No Reason But Us

Chapter 1 : Because Of A Letter

More than two decades passed, and it was just another morning. On a windy Monday morning, Oddey was up in the attic looking for an old art book by the dusty shelf. "Where is it?" she grunted. "I know it's somewhere in here. I knew I should've taken it the moment I saw it."

But then, her mother, Eve, saw the ladder to get to the attic was down by the corridor. "Odette Empirio, are you up there again?" she called out to her.

"Yeah..."

"Get out of there now. It's too dusty in there."

"I'll be fine," Oddey assured. "I just need to find that Romantic Art book."

"You might get an asthma attack. Get down right now," her mother demanded.

"In a minute." The young lady continued to find her book. Eventually, she found it. "There it is."

Later, Oddey was in the kitchen, sitting by the counter to have her break. She wiped the dust off on the cover with a wet tissue. "Don't ever go up there again," Eva spoke to her in a firm tone.

"Mom, I'm fine," Oddey assured her. "Besides, I need it."

"What is it anyway?"

"Romanticism and Art book. It's in the syllabus. This was Dad's when he was in college."

"I could've gotten that for you," Eva told her.

Oddey acted cheeky, "Well, I have it now," she said.

Her mother just laughed it off, then placed a warm chocolate and toast on the table. "Here's your breakfast."

"Thanks, mom."

After breakfast, the college student walked out of her family home. The weather was so chilly that people needed to wear warm clothes. Oddey felt the cold wind gust on her. Eventually, it was getting less breezy, so she took out the book from her bag and began reading the art book while walking.

When she turned a page, there was a thin envelope and it seemed old because of the brownish color the edges were black, and there was a name written on it at the back 'Marie' with thick black ink, a postal stamp, and an address she had.

Oddey stopped walking and got curious. She was about to check it out, but the wind got stronger, so the paper blew away. "Oh no," she gasped, then started chasing it.

----

On the other side of the street, Gage was there and talking to his friend on the phone. He was leaving a voicemail since there was no answer. "Hey! Courtney, I'm almost there in Patty Street. Where are you?" he asked. "Call me back."

All of a sudden, the wind blew the envelope through the pathway, then it stopped when it got to Gage's eye level, and it caught his attention and then just like that.

The wind stopped, so he watched the envelope fall on the ground in front of his shoes. "What's this?" He got curious, so he picked it up, turned it around, and then read 'Marie' at the back.

Unfortunately, it flew off his hands. It was odd, yet he shrugged it off and continued to cross the road.

Once Gage got to the spot where he was supposed to meet his friend, he went to a convenience store to buy something to eat while waiting.

He entered the store and picked what sandwich to eat. However, as he was choosing between a tuna or an egg salad sandwich, he could see a girl appear in the distance through the glass window wall. It was Oddey.

Gage didn't know her, and he had never taken a fancy to any girl in the past, but seeing wavy medium dark hair and red plump lips petite girl felt different.