Wildfire ~ George Harrison

Chapter 2: At first mail

A few days after our new neighbours moved in, I was on my way home from work. I still hadn't met any of them as no one had bothered to come introduce himself. Apparently they didn't work the same hours as Kath and I, as neither of us had crossed paths with them on the stairs yet. So far, they weren't leaving the best impression. No introductions and they were playing music and making noise all through the night.

The rudeness of them not introducing themselves, somehow played on my mind as I made my way across North-London. Why I ever got a job so far away from home, I didn't know. Maybe because the owner of the law firm was one of Father's friends? It wasn't that I necessarily liked working there either. No, it paid well and it was the only job I was suited for.

Neither Mother nor Father had wanted me to move out right after I finished secondary school, but I wanted to live on my own. They were strict about curfews and thus going out wasn't an option, unless Matthew, my brother, came with me. Now, that was something that was never going to happen, as long as I could avoid it. After much begging, they had finally relented and had agreed to pay my rent. Kath's parents had done the same and when we found this fourth-floor flat in Mayfair, we knew it was meant to be.

I knew I was blessed by what my parents had given me, but aside from money, they had also given me good manners. The day after Kath and I moved in, we had gone by every flat to introduce ourselves to our new neighbours. These new men hadn't done that. I didn't understand it. Didn't they want to meet the people they shared a house number with? If you ever needed something, the first person you would go to, were your neighbours, weren't they? But not if you didn't know them. It must be their Northern roots that made them this impolite.

All throughout Saturday I had expected a knock on our door and when that didn't come, I had expected it on Sunday. But still no knock had come. I had no clue who even lived in the flat across the hall. Was it just that one guy who had berated the bloke named Neil for being uncareful, or did they fill up each bedroom? How many were there? Who were they?

A sigh escaped my lips as I finally walked around the corner. My hand automatically reached for my purse and I fished out the key to the front door. While I unlocked the front door, I undid the braid that had encased my hair during the day, letting the blond streaks fall down.

As I opened the front door and walked into the hallway, I noticed a young man, barely older than I was. I didn't recognise him, so I figured he was one of my new neighbours. Good, now I finally got to meet someone.

The young man stood facing the mail slot, confusion spread across his face as he looked through the thick stack of post that had arrived today. He clearly didn't know what to do with it.

'Do you need help with that?' I asked as I walked over to him to see if there was any post for me today. But to no avail, the boy hadn't sorted it yet.

'What?' he jumped up, dropping half of the stack. 'Oh shite, I'm sorry!'

I chuckled and bend down to help him pick it up. 'That's okay. It's confusing, isn't it? Here,' I said as I handed him part of the stack.

He looked even more confused, not knowing whether he needed to take it or not. 'That's not for us, is it? How does this even work?' he let out frustrated. 'I thought collecting mail was the one thing my parents did teach me.'

An amused grin spread across my face. 'We've one post box, so everyone's mail goes into the same one. The first person to it, has to sort it into the correct slots,' I explained. 'So I guess that's you today.'

'Is it?' he asked, almost scared. 'Shite, you're right. Oh no.' He looked down at the first envelope on his stack. 'Miss C. O'Reilly, flat G?' The brown eyes of the bloke darted across the hallway for a sign that said which flat was G.