spikes

How will I pay my tuition for next year?

Talk to your folks.

You already have the letters written. Just change a few words.

Do you know how I saw through the fake letter?

You said it was a careless forgery.

They don't write to me.

What?

Paper, tone, smell—it wasn't any of that detective story BS. The letter itself was meaningless.

They would never offer me a single word of concern, much less write such a sappy letter—not that I expect anything from them.

That was the letter that <i>you</i> were hoping for.

Your parents cared about you. You wanted to prove that you're still important to them, and even prepared a response ahead of time.

It's all so silly, isn't it?

It is.

But not because you wrote the letter. Because you wrote it, yet didn't have the courage to send it.

I'm not telling you to bow your head to them. I'm sure you made the right choice, and they made plenty of wrong ones.

If they see it as a sign of weakness, then be frustrated, be angry, tear the paper to pieces, and tell them it's not.

Do whatever you want.

How can you always be so confident in your choices?

Because there's no one to tell me I made the wrong ones.

Haha... I'll think about it.

No, I'll send it as soon as my hand heals!

Thanks, Randall.

I told you, that's not the reaction I wanted.

Alright. My reply letter has been safely disposed of, and the practical joke has come to a close. As for this fake letter from Payne...

Yeah... doesn't sound anything like what those two would say.

But it'll make a decent souvenir.