[Day 5] I was a creepy middle-schooler

Dear Liam Aiken,

I am a senior in high school in a town of no consequence in Colorado. On August 19^th of this year, I started a year-long blog project entitled “365 Days of Bri” to rediscover myself. I’ll add the details at the end of this letter, but for now I’ll just explain your part. Every day of the week I have a different task to do, at once I’ve completed it I have to write about the experience in the blog. On Sundays like today, my task is to write a thank you letter to someone I’ve never met. For reasons I will explain shortly, you made the most sense to start off with.

When A Series of Unfortunate Events came out, I was in 6^th grade. The transition from elementary school was less than smooth, especially in regards to any form of social life. To be frank, I was miserable, and in the next two years it was only going to get worse. But luckily, I developed a giant celebrity crush on you. Although I guess this letter is more of a thank you note to the Liam Aiken I invented inside my head, I figure I might as well extend the thanks to my imaginary friend’s likeness as well.

Throughout those agonizingly long three years of middle school, the only way I stayed even remotely sane was to imagine some sort of complicated plot that involved the two of us staring in a movie together and falling in love. When school or friendships got stressful, I’d immediately zone out and continue on whatever story line I was currently following. It calmed me down, gave me an escape from the life I so dreaded.

Even now, as a high schooler, I sometimes resort to inventing a new storyline for “our” love. Although I’m no longer quite so codependent on your image, it’s still nice to have you there, in my head, to allow me to get my life back in order. When I focus on you, I go socially numb. The latest in “Bri and Liam’s Epic Love Story” clouds over my real social life, allowing me to concentrate completely on school and things that will actually matter later in life.

As strange as this entire letter probably sounds to you, thank you for lending your image to my psychosis. I wish you well for your future endeavors and hope that you might even take the time to reply. If not, I completely understand. Either way, once again, thank you.

Regards,

Bri