The Letters

The setting sun was blurred by slivers of wispy clouds and pale gold was smudged over the sky. A small black dot erupted from a clump of trees and flew out of sight.
         But Lucy didn’t see any of this, even though her nose was pressed to the window. Her eyes were out of focus as she thought about the letter she had received little over an hour ago. It was on a piece of paper that looked as though someone had tea-stained it. The writing was looping and the signature swirling.
         She had been sitting in this position for at least an hour, not even noticing the grey cat purring loudly on her lap. In fact didn’t even come out of her reverie when her door was opened to reveal a thin balding man with a slightly confused look on his face.
         “Lucy,” he whispered into the darkening room. “Are you going to come down? The others are worried about you. Said you’d got a letter and then disappeared up here.”
         This was true. She had received the letter over breakfast and when she had realised who had sent it she dropped the fork that had been carrying the fried egg to her mouth. She had run from the kitchen to her room holding the letter away from herself as though it was a bomb, which it was, in a way. Now, hours later, she did not move. She stayed as still as a statue.
         “Ok, then,” he continued. “If you want dinner come down at any time.”
         He hesitated before sighing and walked back down the stairs. As soon as he had gone, Lucy turned around and scanned her room. It was a total tip. It had been perfectly tidy two hours ago but the letter had made her so angry. How could anyone expect her to leave a family she had come to regard as her own? Why would she take orders from someone she doesn’t know? And why was he threatening her to do something that seemed so trivial?
         But what they had told her to do seemed almost like what she had always dreamed of doing. He must have known that. In fact, whoever had written the letter had sounded like he knew her. And so with a look of determination no one could take away she took a quick glance at the letter and started to pack her belongings into an ancient trunk. Only stopping briefly to look out the window a few times.