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Prompt 4: The mail is always bad this time of year, but it seems like something's gone a little extra wrong. An old letter arrives shows up with no return address, no name on it; it's impossible to tell who it is from or how it got there, given that it might have arrived in your mailbox, your front door, or maybe it even just showed up inside your house. If you open it, the letter is dated from decades ago and contains some surprising information; it is a letter lost to time and contains some secret. The content of the letter are up to the player; it might contain a confession of love, an admission of guilt, the secret of some crime--no matter what the letter contains, it leaves you with news to reflect on. Do you try to seek out anyone mentioned in the letter? Do you investigate or try to hand the letter over to someone else? Does the content of the letter reflect your life in some way? ...Do you have to worry about someone breaking into your house to leave strangely coded messages?
Backdated to December 19th, 2020
The letter had just been sitting on the mat in front of Lilith's door. The apartment complex was locked up tight, and the mail always was delivered to the locked boxes down on the ground floor. That was the main reason this development had stood out so starkly in Realta's mind. Now, normally the guardian wouldn't even be entering from this direction, but she'd been accompanying her girl home after a lovely meeting out on the street. Lilith had been enjoying a warm drink outside a small cafe, listening to the bright, cheery music of carollers that had been a main draw to the outdoor eating joints in the immediate area--for Realta included, as it was. The guardian had spotted the girl rather quickly, and wound herself around the boots and legging clad calves, purring loudly and earning a giggle from the young woman who had swiftly put clues together. Wasn't like the Mauvian could speak at the moment, not with so many others around. She'd merely ordered a light sandwich with extra meat on the side she could rip pieces of and offer to the cat, and a small bowl of water. Realta had seen the odd look the waitress had given her... until the young woman caught sight of the cat absorbing the customer's offered body heat.
They'd enjoyed their meal, and strolled back home together without incident.
Until Realta drew up short, turning her body to press sidelong against Lilith's legs, causing the young woman to stop abruptly in turn outside her door. "...what is it?" Lilith's voice was soft, aware her neighbours could be around. Her cane tapped lightly on the ground, unhurried but Realta's ears pricked at the sound.
"There's... a letter in front of your door," the Mauvian said simply, staring at the thing. "Is it common for your mail to be delivered like that?" She was quite sure she knew the answer already, but allowed the question anyway.
Above her, Lilith's brows furrowed. "...no, it's not. I specifically request all my mail go to the box, or be held in the security office if it's too big to go in there. Too easy for me to miss things, otherwise," she said with a small shrug, feeling it was obvious why she required such a setup.
Realta hummed in acknowledgement before she stepped forward to sniff the offending object. The envelope was old, yellowing with its age, and smelling distinctly of mothballs and a musty smell. As if it'd been tucked away for a long, long time. After a moment, she picked up the envelope and nudged her head against the door, and Lilith unlocked and opened it at the wordless urging.
Once indoors, and after Lilith had put away her coat, scarf, and cane, and had seen to the wriggling Raja happy they'd returned, the two sat down at the kitchen table. "Does it have a return address?"
Realta set the envelop on the table, annoyed at the somewhat sour taste in her mouth. "No, just a 'for Lily in the center. Does anyone address you that way?"
Lilith blinked wide eyes, head tilting slightly. "Cassie did, when we were little. Some of my friends used to. It's... been a long time since anyone's called me that, though. Most people just call me Lil now."
The Mauvian nodded, taking a moment to open the already unsealed flap of the envelope. Removing the paper, she unfolded it carefully. The handwriting certainly looked a tad haphazard, perhaps as if a child wrote it, and she frowned, beginning to read it silently before aloud:
Hi Lily,
Mommy says you're in the hospital because your eyes are sick. I didn't know eyes could get sick! Do they feel stuffed up like my nose gets when I get a cold? Uncle Vic and Auntie Ray haven't stopped by here in a while, and mommy says I can't visit you at the hospital and you can't come to my party this year. But it's okay! We can play once you're better! Mommy said I could write you a letter and Auntie Ray would bring it to you. You should write me back! It'll be like we're penpals! We did those in school. The teacher had us write questions to our penpal so it'd help give them something to answer and write back to us. SO
What's the food like at the hospital? Is it okay? Should I see if Auntie Ray can bring in some cookies? I can make some if she can!
Do you feel sick? Should I ask daddy to make soup instead?
Why are your eyes sick?
Do you want any coloring books or anything while you're in there?
What about movies?
Let me know if you want anything, I'll get it for you!
Love you bunches and can't wait to see you soon!
Love,
Cassie
When Realta finished, she looked up, noticing how Lilith had placed a hand over her mouth. Her pale eyes were partially lidded, somewhat misted. Realta looked between her and the letter, unsure why the childish words would evoke such a response. After a moment, Lilith cleared her throat thickly. "Does... does it have a date at all?"
Realta paused and looked about the paper--up in the very top right corner, somewhat dog-eared perhaps from age or being folded awkwardly as it was put into the envelope, was a date. She read it, and Lilith gave a small, wet-sounding laugh. "Oh... oh wow."
"I... take it that date is significant?" The Mauvian spoke carefully, unsure of the weight of the situation here. Her tail flicked uneasily behind her.
Lilith nodded slowly, letting out a breath as she let her hand come back onto the table. "It... was a day or two before I got the diagnosis about my eyesight. It'd been dwindling already by that point, but the doctors gave their final prognosis. I... was going to be blind. There wasn't really anything they could do at the time, though I think the research has developed a lot more in recent years. Surgeries and such. But at the time, the neural damage was too severe for their treatments. They'd been trying to prolong it as it was." She went quiet a moment, her gaze growing distant. "I... thought no one cared I was in the hospital. No one contacted me. No one visited. Except my parents, that is. I guess they wanted to keep things quiet, or... were waiting to know what was going to happen. It took me a long time to get over that. I didn't speak much to Cassie or anyone else for years while I was trying to adjust to being blind. I thought they just didn't care."
Realta blinked a few times now herself, rearing back slightly where she sat. "No one said anything? No one even told you your cousin wrote you a letter?"
Lilith's smile was rueful. "I didn't hear you rip open the envelope... I wonder, Realta, was it already open?" The Mauvian's eyes narrowed before she hummed in confirmation. Lilith offered a sour laugh. "I'm going to venture a guess here--mom or dad got the letter, read it... and either forgot about it in the following days' news and development, or blatantly kept the letter from me. Not maliciously, mind you. But think of what it's contents were--to write back, to color, to watch a movie... little things, sure, but they required me to see to do them. I..."
Lilith now hung her head, a faint bit of color on her cheeks. "I was... extremely sensitive to people saying things like that back then. I'd bark back at them about how I couldn't see things. That they were rude for even suggesting such things. I mean, for God's sake, at one point I snapped at my mother for asking me if I saw the bunch of roses my father brought up to my room. I knew she didn't mean it like that, but I was furious... I knocked the vase to the ground, if I remember right," she added after a long pause.
"I don't think I would have responded well to Cassie's letter," she finally said softly, closing her eyes and setting a hand on the paper. "I think, if it wasn't that my parents just forgot about it, it was that they knew I'd only become more upset and lash out."
Realta considered that for a long moment, bending her head to nuzzle against the girl's hand. She could hardly blame Lilith for her outbursts at the time--she'd been a young child herself, and her entire world changing. Nor could she blame her family trying to protect her the only way they could, in such circumstances.
"You should send her a message, tell her you got her letter," the Mauvian finally said, warmth and gentleness in her voice. "Tell her what you thought of the food, and what movie you'd like to see together now. I'm not sure why the letter is here now... but I think you both could use the time to hang out and relax, no?"
Lilith considered this a moment, and then chuckled, scritching the Mauvian gently behind the ear. "I... think it's only right I respond, you're right. Even if I am over a decade late."
[WC: 1624]
