He wakes up early. He thinks 6am is way too early for a college student on a day off. He can't help it, though, because today is when the mail is delivered and today is when he should be getting a reply to his application for an internship with the local (and famous) Prometh Inc., a company that excels in replicating life through technology and hopes to remedy world hunger by growing animals.
He can really get behind that.
He leisurely brushes his teeth and takes a shower, nodding off under the water, but catching himself before any harm could come to him. After dressing, he walks back into his bedroom, and, seeing the alarm clock shout visibly at him that it was 6:34 am, he rushes to put his shoes on and get out the door.
~
The mailman is a very punctual fellow and arrives every day at 6:35 am on the dot for his first delivery, finishing his duties not ten minutes later. He prides himself on this fact and is wont to brag about his punctuality. He walks in the door of the main building of an apartment complex, The Gardens it is called, exactly on time.
He goes about his business with a sense of urgency that he usually doesn't feel. This time, however, he has an important letter that he has been instructed to hand-deliver to its recipient. For a normal mailman, this wouldn't be an issue. A normal mailman could deliver it without care for time, or bring it back to the office saying no one was home, but he is no normal mailman – he is the best.
In record time, the mailman is able to deliver all his letters, save the one. Six minutes, a personal best. He turns around the special envelope in his hand and is startled to see a young man burst in the door, huffing and heaving, sweat dripping down from his pores. The young man looks up at the mailman and speaks:
"That's... mine."
"Are you Devin L. Gonzales?" the mailman asks, masking his surprise.
"Yeah, that's me." the young man stands up and fumbles with the wallet that is in his hand, previously unseen by our esteemed mailman. He pulls out a driver's license and holds it out for the mailman to see.
The license confirms the young man's identity as Devin L. Gonzales (and that he also has brown hair, brown eyes, is 5'7", and is also 22 years old) to the mailman's relief. He hands the letter over, having the young man, Devin, sign for it, and is on his way.
'A job well done,' he tells himself. Now, for the rest of his day to go just as smoothly.
~
Devin's hands tremble as he looks at the letter. He feels its weight and is surprised by its heaviness. It feels like it contains a lot of papers, as well as another something. He wonders what could fit inside it, but thinks to himself that he'd find out eventually.
With a nod to the receptionist behind the counter (she does not nod back due to the fact that she is sleeping behind the desk (which Devin doesn't notice)) he makes his way, slowly this time, back to his apartment.
In all honesty, he is afraid to open the letter. What if it contains rejection? What if they tell him that he will not have a future in this career? His more rational side tells him that they wouldn't send something so heavy just to reject him, but still, he wonders.
By the time he makes it back to his apartment, he has made up his mind to open the letter after breakfast. It would give him some time to build up his courage and having food in his belly would help with any doubt he might be feeling. Probably.
He walks inside and closes the door behind him. In a fit of spontaneity, he rips the letter open and dumps its contents onto the nearest table. There. Now he just has to read it. Hesitating to pick it up, he notices a plastic corner sticking out of the folded papers. He picks the corner up, suddenly hopeful, and sees that it is a badge with his picture on it.
