*Ember*
“You all right, Em?” Luka asks, giving me yet another nudge.
I nod, trying to form words. I know the handwriting on the envelope, though I’ve never been addressed as Emory by my cousin Ruby before. Still, I’m certain this is a missive from her, and I'm terrified as to what it might say.
“Who’s it from?” Luka asks me, but before I can answer, his name is called, and he bounds over to receive his own letter. A huge grin splits his face. It’s nice to think that someone is happy to get a letter from home.
Slipping my letter into the waistband of my shorts, in the front so I can keep an eye on it, I rush over to him, hoping we can forget about my letter until I’m alone. “Who wrote you?” I ask as Luka hurriedly tears the envelope open, the way so many others are doing.
“It’s from
