The Hidden Letter

“You find a letter hidden in your apartment. It is addressed to you, and dated ten years ago. You just moved to town last week.”

The door creaked as Mandy pushed through the door. She sighed as she looked around her apartment. Her eyes passed over the sparse furniture of the room and settled on the stack of unopened packing boxes in the corner. She knew what was in them, but she couldn’t bring herself to face those memories just yet. She closed her eyes against the emotions that rose in her as she thought of her lover. She shook her head and lay on the couch, flicking through the endless channels on TV.

Mandy was almost asleep when a voice caused her to sit up. She looked around her apartment but saw no one. She frowned as she got up to turn the light on. Nothing. She was alone. Sadness crashed over her and she headed to the kitchen to make herself a drink. As she pulled one of the glasses from the cupboard, a scrap of paper fluttered to the bench. Curiously she set the glass aside and picked it up. It had been folded in half and the outside read “Mandy West”. She frowned in confusion and flipped the folded paper over. The back had a date on it, ten years ago. She stared at it in confusion, what was going on here? How could a letter from 10 years ago be in the apartment she had moved into just last week? She gently opened the paper and read what it said.

‘Run.’

She dropped the paper in shock and looked around her. Fear was beginning to creep into her as she tried to understand what was happening. Something brushed against her leg and she let out a startled yelp. Beside her was a man that seemed made of shadows. She backed away from him as he began to solidify. She had seen this man before, he had often visited her nightmares. She had read stories in the paper about men and women who supposedly saw this man before dying mysteriously. The media put it down to a mental condition saying it wasn’t real.

Panic began to course through her as she backed towards the door, never taking her eyes off the man. She found the handle and slipped out into the hall way. She ran as fast as she could down the flight of steps and out into the street. All around the street shadow men were forming. She looked around wildly for some place to escape them. The street was crowded but no one else seemed to notice the shadows. This couldn’t be happening, it wasn’t real. Terrified, she ran as fast as she could.