silent for a moment. No one said anything, and we were all lost in our thoughts. 

The silence lasted long, and I couldn't bear it anymore, so I unlocked my phone and cleared my throat as I opened the notepad application. “Let's take some notes, shall we?” I chuckled nervously and typed the few clues we got from Shadow's letter— which are close to nothing.

“By the way, the tea is exquisite,” I complimented Shadow, who responded with a smile— a forced one. “I'm going to need you to give me the address of the shop. Fresh herbs are better than teabags,”

“You can take some with you if you want,” he said, shrugging, “I'm alone at home, so...”

I gulped, and I quickly looked away after he spoke those last words. I noticed that even my friends felt uncomfortable. 

“Well, you're not always alone,” Jay put his arm around his shoulders, “I'm always here, and I'm pretty sure they're going to be around a lot now,” he added, pointing at the rest of us with his chin.

“Yeah, he's right,” I smiled, “We have a mission, and we can only complete it if we stick together,”

Shadow nodded slowly, pressing his lips tight. “Thanks, guys,” he said in a voice sounding almost like a whisper. I felt he wanted to cry, but he didn't want to do it in front of us.”

“Now, now,” Kaela clapped her hands and opened her envelope. “If you thought Shadow's letter is confusing, then mine is worse.” she chuckled and took a breath before she started reading. 

Her voice was shaky as she read Wolfe's last words to her. He was happy that she faced everyone in her family and friends and came out proudly. She brought her first girlfriend home, and she didn't even wait to hear her parents' opinion, nor her brother's. 

“There is the crazy part,” Kaela wiped her stuffy nose, “I didn't get it,”

“Go on,” I said and I and waited for her to start reading.

“The first piece of clothing you offered me was that black velvet jacket. I loved it so much that I decided to wear it on the red carpet, but you were embarrassed and begged me not to wear it for fear that other artists mock me.” 

“It sounds normal to me,” Jay rubbed his chin. 

“Just wait,” Kaela nodded, without taking her eyes off the paper. 

“You told me that you wanted to make clothes in your style and that you didn't want to follow the trends as other brands do. You said you didn't like to sprinkle fairy dust over your creations.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Sprinkle fairy dust?” I asked, “What does it mean?”

“If only I knew,” Kaela chuckled.

“You're the one who said that, though,” Jay furrowed a brow.

“I never said that,” Kaela shook her head as she looked at us with a serious face, “That's why it's crazy. Everything he said at the beginning of the letter is real, but sprinkle fairy dust?” she laughed nervously. 

“What the hell?” Aleyn looked at the letter with confusion. “Why would he write that if you never said it?”

I read that line on Kaela's letter, and then my eyes moved to Shadow's envelope, which was still open next to it. I stayed silent as my friends kept talking, and I read both letters once again. 

“Guys,” I interrupted their conversation, and all of them stopped talking and looked at me. I lifted my head and looked at Shadow, “You said Wolfe never mentioned the orange light and the accident,” Shadow nodded. “And Kaela said she never talked about fairy dust. So, maybe he wants us to pay attention to these sentences,”

“Yeah, but what do they mean?” Jay asked, “Orange light? Fairy dust?” he scoffed, “What are we supposed to understand? And what does it have anything to do with his death?”

I shrugged, “I guess that's why he wanted us to reunite again.” I said, “We have some research to do,” 

Shadow rested his elbows on his knees and put his head between his hands as he looked down. “Something's wrong, guys,” he shook his head slowly, “That's... that's just weird. A lot of people die, and some of them—” he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “—commit suicide. But they never leave such strange letters.” he finished with an irritated tone. Shadow was furious, and I could see that. He was angry at his older brother for leaving so suddenly and even worse for leaving us all confused about his departure. 

“Do you think he asked us to be a group to know what he felt?” Aleyn asked, looking at all of us, “What if by entering the music industry, we understand the letters more?” 

I didn't say anything, but I knew he was right. Wolfe left us letters and seven songs. He was well aware that we had jobs, and that probably we would refuse his request, but he did it anyway. 

“Speaking of groups,” Kaela interrupted my thoughts, “I was sad yesterday because I didn't get to see Sixth Sense. How are they in real life?”

“Taller than I thought,” Tyler chuckled.

“More romantic also,” Aleyn smirked as he looked at me, “Aaron gave Skylar a rose,”

“No way!” both Kaela and Tyler exclaimed. “Why didn't you say anything?” the red-haired gasped.

I laughed and rubbed the back of my neck nervously, “I thought it wasn't important. I mean, it was a memorial service, not a new year party.”

“But still!” Kaela tapped her feet on the floor, “It's Aaron we're talking about,”

“He gave you a rose?” Shadow asked quietly, and he looked quite surprised. 

“Yeah,” I nodded, “It was to thank me for inviting them. That's all.”

“Oh, I don't think that's all,” Aleyn put his arm around my shoulder, “The way he was looking at you says otherwise.”

Kaela squealed and squeezed my thigh, “You're soon to have a celebrity boyfriend,”

“Oh, shut up,” I rolled my eyes, “We don't have time for this, Kaela. We have more important stuff,” I smiled and took all the envelopes in my hand, “Now, let's finish with this,”