So Long and Goodnight...

Avril’s P.O.V.
(Avril and Joel are Autumn and Raven’s parents in case you have forgotten)

I was sitting in a chair in the darkened living room, smoking the third cigarette from a brand new pack that I’d just opened no less than half an hour before. Usually it calmed me, released my tension …not tonight. Tonight was the two year anniversary of our poor Helena’s disappearance. Like the year before, her friends and I all gathered at the cemetery to mourn over her bodiless grave. It was just a pine box with a few feet of dirt heaped on top of it. They had called off the search for her body just after the first year. They had given up hope …we all had. I reached into the pocket of my jacket and my fingers instantly curled around a folded paper. I pulled it out and read it to myself as I breathed in my precious nicotine.

Avril and Joel,
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being the parents to me that I lost years ago. Thank you for always welcoming me into your home like a part of the family. Thank you for giving me a refuge from the Hell I lived in everyday. Although it was usually only for a couple days at a time, it was a huge relief and I never once felt out of place. You always welcomed me with open arms and loved me like your own. I love you both so much. Always know that. I swear I’ll write as soon as I possibly can.

Your baby girl,
Helena

My baby girl …I had used to call her that all the time. I would’ve broke down and cried for her memory …but there was nothing left in me to cry out. I was only a shell of the person I used to be. The rest of me had disappeared with Helena and would never be found again.

Don’s P.O.V.

Donna and I were sitting in the living room, absorbed in our silence. Mikey and Gerard had gone up to their rooms, unwilling to express their grief to either of us and uncaring of the rest of the world around them. I couldn’t blame them. I felt the same damn way. Gazing across the couch at Donna, I knew she did too. I wanted to say something, anything to offer her …and myself some form of solace …but everything that came to mind sounded so worthless and utterly futile. To my surprise, Donna was the first to speak.

“Don,” She said so weakly I wondered if she had really said anything at all or if I was just losing the last scrap of sanity I gad left.

“Dear?” I questioned, reaching a comforting hand out to her.

She just stared blankly ahead and told me what she had meant to.

“Read it to me.”

My heart fell. I knew what she was referring to. The same thing she always referred to when she stared thinking about Helena …the note.

“Honey,” I said gently. “Maybe we shouldn’t. It’ll only make us more-”

“I want to hear it,” She said, looking at me with tears in her eyes.

I sighed. I had no choice. “Okay, sweetie,” I said, getting up and walking to our bedroom, plucking the note from its place in my nightstand drawer. I sat back down next to Donna, slipped on my reading glasses which I had always hated - but Helena had always laughed and said (in a British accent) that they made me look distinguished – and read the note out loud.

Don and Donna,
I’m writing this letter to thank you for everything that you have done for me over the years. You both made me feel so loved and wanted every second I was in your home. Donna, you always comforted me when I needed a shoulder and you were always the one I trusted for some good motherly advice. And Don, I wish you could’ve been my real father. You were always so protective of me so much and fun to be around. I’ll miss your jokes, your subtle sarcasm and our late night chats on the porch. You guys are so much more like real parents to me than you’ll ever know and I’ll always love you. You always said that you wished you could’ve had a daughter even though anyone could see that you love Gerard and Mikey with every beat of your hearts. I’m proud to have been the daughter you never had …if only for a little while. Please never forget that I love you and you changed my life in so many ways. Thank you, Mom and Dad.
I’ll write as soon as I can (provided my Uncle Charlie gets mail pick-up way out in BFE!!) Haha. Just joking. But I will. You know it.
Your one and only daughter,
Helena

I tried to hide the tears from Donna but it was no use. Our eyes met and we both broke down and we held each other as we cried for our lost little girl.