The 17 Cards [COMPLETE]

Mail Arrival

Wind howling while the wooden walls are shaking in return over the storm that is meant to take over very soon at midnight. Theodore stood impatiently on the stairs close to the door hoping for a mail that never miss an appointment. Whether it's rainy or snowy, windy or sunny, this mail is at the doorstep of the orphanage every single year exactly once the clock announces his birthday.

Under the gloomy stairs he always stares with a feeling in his guts that he is being watched. Breaking the familiar sounds, noises behind the door. Theodore stood up and through the peephole he looked. All he could see is the trees as they dance to the wind and no trace for the mailman that he never really saw before. The mysterious mailman. Who could he be? His mysterious giver.

Slowly he unlocked the door and with a little bit of hesitation, he opened it. There sat the box as expected. Regardless of the little fear in him that makes him want to rush inside, he looked around for a trace of the sender but he was not even left with any slight print of a footstep. The wind felt pushy that it slightly moved the box to the right so he picked it up quickly and rushed inside.

On his toes he walked to the room he shares with a couple of boys and closed the door quietly. They were snoring loudly which unexpectedly made him feel relieved. The last thing he needed then is to be interrupted. When everyone is sleeping, he feels his best.

He took a flashlight and jumped under the sheets. The box was a plain cartoonist one. No nice covering or any such thing. It only had his name written using a board pen over the front side of it, or the back side, you couldn't really know.

An old pocket knife he grabbed and started cutting the tapes on the box. 'Give that to me, Theodore.' A mumbling of one of his roommates he heard and his heart skipped a beat. From under the sheets he sneaked a look and sighed when he saw them both still sleeping. 'Mumbling in your sleep Jackson, huh?' He muttered under his breath.

When he opened the box, a card was on the top and underneath was what he had been getting for the last couple of years, a piece of clothing, nothing special. Through all the past sixteen years, he's been getting these kind of cards. The weird thing is, there's nothing ever written in them but he keeps checking each and every time. He opened it and frowned in surprise. This time it wasn't empty. This time it had letters on it and it said:

"Hello, Theodore
If you're reading this, you have probably just turned seventeen. It is now the time for you to know who you truly are. But before you're eligible of knowing such an information, you will need to follow a few instructions and challenges. Every year on your birthday, you've been getting a card. Every card has a special challenge that is followed with an advice. All you need to do to be able to see what's in each one of them is to complete a challenge. Once you complete one, the other one reveals itself providing you with another challenge and an important advice. Follow them to fully discover who you truly are. Once you're into the first mission, you'll understand the rest. As for your first card, it has already revealed itself. Good luck and happy birthday.

Your father.

On and on he read over and over again wondering whether what he just read is real or just a prank of one of his housemates. He shut down the flashlight as he uncovers himself of under the sheets. Taking a deep breath and relaying on the light that the moon provided, he opened the drawer beside the bed and took out a little box out of it. In the box the set of the previous cards sat. Taking them he began observing each one hoping he'd find the special one.

Immediately, he noticed that one is missing. Counting them he started and the unfortunate realization was true. There was only fifteen cards.

Inside the drawer he went searching but the drawer was semi-empty. You'd see the card right away if it was there. His roommates started frowning and mumbling in their sleep and he realized he was being a little bit noisy. Under his bed he hid the boxes and went to sleep.

Hard knocking on the main door of the orphanage made him jump of the bed along with his heart and his roommates and most luckily all the kids in the orphanage, not to forget Ms. Melly, the supervisor. They all rushed downstairs and Ms. Melly was freaking out. She's too delicate for any kind of violently actions. All red-faced she made sure all the kids were behind her and not in front of her so if anything unpleasant happens to be behind that door standing, she'd be the one who will have to take it. 'There's no need to panic!' Shouting an advice she needed the most.

At the top of the stairs stood Theodore quiet as he stares at the door with his body clenched together. Who could it be knocking on an orphanage door at the middle of the night? Not to mention the furious storm out there. It all feels like a horrible event in a horror movie.

All the kids came closer to each other when Ms. Melly was about to open the door. The whispers stopped and suddenly it got scarily quiet. Before she rolls the knob, she decided to take a look through the peephole.

Once she did, she fell on the floor blacked out and the thing behind the door started ringing the bell over and over and over again when voices started clearing up into Theodore's ears. 'WAKE UP! WAKE UP! He opened his eyes and saw Ms. Melly walk into the room with a bell in her hand shouting at them to get up already. He realized it was all just a bad dream.

Oh, how much he hated the sound of that bell ringing in his ears every morning. He was happy he will only have to take it one more year and not more than that.

As his feet lands on the floor, it touches one of the boxes under his bed slightly and he remembers. 'Ms. Melly? Can we talk?'
'Oh, not now Theodore honey, I have to wake the other kids up! The bus driver in honking since the morning and it seems like we had over slept, how odd!'

And he thought, the bus? What bus? Then remembered the trip that they are supposed to take on the first of October. It seems like everyone had forgotten about it. At least he did. He thought it was probably going to be cancelled when he heard that there will be a storm at the day. He opened the curtains and surprise, surprise, it was sunny.