Art by IMPwitter on Twitter.

Dear Dad,

Hi. I hope you’re doing okay wherever you are. I know it’s been a while since I wrote to you. Lorenzo says writing letters helps when I feel all weird inside, like there’s a ball of yarn in my chest that won’t untangle. So, here I am again.

I wanted to talk about Elias today. You remember him, right? Of course, you do. He used to come over all the time. I bet you still have the picture of the two of us holding hands at the park in your wallet. I wonder if you’d still recognize him now. I mean, I almost don’t.

Elias is... different. Not just the grown-up kind of different, either. He’s like a picture someone spilled water on—smudged, blurry. He doesn’t talk much anymore, but it’s not the quiet I used to like about him. It’s... heavier. Like when it gets super cloudy and you just know a storm is coming, even if it doesn’t rain.

I’ve tried to ask him what’s wrong, but he always looks at me like I’ve said something silly. Not like the funny silly that makes him smirk, but the kind that makes him look even sadder. He used to smile, you know? Not big smiles like Toriko’s goofy grin, but those small, warm ones. Like he was sharing a secret only we knew. I haven’t seen one of those in forever.

It’s not just the quiet, though. It’s how he keeps disappearing. He used to always be by my side—like a shadow, but one you didn’t mind having around. Now, he’s just... gone. Even when he’s there, it feels like he isn’t, you know?

I don’t know what happened. Rogel says Elias doesn’t need us, but I think that’s wrong. People don’t just stop needing friends, right? Maybe I messed up somehow. Maybe I said something, and I didn’t realize it. Or maybe it’s something bigger. Something I can’t fix.

Dad, I keep wondering if Elias is lost. Not like he got lost walking home, but the kind of lost where you don’t even know you’re lost. Does that make sense? And if he is, how do I help him find his way back?

Anyway, I just thought you’d know what to say if you were here. You always had a way of making things make sense. I hope you’ll come home soon, so we can figure it out together.

Love,

Nixon

⦿ ...

⦿ Roleplay as anything

⦿ The world is inhabited by anthropomorphic animals.