Title: A Letter
Date: March 19th, 2024
Author: Z. E. Wayland
License: CC0; To the extent possible under law, Z. E. Wayland has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.
Sealed and stamped, the letter was finished. Stephanie addressed it to Martha and Jeremy, the two others. They slept by now. Which made it the perfect time to move. Jacket on and parcel in hand, she set out beyond the bedroom door.
In the Hallway Desert, she stepped, snuck across the carpeted sand. This letter was secret, sensitive. Caught with it in her hand, Jeremy would ask questions, always questions. "Why are you sneaking around?" would be one. "Why is this letter addressed to our house?" would be the other. Then, Stephanie would crane her neck to look up the mountain; her voice doesn't carry that far.
When the Hallway Desert gave way to the Wood-Floored-Woods, her step crackled. Night always made sounds louder. The silence after, she held in stillness. They didn't wake up. Martha wouldn't be there across the river. She wouldn't have to open that dispassionate gaze, alive as the glass it looked like. Stephanie wouldn't have to justify herself through the rapids.
Through memory, she pressed past the Wood-Floored-Woods and out the door. The cold, cold hills of North Dakota greeted her. She set off downhill, beneath the streetlights, and slipped her mail into the slot. Stephanie wished for its safe journey. It would have to make a greater journey than she.