Spellbound → Hermione Granger [1] ✔

I 02 I A Letter of Revelations

~*~

Alexander's summer was similar to the previous ones. The season came fast, as the music turned up to full volume. The sky blazed blue and the sun shone, a celebration of warmth and brightness. The trees rose to the occasion, donning their best verdant hues, and flowers were strewn everywhere, the scattered rainbow, in flower shops and garden centres.

Alexander spent his time outdoors in the afternoon, reading on park benches, or hanging out with his friends. Occasionally, Eliot and Alexander would travel to Central London to see museums or galleries. They'd then eat lunch in the park, and, afterwards, Alexander would feed the ducks. His favourite, though, was when Grandfather Laurent accompanied the two when he had the time. Although Grandfather Laurent was aged, his body was active enough to kick a football around with his grandson. During this activity, Grandfather Laurent looked years younger without the worries marking his features; his white hair danced in the wind, and a small smile peeked across his face. He bought Alexander ice cream from a gelato place; large scoops of vanilla oozing with chocolate sauce and pistachios. The cool evenings were devoted to watching The Simpsons on the TV or playing board games with Eliot.

Truth be told, the disappearing man was never far from Alexander's mind. Yet, he never mentioned what he saw that day to anyone, not even to Grandfather Laurent or Eliot. It was something that Alexander could never figure out. Saying it out loud to himself sounded crazy enough, to begin with, let alone to inform his Grandfather. He vowed to dismiss it: the thought was just that, a fiction of the mind.

It was a defining moment, but the most memorable incident occurred when a strange letter came through the mail.

It was on a Monday morning, that dawned clear and sunny, where the mystery of the disappearing man was finally solved, or a part of it at least. It began, of course, with a letter. Alexander had a habit of looking through the mail. When he was a child, Grandfather Laurent would travel, quite often, for his job, mostly to France, which left Eliot and Alexander home alone. Grandfather Laurent struggled with using a phone and so would write a handwritten letter for Alexander instead. Alexander would rush to the front door as the mail came through the letterbox, searching, Eliot right behind him. Eliot helped him to read it aloud, as he was a young child back then and struggled to pronounce certain words. Nowadays, Grandfather didn't travel anymore, but he still worked busy hours. It was one of the reasons why he had hired Eliot as a carer. For Alexander, Eliot wasn't just someone hired to take care of him. He was family. Eliot and Grandfather.

Alexander shifted through the mail. There were a few bills addressed to his Grandfather, some promotional fliers, and then he stopped short to scrutinise one letter. It was a thick yellowish envelope and the pen was emerald ink. The message, surprisingly, was addressed to him. Alexander's first thought was that it was a letter from his new secondary school, but most schools printed out the letter from a computer. This one did not use any pen he had seen. Come to think of it, who used green ink? It did not signify professionalism. Woolworths would not sell them. Also, was it not too late in the year to be accepted to another school? He didn't even apply. The letter would have been directed to his Grandfather rather than Alexander. The address, as clear as day, read as: