"The Letter" by CL

Competition 3 Honourable Mention

I reach in with my red-tinted fingertips crossed, eyes squeezed shut with anticipation. My fingertips shock alight with an electric touch of rough, foreign, paper envelope. I shut the mail box with a firm squeak, and a quick turn of the wrist, I locked it shut. I ran home, clearing a path through the tumbling cottons of snow spilling from the bruised night sky. I nearly slipped, dashing up the glazed ice-coated steps before entering the safe haven of my room. With a shaky exhale, I willed my heart to come back to a hundred miles per hour. Only now did I let myself peek hopefully at the letters in my hand. Indeed my senses had not fooled me; this time the letter was from Malaysia. Once every month, a letter travels halfway around the world manhandled by many to get here.

I read of the unspoken words and the adventures that I’d never get to experience. There he was, wrinkling and pruning dry from the simmering heat of a thousand suns. Biting into the exotic fruit and dribbling mouthfuls of sweetness onto the cement floor. While he was venturing the lively streets congested with people, here I was, the same. Missing the shadow of him when we met on my exchange trip to Canada. Exasperated, I threw the letter to the ground and flopped back onto the welcoming chill of my comforter. I could read no more. I’d hoped he’d get eaten alive by the blood-sucking mosquitoes. I’ll admit I was a bit jealous but more than that… I wish I could recapture the moment when it was just him and me. I sighed and eased myself off the creaking bed and picked up the letter and carefully creased it back into the envelope. I fumbled under the dusty bed until finally feeling my smooth lacquered wooden chest that contained an overflowing pile of his letters. Not once had I responded to them. I was scared time would change us and render us unable to recognize each other. The red mailbox visible beyond the foggy crystals of ice encrusting my window frame taunted me the letters would stop coming. But still I never wrote back. However, today something was different. Maybe it was the infectious festive holiday air birthing this new courage or maybe today was the same day the courage had appeared leading us to our first awkward introductions as we clutched our suitcases. It had once helped my fears for the future simmer down and start a new adventure of my own, and I hoped it would do it again.

My gleeful breath steamed up the frigid air. I was so deep in thought about the mail laying inside the mailbox, I hadn’t realized until I walked straight into the arms of a stranger. My nose rammed deeply into the thick cushion of an overly heavy down jacket. I lowered my hands, rubbed my nose, and looked up. “Merry Christmas” he said.