Killing Samuel and Moving On

Page

"Hey, Slut."

They chuckled at the nickname and replied, "Hey, Falcon."

Everyone always complained that they read the same three books over and over again. But what could they say? In their eyes, there were no finer works than The Perks of Being a Wallflower. So what if they'd be the only books they'd read until the end of time?

It's not like they were complaining.

"How was the flight?"

"Shitty," Page grumbled. "TSA was a real ass about my pronouns and this girl kept calling me Ma'am."

They sighed but weren't surprised. Not everyone could be made to see. But damn did it still hurt a little after all these years.

They were completely passing and didn't have to worry about things like this too much. But Page, well, Page always would. Men would always find a way to poke fun at their binder. Women would always snark at their too short hair. The crude questions of what was in their pants would never cease. It was ridiculous.

Page always had fun with it, though.

"What'd you say back?"

"I kept calling her Sir," Page chuckled. "She was pretty pissed."

They laughed and finished sealing up Page's letters.

"I'm gonna stop by and see Feebs first," Page said. "I'll probably get ready over there and then come by with her and Noah. Are your parents still ok with me staying over?"

"Are you kidding me?" They placed the phone on speaker and quickly threw their waist length hair up into a horrible bun. Wispy bangs framed the sides of their face as they scratched out Page's name. "They love you. You're like, one of their kids at this point."

Page made a pleased noise. They could imagine just how hard they were grinning at what they knew was already a fact. Page just loved hearing how much they were loved.

"Guess what else?" Page hummed and they said, "I wrote you some letters too."

"Bitch, what the fuck did I do to you?" They snorted at their irritated voice and shook their head.

"Nothing," they reassured Page. "I just, I don't know. I started writing all these letters to people that hurt me. And it felt pretty good to get everything out."

"Get to the part where I get a letter, please." They used to joke with Feebs that Page was so patient with their everyday life. That when it came to their friends, they had almost none.

"I started writing to Dove-"

"Dove saved your fucking life!"

"Falcon," they drawled. "I'm aware of that. But, when I was writing to her, I realized that I needed to write to you and Dove and Fleur. All of you were a part of Sam's story too. Not because you hurt me. But because-"

"We saved you." They hummed in reply and the line went silent for a solid minute before, "Fuck you, Slut. You're gonna make me cry in the airport. I'm gonna look like a fucking Hallmark movie."

They laughed airily and discussed tonight's impending dinner.

"Stella." Oh, no. The serious voice.

"Hm?" They checked the time to see they only had three hours left. Only three hours until dinner would be ready. Three hours and everyone would be here. Including him. Their palms grew sweaty at the thought. "What is it?"

"Do you think he's going to-"

"Don't say it!" They shouted. "Don't say it!"

"Stella?"