𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚖𝚙;
That morning, the same as the last, a flurry of letters spluttered through the letterbox in Aria's front door. Junk mail, questionable online orders, a few bills, and, firmly at the bottom of the delivered pile; a single, white envelope.
Rectangular and painfully ordinary upon first glance, Aria hadn't given it much thought. She'd gathered it up with the rest of the mail and placed it on the small, ethically sourced table in her small, ethically built breakfast nook. Soft morning sunshine filtered through the large window panes, blessing the discarded mail with an undeserved, heavenly glow.
Aria was almost done with her avocado toast when she finally fingered through the pile. Tossing junk mail and bills aside in equal measure, manicured hands selected the mystery envelope at the bottom of the heap.
Only now, with a mouthful of green smoosh still swilling in her maw, flipping the envelope over and over, did Aria notice something peculiar. The envelope, plain and white as it was, bore no name. No address. Nothing at all, in fact, save for a faded, red, 1st Class stamp.
Flipping it open provided no additional answers. Inside, folded neatly in three, was a single piece of plain, white paper; it looked perfect, as if factory fresh, were it not for the creases.
Sighing at the ecological waste of it all, Aria tossed the offending blankness into her paper recycling. If someone were going to waste trees like that, the least she could do is make amends.
The next morning, armed with her fresh batch of post and a green slathering of avocado over pumpernickel, Aria approached her nook. And proceeded to drop her toast all over her ethically sourced kitchen floor.
The envelope was back.
Aria rushed over, flipping, opening, crumpling edges as she tore the folded paper from it's prison. Still blank, still nothing, still the same goddamn wordless letter, she threw it, angrily, into the recycling.
And on the next day, the same as the last, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥.
Originally written and shared as part of Verbuary 2022: https://tinyurl.com/yjm5cesn