The love letter and the suicide note

31 days until suicide

"Hello?"

The voice on the other side of the line sounded nothing like her uncle.

"Um, who is this?"

"Who are you? You called me." The guy sounded awfully young to be her uncle, and last time she remembered, her uncle didn't have a slight accent.

She couldn't quite put what the accent sounded like, but by the sound of it, he must've lived away from his birth home for a while. His accent wasn't as strong, and last time Astra checked, Florida didn't have accents.

He must've lived somewhere else in his life and then moved. He still had the small accent of his hometown, and she smiled just hearing it.

"I'm so sorry, I tried to call my uncle, and I guess I accidentally typed a wrong number or something. I'll hang up now." Astra quickly apologized and pulled the phone away from her ear to hang up, but the guy spoke up again.

"Wait, don't go."

Astra put the phone back to her ear. "Is there something you wanted?"

"No, I just, I don't know. It's been so long since someone's called me, or even talked to me." The guy spoke quietly.

"What about your family? I'm assuming by the sound of your voice you're still pretty young." Astra said.

"I'm 19."

"Oh cool, I'm 20!" Astra smiled, feeling a little happy that she was older than the strange boy on the other side of the line.

"And I don't have any family."

Oh. Astra's smile disappeared at his words.

Did he not have any family? Did he have at least one or a few more left like she did? Or did he really have no family? He must've had at least a few.

"What's your name?" The boy asked her.

Astra was quiet for a moment. Should she tell him her name? He was a stranger, and you shouldn't ever tell a stranger personal information. Then again, her name was the least personal thing she could tell him.

He just told her something personal. He told her he didn't have family, also that nobody had called or talked to him in a while. That was sad and kind of personal.

"Astra." She said.

"Star."

"What?" Astra furrowed her brows.

"Last time I checked, Astra means star. I took Latin in school, just for fun since it's not really a language that's being spoken much anymore." Astra assumed that, by the sound of his voice, he was smiling.

"Oh yeah, I think that's why my mom named me Astra. She had always loved astronomy, especially the stars." Astra sat up from her bed and smiled as she rolled onto her side to look at the picture of her mom next to her bed.

She was beautiful.

"What's your name?" She asked the stranger on the other line.

"Orson."

"Bear cub." Astra laughed a little. "Your name means bear cub, that's kind of cute actually. Your parents definitely knew what that meant, they definitely named you that on purpose. I should start calling you that now. Bear Cub. Sounds cute."

"You mean this isn't the only time we'll talk?"

"Oh, well, I'm... I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. I guess it's because you just talk like someone I've known for a while. I don't know if that makes sense but yeah." Astra mentally slapped herself.

"It's alright."

"So, where are you from? I can hear a hint of an accent in your voice, and I'm just curious." Astra thought for a moment. "It kind of sounds familiar, but I don't remember where I've heard it before."

"New Orleans." Orson said proudly. "Born and raised there."

"Oh! It's the yats accent I'm assuming. You definitely don't have a strong one anymore." Astra smiled. "I've always wanted to go to New Orleans."

"Yeah, I miss it." Orson said quietly.

"What made you move?"

Orson was quiet for a moment, and that made Astra think she had said something wrong and he wasn't going to say anything else, but after a moment he spoke up. "I don't know." Was all he said.

"That's okay, I don't even know why I moved here either to be honest. I'm from Hawaii actually, funny story, I was born there and lived there until I was like 13."

"Are you Hawaiian? I don't hear an accent."

"No." Astra laughed. "My parents aren't Hawaiian, but they lived there for quite some time. I was born there, but I'm not Hawaiian. I guess we kind of picked up a small accent because when we moved here everybody was saying they loved our accents, but I didn't hear it."

"Is it as pretty as people say it is?" Orson asked her.

"It's gorgeous! Nothing like Florida, they have there similarities, but I'd take Hawaii over Florida any day." Astra smiled as she thought of how beautiful the islands were.

"Yeah, I'm not an island type of person. I prefer being somewhere where I can go on road trips across states and countries."

"I love road trips!" Astra smiled. "It's like one of my favorite things to do."

"Have you ever been out of the states?" Orson asked her.

"Nope, but my dream is to go to Switzerland. I've heard it's absolutely gorgeous there, very green, and they have actual trains there. I've always wanted to go on an actual passenger train. There's just something about trains that's so aesthetically pleasing, especially after reading and watching Harry Potter." Astra sighed as she thought of the Hogwarts Express train.

"They're not as magical as Harry Potter." Orson said.

"Well, obviously they're not, I'm just saying it would be amazing to get to be on a train, and not the subway trains, an actual passenger train on train tracks." Astra smiled as she thought of her being able to ride on one.

"You know, they have them in America. I know for sure they do in California, and New York has some along with Arizona, Colorado, Delaware and a few others."

"They do?" Astra gasped.

"Yeah."

"Well, America isn't as amazing as other countries." Astra laughed a little. "And those states are not a place I want to go to ever again, they're not that pretty and it's just not a vibe for me. Of course there are beautiful places in every state, but not as much in those ones that I've seen, maybe I just need to look more."

"Understandable, but you only think America isn't as amazing as the other countries because you live here. I'm sure if you lived in a different country you'd be saying the same thing, but to that country." Orson said.

"That's true. I have to go now though, my uncle is expecting a phone call from me. I haven't talked to him in years, and I think it's a good time to call him, especially because something happened recently and he's family. It was nice talking to you." Astra's heart broke at the thought of her sister, and she swallowed as she felt tears form in her eyes. "Goodbye Bear Cub."

"Goodbye Star."