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Fresh morning air rushed past Anette's ears as she ran through the village, racing from one house to the next as fast as she could. She skidded to a stop in front of Mist's house, cheerfully popping open the mailbox.
"Gah!" Anette recoiled, her bag swinging so violently some letters nearly spilled out.
She stared into the shadowed recesses of the mailbox, gaping in shock. A horrible face stared back at her, mouth open in silent laughter as it mocked her fear. Deep lines curled around sunken black eyes, undoubtedly formed over many years of taunting helpless victims. A smell rolled out from the creature, heavy and disturbingly familiar, like a meal she'd once eaten, like... turnip?
She adjusted her bag and leaned cautiously toward the mailbox. The thing inside kept on making that ugly expression at her, but it hadn't moved, even though it had plenty chance now to attack her. It definitely smelled of turnip. Now that she thought of it, it kind of looked like one too. What it really looked like was one of those weird festive pumpkin masks favoured by the people of Trampoli.
The front door opened, and Mist came out. "Oh? Was that you screaming? I thought it might be some new species of monster." Mist looked around, disappointed.
"I thought that was some kind of monster!" Anette pointed into the mailbox. "What is that thing doing in there?"
"It's for the Pumpkin Festival. They used to do it with turnips, you know. We ought to celebrate turnips more often."
"Today isn't the Pumpkin Festival!" It wasn't, Anette reassured herself. Her mind scrambled over the possibility she'd gotten it wrong somehow, fright addling her to the point she could hardly tell what day it was anymore.
"I forgot..." Mist sighed dreamily. She took the mask out of the mailbox and put it on over her head, gazing at Anette through the deep eyeholes. "Don't you think we should have the Pumpkin Festival every day?"
Anette ran. She didn't bother trying to come up with an answer. She just ran.
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Something stuck out around the edges of the mailbox door, waving in the breeze like dozens of tiny legs fighting to escape. Anette slowed down as she got closer to Mist's house, gripping her bag tightly. She was not going to be jumping about and risking any letters. She'd had enough of that yesterday. Her feet moved even slower, slower than her normal walk. She didn't want to go near whatever was in there. It looked like a box full of live bugs waiting for their chance to leap on someone. Could she get away with skipping a stop just this once? Could she forgive herself if she did? She was right up to the mailbox now, and she couldn't bring herself to look at it directly. Her hand reached out, her body leaned back, and her face turned away.
"Whatever you are in there, don't jump on me, okay? Jump out onto the nice ground where you belong."
Nothing happened. Anette turned back uneasily. It was only fodder, packed in to bursting and a few scraps blowing away on the wind. She poked it cautiously, in case anything had built a nest in there.
"You found my letter," Mist said, coming out to tend her flowers.
"Oh, it's meant for someone?" Anette scooped the fodder out and tried to roll it together in a tidy bundle. "When you want a letter delivered, hand it to me directly. If you leave it in your mailbox, I won't know who it's for."
"I wrote a letter to the monsters, so they would come visit me."
"Monsters?" Anette repeated. "I'm not carrying a letter to monsters! Do you know how much I get chased as it is?"
"Of course. I figured you must know where the monsters live, because you're so good at finding them."
She didn't need to find monsters, they always found her. Besides, she couldn't set foot in the ruins, she'd get mobbed in an instant. It was her duty to deliver mail, but this meant risking her life. Maybe she could find the nearest mailbox, drop this off and run as fast as she could, before anything noticed she'd ever been there. She tried to imagine where the nearest stop would be, tried to calculate how fast she would have to run to get away, when a realization hit her: monsters didn't have a mailbox.
Anette handed the fodder back. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can help. Deliveries can only be sent to registered locations."
She hoped Mist didn't notice how happy she was to hurry off.
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The unthinkable was happening today. She was behind on her deliveries. She hadn't started late, and she wasn't even delayed by monsters. She was just standing here, in the middle of the road, staring at the house before her and watching the day pass her by.
She couldn't stay here forever. For one, it was keeping people from getting their mail, and her bag was heavy with letters, parcels, and every kind of hopes and dreams people could share with one another. For another, it was getting embarrassing. What if someone saw her dithering? She stepped forward firmly, feeling the dirt under her feet, drawing breath deep into her lungs, and faced off against what was holding her back.
She was not scared of opening Mist's mailbox. She delicately gripped the tiny metal handle and eased the door open. She peeked inside and saw absolutely nothing. She laughed in relief. Just because it happened some of the time didn't mean it was normal. Today's rounds were nothing but ordinary, no, better than ordinary, today was great. She kicked up her heels to run, relief adding an extra zest to her step, and stumbled mid-stride. Sitting behind the post was the ugliest thing she ever saw.
A creepy effigy crouched upon intricately folded paper limbs of four grasping hands and four splayed legs, like a hyrid of human and spider. Its face was pages layered over each other like open lips, and a curling strip of paper rolled out like a tongue. For the body, balanced in the middle of it all, was a beautiful letter, shut with crisp edges and labelled with fancy handwriting. It was person and letter and affection and a grab for attention all in one. It was way too big to fit inside a mailbox.
"I didn't see that. It wasn't there. Nothing there to see." Anette rushed off, muttering furiously to herself.
The worst of it wasn't that she had seen it, it was that she had seen it after she'd come so close to not noticing anything at all.
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Anette stood there, nearly paralyzed by what she had to do. She had to open the mailbox. There was no way to avoid it, and she couldn't stand here all morning hoping Mist would come out. She had to deliver the letter, and she had to deliver it here. It was addressed to Mist, and this was Mist's house.
Maybe she could hold the paper by her fingertips, and slide it into the box without looking. Pinching the letter between finger and thumb, she slid her hand forward, her eyes squeezed shut and her face scrunched up. She wasn't going to see anything, not today. Something soft tickled her hand. She pushed forward a little more. She almost had the letter in far enough to shut the flap. More something pressed in, engulfing her hand, and then a dull point scrapped her knuckles. She yanked her hand back, opening her eyes unwillingly just as a white cloud exploded out of the mailbox and into her face.
She threw her arms up as a shield as the cloud showered around her to stick in her hair, to the front of her jacket, and scatter on the ground between her feet. She smacked it away, trying not to lose the letter in the mess, and wound up with a fistful of fluffiness. It was only duck feathers, so many if you taped them to someone, they might fly away. She doubted it would make her a faster runner, though. She finished brushing herself off, straighted her hat, and put the letter where it belonged. In a way, she was grateful that Mist at least hadn't put a live duck in there.
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The mailbox hung open before her, waiting for her to face what was inside. She considered it for a time before leaning forward to look within. An eyeball gazed at her from the depths, disembodied and unblinking. Anette sighed and snapped the door closed.
Mist stood up from behind the box. "There's a hole in the back of my mailbox. I thought I'd try to find out what it's like to see things from the mail's perspective for a change. It's exciting when someone comes along, but you have to wait a long time. Do you suppose it's fun being a letter? You get sent around all over the place, and get to see all kinds of people."
"You know, it's funny. That's kind of why I like being a mail carrier. You get to help people stay connected with one another."
"Really? I thought it was because you liked putting things into mailboxes. That's why I thought I'd put something in there too."
"It's more fun when you get to hand it over directly. Then you get to see the happy looks on people's faces when they get their mail."
"That sounds nice. Maybe I should give it a try." Mist smiled at the thought.
Anette smiled too, and if it was for entirely different reasons, Mist didn't need to know.