Chapter Six Hundred Twenty: The Letter from the Young Man
The digital letter arrived at 6:66 in the morning—or rather, 6:06, but Elias's tired eyes played tricks on him. He had been dreaming of the garden, of the stones, of the letters, of all the people who had crossed before. The buzz of his phone pulled him back to the present.
New submission to the Constellation Archive.
He sat up in bed. He rubbed his eyes. He read.
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Dear Keeper,
My name is Arjun. I am seventeen years old. I live in a small town in Indiana. I have never told anyone this before.
I love a boy. His name is Malik. We've been friends since we were children. We play basketball together. We play video games together. We lie on the roof and look at the stars.
I want to tell him how I feel. But I'm afraid. My parents are religious. My town is small. Everyone talks.
I have been reading the letters in your archive. The ones from people who were afraid. The ones who crossed and the ones who didn't. I don't want to be someone who didn't.
Please tell me what to do.
Yours,
Arjun
---
Elias read the letter twice.
He thought about Caleb. About Oliver. About Hannah. About all the young people who had written before, afraid, hoping someone would tell them to cross.
He wrote back.
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Dear Arjun,
Your letter found me. And I want to tell you something that every keeper before me has told someone like you.
Cross the street.
Don't wait. Don't be afraid. Don't let another day go by without telling Malik how you feel.
He might not feel the same way. He might be confused. He might not know what to do with a confession that comes years too late.
But he might feel the same way. He might have been waiting for you all this time. He might be afraid too.
You will never know unless you try.
Cross the street, Arjun. Tell Malik the truth. Look him in the eyes. Say the words.
And if he doesn't feel the same way, you will survive. You will heal. You will love again.
But if he does—
If he does, you will have something that no amount of fear can take away.
Yours,
Elias
Keeper of the Constellation
P.S. If you ever feel like ending things, call this number. It's on the website. People will answer. People will listen. People will help.
---
Elias sent the letter.
He didn't know if Arjun would follow his advice. He didn't know if Malik felt the same way. He didn't know if two boys in Indiana would find their way to each other.
But he had written the words. He had crossed his own street, again, by telling someone else to cross theirs.
And that was something.
---
Six weeks later, a new submission appeared in the archive.
Elias opened it with trembling hands.
Dear Keeper,
I crossed.
I told Malik. I took him to the roof where we used to look at the stars. I looked him in the eyes. I said the words.
He kissed me.
He said he's been waiting for years. He said he was afraid too.
We're together now. We're not afraid anymore.
Thank you for telling me to cross.
Yours,
Arjun
P.S. We're going to visit your garden someday. We want to add our stones.
---
Elias read the letter aloud to Rafael.
Rafael listened with tears streaming down his face.
"Another crossing," Rafael said.
Elias nodded. "Another crossing."
He added Arjun's letter to the archive.
A new pin on the map. A new star in the constellation.
---
That night, Elias wrote in his notebook.
Arjun wrote to me. He was seventeen. He was afraid. He loved a boy named Malik.
I told him to cross the street.
He did.
Now they're together. They're not afraid anymore.
This is why the constellation exists. To help people cross. To remind them that they are not alone. To tell them that love is worth the risk.
The constellation keeps growing. And so do the people who cross.
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The Garden Beyond
Lina sat on her bench beneath the apple tree.
She was holding Arjun's letter—not the real one, but a shadow of it, a reflection of the words that had been typed in Indiana.
"Another one," Lina said.
The elder Lina sat beside her.
"Another crossing," the elder Lina said.
Elias smiled.
"Another love story," Elias said.
Luna nodded.
"The constellation keeps growing," Luna said.
Elena smiled.
"Across the country," Elena said.
Luna the Third nodded.
"Across generations," Luna the Third said.
Luna the Second took the first Luna's hand.
"The constellation never ends," Luna the Second said.
The first Luna squeezed her hand.
"It never will," the first Luna said.
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End of Chapter Six Hundred Twenty