Letters to Elle

03 | The Letter

            03 | The Letter

            The minute I step outside into the crisp, December air, I can feel it in my bones that something bad is awaiting me. Although I don’t know what. All I am doing is checking the mail, per my parents’ request.

            “It’s nothing,” I mutter to myself, trying to regain control over my shivering and nerves. “It’s just a little chilly.”

            Somewhere deep in the back of my mind, I know that the tremor than is running down my spine isn’t because it is freezing outside.

            The first day of December is always the coldest, I believe. And I think that the fact that for some reason I’m a bit frightened to go outside today makes it even colder. I suppose the fact that I just woke up five minutes ago could be a contributing factor as well.

            I hate the rush of cold air swooshing around me when I first open the door. It’s just so uncomfortable, and it makes me feel like my limbs are going to fall off.

            Braving the harsh weather, I toake one step.

            Crunch.

            My first thought is snow, but with one look across the yard, I know that it can’t be snow. There isn’t even frost yet.

            And so I lift up my foot and look on the ground. Already I can tell that what I’m seeing changes so many things. Just by one look, I can tell that things are going to be different from here on out.

            An envelope.  

            My breath hitches, and I swear that some of my oxygen just escaped my lungs and began traveling back up my throat.

            Elle, the back of the envelope reads.