Unbeknownst to you, your cookies were a big hit around the base. Ghost had forgotten them in the common room and by the morning the container was empty.
Ghost wouldn’t admit it, but he was a bit disappointed that when he remembered where he left the cookies, that they were all gone.
‘I only got to have two,’ he grumbles to himself.
The sky is gray and ominous looking as I make my way through the crowded streets. The cacophony of honking cars and people talking on phones fills my ears, an almost pleasant white noise.
As I walk up the steps to my apartment I see a padded shipping envelope resting against my door. I bring it inside and set it on the counter with the bag of groceries. I kick off my shoes and put the food away, humming happily to myself.
As I make myself a cup of tea I pick up the envelope. It looks a little worse for wear and has a little bit of weight to it. I turn it over, looking at the return address and to my surprise it's the same address I sent the package to.
‘Well it appears he got my gifts then’ I murmured to myself happily.
I cut open the top of the envelope and peer inside. I grin broadly as I reach in my hand and pull out the two small treasures contained within. How he knew, or somehow guessed that I had a thing for rocks I’ll never know.
I turn them over in my hands as I inspect them, smiling broadly. One is a small piece of smoky quartz but the other…the other is my favorite. Shiny, sharp, and glossy black. I could tell by the random shape of it that it was naturally found and not purchased in some shop and fashioned into a spearhead or arrowhead as they all seemed to be.
A warm feeling spreads throughout my chest. No one had been this thoughtful towards me in a very long time, and here was a stranger, a soldier who didn’t know a thing about me and was thousands of miles away, gifting me something so perfectly me.
There’s a note in the envelope as well and I take it out to read it.
“Um. I don’t know what to write but they told me I should include a thank you note. The cookies were good. Send more. Oh, I’m sending you a couple rocks I found. Women like rocks right? Soap said yes so….oh um, thank you”
The note is very short but something about it screams so sweet to me. His demand for more cookies is not lost on me, and it seems like a way to ask for more correspondence without actually asking for it.
Over the course of the next 2 days I bake an obscene amount of cookies. Chocolate chip, sugar, and snickerdoodles sit in airtight containers littering my counter. Probably made close to 5 dozen cookies.
Of course I include another handwritten letter and get it sent off to the post.
“Dearest Simon,” he reads while munching on one of the million cookies she sent this time.
“I’m very glad that you enjoyed my cookies. I may have gone overboard this time. Yes. Women like rocks. Well maybe not all women…I don’t know what possessed you to think of it, but thank you, truly, from the bottom of my heart. The obsidian one is my favorite, where did you find it if I may ask?
Also, you have a friend named Soap? That’s a funny name. Am I allowed to ask about you? Like where are you from? Or your favorite color? I don’t know what’s appropriate. Anyway, before I start to ramble about nonsense I’ll let you go.
Keep Safe Simon
Warmest regards, Y/N”
“Hmph,” Ghost grunted, still staring at the closing of the letter. Why was some stranger halfway across the world worried about him? And why did he like it?
Ghost got up from the bed and went outside for a cigarette. As he gazed out over the mostly quiet base his thoughts traveled wide. They drifted to what this woman might be doing right now. Was she admiring the gifts he sent her back? Maybe it was close to dinner time for her. What would she be eating?
So lost in his thoughts was Ghost that he didn’t hear the door behind him open and Soap start calling his name. It wasn’t until Soap touched his arm that he snapped out of it.
“What’s got into you LT. I called you like 5 times. We have a briefing in ten” Soap said, giving Ghost a strange look.
“Mmm,” Ghost grumbled, the only response he was giving.
