Flying all around the room coming from that little crack in the wall that not even a mouse could fit through. They flew past her nose and over her ­knuckles. She said it tickles when they fly close to you. The next thing she knew they all flew back to their spots on the wall and didn’t move again. I keep ­waiting for them to fly for me. After I finish writing I try and stay up for as long as I can but I haven’t seen them yet. One time I thought I saw the one ­closest to my pillow turn her head. That’s the one I named after you.

I made a friend at school. Her name is Evelyn and I like having her around. I’ve told her about you and she wants to meet you.

I know you will come for me soon because you never break your promises.

Love, Franny

Franny

Ididn’t mail my letters.

I believed so strongly that my sister would return, I simply copied them into her journal to save. But as the weeks passed I started to worry. Was she really going to come back for me?

Maybe Leah sensed my concern because even though she was spending more time at the college, she started taking me with her on weekends. The art building was my favorite and she let me look inside the rooms. I poked around the storage closets and she would let me have an eraser. They were different than the hard pink ones I was used to because they were gray and stretchy and fun to roll into different kinds of shapes.

She took me into the art studio where students were working at their easels. It always got quiet when she walked into a room and some of them looked at her with the same expression that Matilda had when she first met Leah. The studio had a center area where Leah told me the model sat. Easels were clustered together in different groupings and the light was the kind that made the dust flying through it sparkle like glitter. I liked the quiet of the art studio and how even if there were people inside, they were too engrossed in their work to notice me. The sound of pencil moving across paper calmed me.

One day we walked down a hallway and I smelled something that seemed familiar, but was different than the smell of charcoal and paper that I had grown used to. I was so curious that I couldn’t help but peek inside the room I assumed it was coming from. Immediately, I felt a waft of warm air hit my face and then my eyes focused on an enormous shimmering rectangle.

A swimming pool.