**************************************

As the sun shone through the window onto my favorite picture, the light reflected into my eyes and made me squint. Ah, Saturday. I stretched my arms up till they hit the wall and each individual toe to the end of my wooden four-poster. Yawning, I sat up in bed. Adjusting my boxers (damn wedgies), I slowly moved to sit at the edge of my bed.

After making my way across the hall to the bathroom to wash up then back across to get dressed, I proceeded to walk down stairs to the kitchen. I stared for a moment at the stairs. I missed the carpeted stairs we used to have. Before mom went Martha Stuart crazy and just had to but in "beautiful hardwood floors." I mean, sure, they looked nice I guess, but I liked that carpet, damn it. Wood was just so...unfriendly. Not to mention all the memories with that carpet. Soft, plushy tan carpet. Man it was fun to slide down those stairs on a blanket-sled with Jake. Good times. Oh, well, I thought. I'll be out of here in less than a year anyway.

I walked into the kitchen to find my mail waiting on the breakfast table, as usual. As I grabbed a banana, I pawed through the envelopes, expecting it to be the regular batch of college junk mail. Ugh, how annoying those letters were. I remember the first time mom found one in the mail for me. She got all excited, ran up to my room, excitedly saying, "Oh my god, Yale is interested in having you as a student!"

"Yes, I know, mom. I get about five e-mails a day from colleges. Just throw it out."

"Oh..." She sounded disappointed. I rolled my eyes. The amount of AP's (or rather lack-there-of) I was taking, combined with my less than perfect GPA were not getting me into Yale, no matter how high of a percentile I was in on my SAT's. Sure, by most standards, a 3.5 GPA wasn't bad, but for Yale? Come on, mom. Besides, I was far more interested in psychology or photography, and didn't need to go to some prestigious college to study either of those.

I found three college letters, my May issue of Rolling Stone, and something of an anomaly. A letter. I never get letters. I never write them. So naturally I never get them.

But here it was, in a perfectly square, deep red envelope with crisp edges, yet a soft, almost satin finish to the paper. My name and address were perfectly centered and written in metallic gold pen. A gold pen that produced such fine ink that it shimmered and shone like real gold flecks would in a streambed. There was no return address to be found on the front, so I slowly turned it over, placing the half-eaten banana on the counter along with the rest of my mail. There were tiny, perfectly uniform spirals drawn in the same gold ink, edging the back of the envelope, but no writing. I turned the envelope back over, this time examining the writing closely, seeing if perhaps I might figure out who could've sent me this strange letter. I went through people in my head, but no one I'd ever met had writing this fantastically elaborate. I realized I should look to see where the letter was postmarked. I realized then that it wasn't. There was not a stamp, but rather another elaborate, spirally drawing in the same gold pen used in the address. It was in the shape of a stamp, so I guess I had just assumed it was a stamp. I then realized that there was a certain scent about the envelope. A light, slightly musky scent. I put it closer to my nose and breathed in deeply. The smell was intoxicating. Alluring. It was the best smell I had ever encountered, including Jane's hair. Nothing topped Jane's hair. Except for this envelope. I breathed in the scent again. My eyes rolling back into my head, I stepped back and put my right arm on the counter to catch myself. Something about this letter was irresistible. Yet I couldn't open it. As I came to my senses, I looked around. I'm not quite sure why. I knew I was home alone when I woke up. Maybe I wanted to reassure myself that I was really at home, in my kitchen, standing here with this...this...gem in my hand.

I carefully placed the unopened envelope on the counter and went back to enjoying my banana, all the while staring transfixed at the silk-like paper. I'll wait, I decided. I'll wait until mom gets home, and I'll ask her about it...

To be continued...

before - after