The jingling of keys can be heard as Oxi takes them out and starts unlocking her front door. The sun had long set, the cresent moon and stars taking its place for the cycle of night. Aside from the pale lights and front lights from neighboring houses, the neighborhood was mainly shrouded in darkness.
*click*
Oxi heard the sound of the door unlocking and walked inside. Turning on the hallway light, she set her stuff on the counter. The house was quiet, aside from the wall clock subtly ticking away at the time. Oxi paid it no mind and went to her bedroom to get ready for bed. She undid her pigtails and dug around her drawer for her pajamas, buried amongst the many work uniforms from various jobs Oxi works at. Next to the drawer is a post-it note attached to the wall, a reminder to rearrange the clothing written on it. After a bit of shuffling, Oxi found her pajamas and changed into them, then collapsed on her bed. She checked the time on the clock.
10:38 p.m.
Oxi sighed and turned iff her bedroom light and stared at the ceiling, her room now devoid of light and and darkness now taking its place. As her eyes succumbed to the power of sleep, her thoughts wandered to a world where she didn't have to work with so many responsibilities, to be like any other kid her age. To be unburdened with the mass amounts of work just to survive. Oxi closed her eyes and bowed down to the lull of sleep, fading away into a space of nothing...
The soft knocking on the front door slowly stirred Oxi from her slumber as she gained consciousness. Oxi sat up and checked the time.
7:49 a.m.
She got up from her bed and started to walk towards the source of the knocking, which since she had woken up hadn't stopped with its subtle taps. It seemed to persist as Oxi walked closer, the sound becoming more clear and audible as she closed more distance between her and the door. The knocking hadn't stopped still, however it had slowed down considerably, with a sound on the door every couple of seconds. Oxi was hesitent ti answer, after all, the constant knocking ever since she woke up WAS pretty excessive. However, it wasnt going to stop if she didn't reply sooner or later, so Oxi didn't have much choice in the matter. So, as Oxi approached the door and placed her hand on the doorknob, she took a deep breath and slowly opened the door....
...Only to be met with nobody on the other side.
Confused, Oxi walked out of the house to see if whoever was on the other side had run off somewhere, like that blonde youtuber kid that took to ding dong ditching the neighborhood as of late. She looked, but she saw nobody frantically running away from her house. She took another step forward when her foot stepped on something paper-like, not like the wooden floor around the front porch. Oxi looked down to be greeted with something rectangular and white, and upon removing her foot it was revealed to be some sort of envelope. She picked it up and immediately her attention went to the name neatly written on it.
'Oxi Scrubton'.
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She was a little unnerved now. It was one thing with the knocking and the person behind the door suddenly disappearing the moment she opened the door as if they were never there to begin with. However, for the person to just know who she was and where she lived....admittedly, it was a bit much. What was even weirder was that there wasn't any address as to where the envelope had come from to begin with. It was just her name written on the envelope.
Weird.
Despite that, though, Oxi couldnt help but be curious about what contents laid inside of the envelope, her thoughts jumping to option to option, constantly guessing what was inside. So, she walked back into her house with envelope in hand, closing the door behind her. She sat down at the table and turned the envelope around, a sky blue wax stamp in the imprint of a flower sealing it shut. Oxi made easy work opening the envelope and took out some sort of invitational card. The cover was a light pink with darker pink borders, with what looked like a grey flower printed on the center of the cover. Under the flower was Oxi's name, but aside from that there wasn't any other text shown. However, when Oxi opened the card, what it said on the inside intrigued her.
'Oxi Scrubton,
We are delighted to tell you that you, along with 27 other participants, have been chosen to participate in a competition where you have a chance to win whatever your heart desires! May it be friends old or new, you'll all be competing against one another for that grand prize! This is a one in a lifetime chance, so not going ISN'T an option.
I'll be seeing you in Paris!
-M.R
Oxi reread the card a few more times to make sure she understood the contents on it correctly. A competition, where she and 27 other people have no choice but to participate in, some of whom Oxi already knew? What did they mean by 'chosen'? She didn't remember applying for anything like this, the last thing she applied for was a year ago! Most importantly...who the hell was the M.R person?!
Oxi sighed in frustration at the many questions that spawned in her mind due to this invitation. This was REALLY how her day was going to start, wasn't it? First the constant knocking, then the fact that whoever WAS knocking on the door just disappeared out of thin air, and if that wasn't strange enough, proceeding to get some weird envelope directed to her with what was essentially her being forced to go to participate in some competition without a single say in that matter.
*bzzzt! bzzzt!*
Oxi snapped out of her frustrated trance at the sound of her phone buzzing on the counter. She got up from her seat and walked over to it, boticing that her friend Milly was calling her. She picked up her phone and answered.
"Oxi, oh thank goodness you answered!" A voice emmited through the phone.
"Milly, what's going on?" Oxi asked, noticing the stress in her voice.
"Theres a lot more people than we usually get here at the restaurant, and I know you don't usually work here on this day of the week, but most of the other waiters weren't able to make it and we need your help please-"
"Alright, I'm on my way."
"Oh my god, Oxi, thank you! You're the best!" And with that the girl on the other side hung up. Oxi ran to her room to change into the proper uniform, thankfully not taking as much time to find her pajamas from last night, and grabbed her stuff as she was about to run the door when she stopped, the thoughts about the competition popping up in her mind.
Everything about it was STILL pretty weird, don't get her wrong, but.....the prize being what one's heart desires...if that M.R person's words held some truth to them...
"...I guess I'll give it a shot." Oxi said to herself, nobody to hear her, and she ran out the door. A long day sure seems to be ahead of her.
