Dear Theodore Finch,

Dear Theodore Finch,
No one knows why you took your own life, while some people still think that it was an ‘accident’. You hated tags, you did. You hated the names that were given to the people who were depressed. You tried your best to save yourself, Finch. You went to a support group, but that didn’t help. You took a handful of pills, but you got your stomach pumped. But, when you just couldn’t take it any longer, you gave up.
No one blames you or hates you for giving up, there was nothing that you could do.
Theodore, you fell in love and you made someone fall in love with you. You made Violet feel like the luckiest girl in the world. You and Violet visited all the beautiful, all the bright places. You taught Violet that somethings stay even though some people don’t.
You met Violet on a ledge in school and you left Violet near the Blue Hole, the Blue Hole where you drowned.
When you were missing for a lot of days, everyone did their best to find you. Your mom, you sisters Kate and Decca, Violet, everyone. When Violet finally found you, well not you, at the Blue Hole she first found all your clothes folded very neatly. The keys to Little Bastard, your car, in your shoe. When Violet whispered Marco, I had full faith that you would shout back ‘POLO’, but you didn’t. She went into the water a number of times, trying to find you. But, everytime her breath gave out and she could not go deeper. Deeper where you were. When the police finally brought your body out of the water, it was unrecognizable, Finch. It was blue and swollen. It was your body, but it wasn’t you, you were dead.
The letter that you left for Violet in the church was just as beautiful as you were. The Virginia Woolf quotes that you shared back and forth were my absolute favourite. You made Violet better, you made me better, but you couldn’t save yourself.

“I am rooted, but I flow.”

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Theodore Finch is a fictional character from the book All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven.