VIOLA

CHAPTER 1

Sydney's POV

"COMING!" I shouted loudly as I rushed downstairs to answer the door before they actually break my bell. I looked at my giant clock on the wall, '7pm' it showed. Who could it be? I wondered to myself as I reached the door, peeping through the peep hole.

There was a man standing in a khaki uniform, with a dusty bag hanging on his left shoulder and an envelope in his right hand. He was somewhat a grown man maybe in his early 40s, by judging his expression he seemed pretty restless and annoyed. I stepped back a bit and thought what is it, who would do delivery in the evening as I was lost in my own thoughts, he knocked hard!.

"Is anyone there?" shouted the khaki man from the opposite side. Coming back to my senses I hurriedly opened my door. He finally heaved a sigh of relief as if his poor soul found a drop of water in an arid desert. As soon as I appeared in front of him he shoved the envelope in my direction. I'm sure I must be looking out of place as he looked at me with a questioning look in his eyes but that didnt stay for long.

"Hello Madam! An envelope for you!" he greeted, surprisingly in a cheerful voice which didn't match his earlier expression.

I stared at him blankly then over his head, looking nowhere exactly. I don't know why I am zoning out a lot today. I took the envelope before he asked, "Madam I've never seen you around this neighborhood. Perhaps are you new here?" with his rough voice. "Oh! yes, yes. I just moved here early in the morning. Is this for me?" I asked appearing a bit confused by this unknown letter. "Ofcourse madam! It's definitely for you. The address scribbled here is of this very place you're residing in", he stated while crouching down to arrange other letters in that dusty bag of his.

"Ok? Well that's quite strange as I don't remember anyone having my current address to send me a letter. Is it from here? Are you sure this isn't for the person who used to stay here before me? Who could it be?" I bombarded him with several questions having no clue where this envelope came from. "Definitely it's from here Madam. Are you Sydney Shrivastava?", he asked giving me a fresh laugh as if I didnt just ask him questions instead told him some morning jokes. I nodded in response with wide, confusing eyes. "Then this, Madam, with no doubt is for you" he said giving a gentle smile while still fumbling with the letters. "Oh, I see. Well do you need any help that seems pretty messy?" I asked showing my concerns. "That's alright madam. I'm running late so I'll take my leave from here. Have a nice evening madam", said the postman in a hurry before he started running back to the fence not giving me a chance to say goodbye.

I watched him stepping away in the dark as the cold weather sent chills down my spine. It's late in December almost nearing Christmas. This place seems calm yet scary as this old vintage bungalow is situated in a place where there's not many houses and on top of that, this whole area is almost covered with woods which adds to the creepiness. I stood there and admired the dark winter night; the sky appeared to be a bit dull and cloudy not giving off good vibes. What is it, is it going to rain? I thought to myself and decided to go back inside.

Just when I was about to move I caught a dark figure standing far in the woods behind a tree, I stopped and took a closure look but all I saw was dark and quite woods. Maybe I'm hallucinating again or else who would be there standing like a creep. I got lost in my thoughts when I heard a glass falling and breaking in my kitchen, I screamed and turned around just to find a little kitten sitting by my window and staring at me. I stared at her in horror as I shivered by the wind, should have covered myself with a shawl; I thought and quickly shut my door.