The cold night air blew through the open window, bringing a chill throughout my room. I sat awake in my bed, looking over the junk mail I had received the previous day. I never actually understood why I did this, but I found it entertaining to say in the least. Most of it was the average kind of useless mail that people would get- ads for stores and special sales- all boring crap. There was, however, one thing in the pile of junk that caught my eye. It appeared to be an oddly decorated, colorful envelope. It almost reminded me of a birthday card.
Thats strange, I don't recall putting that in my junk mail pile.
Needless to say, it threw me a tad bit off guard, seeing as I don't recall seeing it before. I pulled it out of the pile and turned it over. It was dark blue, with bright purple letters pasted on the front facing side of the letter. The letters appeared to be almost in a pop art sort of style, but seemed special in their own sort of mystic way. The pop art letters read,
For Mr. Jared Reece's eyes only!
Whoever had sent this envelope had clearly known who I was. Maybe it was some sort of April fools joke that someone thought would be funny? If I knew my friends well enough, then it was rigged to have something pop out of it, or have it burst into flames.
If it is a prank, then it's a day late for April fools.
I turned the letter over two more times to examine it further and noticed that a return address had not been posted on the envelope anywhere. In fact, the only thing on the envelope was the bright purple letters addressing the damn thing to me on the front. I shake the envelope a bit and heard something rustling around inside of it. It did seem a bit too heavy to be containing just simple paper.
I sighed deeply, breathing in the fresh air from outside as I shifted my legs into a more comfortable position. I figured that I might as well open it to see just what kind of surprise was inside. I cut open the top of the envelope with a pair of scissors conviemtly placed on the nightstand next to my bed. I pulled a folded piece of paper out of the envelope, and along with it, came a small circular stone.
A rock? Seriously? Who puts a rock in an envelope?
I shook my head and put the small stone on my nightstand. I proceeded to unfold the letter and take in what it had to says it's a struggled look on my face. It was harder to read than I had expected it to be, as it seemed like it had been written by a five year old. I could barely make it out, but hey, I wasn't one to judge. My handwriting was much worse than the author of this letter.
The first lines barely made any sense whatsoever. It describes something about magic and me winning the 'New Life Lottery', which definitely did not sound made up at all. This letter was clearly some sort of prank now. I don't have the kind of fortune it takes to win the lottery. With my luck, a brick would be falling and miss my head but crush my foot.
I proceeded to skim through the remainder of this letter, not even caring what it said anymore, and got to the final lines which read in bold print-
To accept your winnings, break the enchanted stone that should have arrived with this letter. Once again, congratulations!
I rolled my eyes at the nonsense of the letter. Magic? There's no such thing as magic or enchanted stones. The letter was just a huge disappointment. I shook my head, crumpled up the letter, and tossed the letter in the trash. I took the 'enchanted stone' that came with it and tossed that out the window. I heard it smack against the pavement below with a satisfying crack.
I looked out the window and saw lighting illuminate the sky in the distance. A quiet roll of thunder followed soon afterward. I could smell the scent of fresh water on the nighttime breeze. A storm was definitely coming my way. I got up from my bed with a grunt and closed my window in preparation for the coming rain.
Strange, I thought the weather called for a calm cloudless evening. So much for that. I like thunderstorms anyway though.
I cleared the rest of my junk mail off of my bed, then sat on the edge as I continued to stare out the window. I pulled off my socks and tossed them into the corner of my room.
I'll pick those up later. Maybe. Hell, who am I kidding, no I won't.
I flopped back onto my bed and let my head sink into the plush pillow. More lighting flashed outside, brightening up my street, and I could hear the rain beginning to fall as it struck my window. The quiet pitter patter of the rain against the window was soothing. I laid there, thinking, trying to forget about that weird letter. The next loud boom of thunder was enough to drive it from my mind as I started to focus more on the sound of storm beginning to rage outside. I closed my eyes and began to get tired almost instantly.
Aw shit, I have work tomorrow.
The thought really bummed me out, but I needed the money to pay for rent, so it had to be done.
Oh well. I'll worry about that tomorrow. Right now I need to worry about getting sleep.
I began to slowly drift off to sleep, and heard thunder cracklings overhead. The strangest thing is that it almost sounded like a laughing of some sort. I gave it a halfhearted thought, then let it slide out of my mind. It had to be because I was just tired. The last thing I heard before drifting entirely off to the realm of sleep was the sound of the strange 'laughing thunder'.
