Chapter Fourteen

                                    

                                          
Okay, so Simon hadn't really lied when he said he'd be fine. He thought he would be. There was no reason for him not to be. It sucked that Penny was off with her family for the holidays, and it sucked that Baz had been dragged off to Hampshire to spend the holidays with his family, but Simon was fine. He wasn't worried. He had big plans to binge watch Christmas movies and bake until they were out of flour and eggs. But then, when he was waiting for his first batch of scones to come out of the oven, he got to thinking. He'd been in his room to tidy up––figuring that he should do something slightly productive with his time––and the letter just sort of appeared. He'd totally forgotten about it until he'd been digging dirty clothes out from under his bed.
                          
On instinct, he went to throw it away, but then Baz's words rang through his head. 
                          
"Because it's your family, Snow. Don't you want to know about them? About your parents?"
                          
He sighed and opened the letter to read the strange, cursive script. 
                          
Do you feel it, Simon? Do you feel it pooling in your belly like an endless well?
                          
He reached for his stomach, closing his eyes. Could he feel it? Could it be the reason why he'd always felt so empty––so hungry? How was it supposed to feel? Like magic swirling inside of him, bubbling up and coming to him if he needed it? He tried to feel something––he focused on letting the feeling take him over––but nothing happened. Then he read the letter again, focusing his attention on the last line where D.M., whoever that was, invited him to come round to the cottage in Burley. 
                          
Maybe, just maybe, meeting this mysterious stranger would help him feel...whatever it was that he was supposed to feel. Maybe he could show up in Burley and D.M. would take out an old photo album and tell stories about Simon's mother and her chickens. Maybe seeing pictures of her and hearing about her life would make him feel that love pool inside of him. He recognized that it was entirely possible that going to Burley would do nothing to help him, and it was entirely possible that going to Burley and meeting D.M. would ruin completely, but it didn't seem to matter––not when he had this much hope. 
                          
So he looked up trains and buses to Burley and made his way there.
                          
Maybe this wouldn't help him with anything.
                          
Or maybe it would be everything he'd ever wanted.