The Time Traveler's Wife - The Other Side

The Mail Delivery

November 2001

Those fourteen months flew by. Her father stopped being home for dinner. Mrs. Lawrence took Laura in and she and Danny would go to their house after school, doing homework and having dinner before Mrs. Lawrence dropped Laura off at home. To an empty house.

Sherman even stopped putting up a fight and let Laura go see all of Danny's baseball games.

But then Laura got strep throat and he took some time off. After she recovered, Sherman told Laura he was sorry he was missing so much time with her. He seemed really scared and in the past couple weeks, made an effort to at least be home for dinner. So Laura would just go home with Danny and then head home earlier.

Except Laura's had this date marked on her calendar and this time she made sure she was home. The only problem was her homework assignments needed her to do research on the Internet, and her computer was not in the attic. So she stayed in her bedroom and hoped Carmilla would make her way down on her own.

It's early evening when she has a passing thought about craving apple cider.

"Hey," Carmilla says carefully as she turns into Laura's bedroom, fully clothed.

"Oh! Hey," Laura says after jumping a bit. "Sorry, I was gonna wait for you in the attic when I saw you hadn't traveled back here yet when I got home from school, but I needed the computer for homework."

Carmilla chuckles, looking at the clunky computer. "It's fine."

"I didn't want you to think I was still mad at you," Laura says.

Carmilla frowns. "Why would you be mad at me?"

Laura's eyes widen. "Oh. Uh. No reason. No spoilerish reason at all..." She laughs nervously. "Guess you're younger than 27, huh?"

"I'm 26," Carmilla replies.

"Noted," Laura says, turning on a camera she has nearby. "That means you haven't done the first vlog yet."

Carmilla shakes her head, sitting down on a chair Laura pulls over for her.

Laura begins recording and clears her throat. "Hi, lovely viewers! I'm Laura Hollis. I'm ten years old."

"I'm Carmilla Karnstein. I'm twenty-seven."

"Wow, you're a natural!" Laura declares proudly. She turns back to the camera. "It's November 13, 2001."

Laura stands up and goes to her bookcase, reaching between two books and pulling out an envelope. She hands it to Carmilla, who looks it over. The handwriting is definitely hers, and reads, "Laura - Please don't open. And please give this to me the next time we meet."

She flips it over and finds that it hasn't been opened.

Laura huffs. "I may have been mad at you, but I'm not rude and nosey. Or... at least, not that rude and nosey!"

Carmilla chuckles. "Sorry, sorry."

"But I am curious," Laura says excitedly, bouncing onto her bed. "I've been waiting over a year to find out what's inside!"

"Who says I'm gonna read this out to you?" Carmilla teases.

Laura narrows her eyes. "Fine. Next time you need someone to deliver your own mail to you throughout time, find someone else."

"Doesn't seem like a fair trade for me at all," Carmilla continues, opening the envelope.

Laura rolls her eyes, but stays put on the bed.