Page 2 of Ash

Moving her hands over her plain t-shirt and shorts that she wore at home, she made sure that every one of her curves and rolls were covered. She had no idea who was at the door, but she didn't want to deal with anyone's pitying or judgmental looks.

Suzannah disengaged the deadbolt and opened the door with a hesitant twist of the knob.

The man standing in front of her door was dressed as if he'd stepped out of the United States Postal Service Uniform Catalogue. Pristine white pith helmet, his powder blue collar folded and pressed with sharp precision. Add to that his beltedshorts, knee-high socks, black shoes and a delivery bag slung across his chest.

"Are youMisss..." He looked down at the envelope in his hand. "Suzannah Miller?"

"Yes?" She grimaced at the sound of her own voice. She'd answered him in a question.

Suzannah knew she needed to be more confident, but here she was with her heart in her throat and starting to sweat.

He tilted his head a little, continuing to look at her avidly from the side of his vision. "So is that a yes or a no?"

"Yes." She forced the hint of a smile on her face. "What is that?"

"It's a delivery for Suzannah Miller." He fanned the envelope across his face and she felt the tail end of the breeze on her own. "And that's you."

Her gaze focused on the envelope in his hand. "Can... can I have it?"

He slowed the movement of the envelope, his smile slanting across his lips. "I don't know,canyou?"

Suzannah drew into herself. The man had no idea what that phrase did to her.

She was raised by an elderly woman with a penchant for nit-picking everything Suzannah ever did. And try as she might, Suzannah had never... ever gotten anything right.

Something akin to a whimper began to well up in her throat.

It had been a long time since she'd felt this off-center. Ever since she finished high school, she'd moved out of the Janus' house and made her way in the world. Sometimes she'd done okay, but there had been a lot of stumbling around while she tried to find a direction that offered her more than a daily dose of dragging her heels.

"You're no fun." The mailman reached into his shirt pocket and withdrew a pen from it. He clicked the back end and thepen nib was visible. A little messy and smudged, but visible. "It's registered mail. You'll have to sign for it."

Registered mail. That was a first, too.

Signing for the letter, she knew that the mail carrier was just as curious as she was.

“You, uh, expecting this?”

She looked down at the envelope in her hands wondering why her palms were dry.

Looking at the return address was a shock in and of itself.

James Redding, Esq.

33 Eagle Peak

Mystic Mountain, USA

“Mystic Mountain.”

She found herself speaking without a conscious thought and smiling because of it. There was something in the words that lifted her spirits.

“What does the ESQ mean?”

Suzannah looked up at the younger man and his hair curling under the brim of his pith helmet made him look like he was cosplaying the hunter from Jumanji.

“The what?”

He reached over and pointed at the return address. “E.S.Q. What does it mean?”

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