strangely written

Real life is so strangely written, she paused, sometimes. There was no ending the bizarre juxtaposition of life and fate and destiny. It had only been this morning when she had decided she was never, ever going back to that dim, dark place of yesteryear and now she stood holding the package. It had come in the post. Barely big enough to be called a package, just slightly larger then a packet of letters. It lay in the bottom of the mailbox under this week’s food circular, a car magazine, 3 envelopes from creditors, two fundraising letters with address stickers enclosed and a note from the neighbor inviting her to yet again another one of those insipid selling parties for Tupperware or candles or some such stuff.
She had scooped up the whole pile of things and tossed them on to the table while the puppy danced circles around her feet. She hadn’t really noticed it but when she stood up again from all the petting and licking and flurry about her ankles everything else had slid away. It was wrapped in brown paper and she picked it up to examine it. The address sent a chill up her spine, 322 Main, Charleston, SC and she glanced around to see if Henry was there. She contemplated just tossing it out. Nothing good could come of opening it. She did not wish to be drawn back into all the mess. It had taken 14 years and a million miles to extricate herself from the hold of it. But she knew herself and if she tossed it out she would be out there at two in the morning, dressed in her house robe and slippers, digging through the trash bin to find the package.
She took the package to the bedroom, into her closet. Reaching to the farthest corner of the shelf she dropped the little package into one of the winter boots she hadn’t worn since they’d moved to Destin in 1999. She felt better. If she just had to know she could pull it out and open it but it wasn’t going to keep a hold of her this time.
A 322 Main the old wizard smiled. He knew he still held her. Time, it was just a matter of time before fate and destiny would bring her back to him.