fiction - brigits_flame - piece must be titled "The Marking"

[hwango]

The Marking

Russell held in his hand what was almost certainly the most interesting piece of mail he’d ever received. Naturally, it had been delivered to him by mistake, and was addressed to his upstairs neighbor.

The envelope appeared to have originally been plain white, though it was now slightly browned and wrinkled by water damage. It had been addressed by hand in ink that had weathered the envelope’s soaking without smudging or running. It felt slightly dusty, and smelled faintly of sea salt.

According to the postmark over the stamp, it had been mailed from Atlantis earlier that month.

Clearly it was some kind of joke, but the execution was superlative. Russell knew that what he ought to do was put it in his neighbor’s mailbox where it belonged. On the other hand, Russell had never met his neighbor, who according to the letter was named Kosmok Friz. Bringing it up by hand would be a good excuse to introduce himself, and they could laugh over the joke together. Maybe Kosmok would even open the letter while he was there. Russell found that he was quite curious what sort of message was inside.

Russell jogged lightly up the steps and knocked in what seemed to him a friendly and cheerful way. A long period of silence elapsed. Russell was just about to despairingly slide the letter under the door when he finally heard someone working the knob from the other side. He straightened, smiled, and held up the letter.

The door opened perhaps an inch or two, just enough for an eye to peer through the gap at him.

“Yes, what is it? I’m very busy and –” at which point the eye fixed on the letter and the voice shifted over into a gasp of mingled excitement and outrage. “You have my mail!” Kosmok howled. The door crashed open and Kosmok snatched the envelope from Russell’s hand and pressed it dearly against his chest as if to protect it from some savage predator.

At that point Russell half-expected to have the door slammed in his face, but instead both of them just stood there for a moment, staring at each other. Russell realized that was being given an opportunity to explain himself.

“It was delivered to me by mistake,” he said, “and I just thought I’d bring it by. In case it was…um…urgent, or something.”

Kosmok’s demeanor changed instantly. Grinning manically he leaned forward and enthusiastically shook Russell’s hand, which Russell belatedly realized he was still holding out.

“So kind of you, thank you! I have indeed been awaiting this with great anticipation!” Kosmok dropped Russell’s hand and returned his attention to the envelope. “Flawless!” he said after a moment of careful scrutiny, and then he scuttled off deeper into the apartment, the door left hanging open. Russell realized with some trepidation that he was probably being invited in. He took a cautious step inside.

All of the windows had shades pulled over them, and in the dim light Russell first thought that the apartment had very unusual wallpaper. Quickly he realized that the walls were actually covered in envelopes, each one sealed in an air-tight plastic sleeve. He took a few more hesitant steps into the room and squinted at the nearest wall.

“Ah, those are hardly even worth your time!” Kosmok said from startlingly close by. He waved his hand dismissively at the wall. “That wall is just Europe, Asia, and the like. Come, come! These are the real prizes of my collection!” Russell allowed himself to be dragged by the hand across the room to a wall that had not yet been totally covered – there were holes in the collection, obviously waiting for specific envelopes. Russell watched as Kosmok carefully pinned a plastic sleeve containing his latest treasure into one of these spaces.

“So…you collect the postmarks,” Russell said, trying to put the pieces of the last few minutes together in a way that made sense.

“Indeed!” Kosmok said. “From everywhere!”

Russell looked more closely at this wall of Kosmok’s most prized pieces. He saw postmarks for Carcossa, Minas Tirith, Emerald City, Cair Paravel…

“But…” Russell began uncertainly, his eyes watering from the way the postmark from R’Lyeh seemed to crawl over its stamp possessively, “these places don’t actually exist.”

“Which made getting those particular gems quite the challenge, let me tell you!” Kosmok said. “Look here!”

Russell looked where he was pointing. The city name was unfamiliar, but the country of origin struck him. “New Canada?”

“Indeed! Had to send to the future for that one. And, let me tell you, the tachyon backlash from getting it hung about like you wouldn’t believe. It was 4:57 PM for three whole days!”

Russell allowed himself to be shown around for several more minutes before he finally managed to excuse himself. It appeared that Kosmok rarely had the chance to show off his collection, and was positively delighted by someone apparently taking an interest.

In the days that followed, Russell contented himself with thoughts that his upstairs neighbor appeared to be nutcase in a charmingly harmless way. Any bizarre phenomena Russell had experienced while looking at any of the pieces were surely products of his imagination. The world was a sane and normal place filled with other sane and normal places, and those were the only places there were.

It was months later that he reached into his mailbox and flinched as he touched something hot. He looked inside, and then carefully withdrew the contents.

He had another piece of Kosmok’s mail. The corners were singed and a distinctly sulfurous smell clung to the paper. Tiny orange embers sizzled inside the lines of the postmark even as he watched.

This one Russell decided to just stick in Kosmok’s mailbox. He didn’t fancy touching it for any longer than necessary, and he didn’t think he could handle another look at the collection just now. Russell did wonder, however, if Kosmok already had the other half of what must be a matching set. He was curious what the postmark from Heaven would look like.

Comments

[gunthersdncemix.livejournal.com]

Ooh, nifty! I think this is going to be one of my favorites! :)

[writingmoments.livejournal.com]

Wow, this was great! So creative! I like how your mind works (but envy your ability.)

[thorarosebird.livejournal.com]

This is so inventive, I absolutely love it! The description of the postmark crawling over its stamp is charming - and intriguing, since I'm not familiar with the place it came from. Kosmok is a delight, and your opening drew me in right away.

May I leave some concrit as well? :) I wanted to mention the use of adverbs - they really are everywhere in this, and in most cases they could be changed for a more effective verb or taken out altogether. This was where I first noticed it: "Kosmok’s demeanor changed instantly. Grinning manically he leaned forward and enthusiastically shook Russell’s hand, which Russell belatedly realized he was still holding out."

That's all I wanted to say! Well done, I really enjoyed reading this. :)

[bluegerl.livejournal.com]

Wow. Love Kosmok, what a character!! Fancy having mail from Minas Tirith, and Atlantis. I'm a bit afeared about the last one though... What a lovely take on the prompt. I am amazed at all the different views of two words.
Will Kosmok be all right after the last letter - and what will the one from Heaven look like.... fascinating. You have a most orignal mind!!!

And may I add my sincere COngratulations for the Nom Title. you certainly deserve that one in particular. Splendid.

[bardiphouka.livejournal.com]

I think collecting postmarks is a hobby which may be fading as computers take over more and more communication. But this one convincingly leads one to believe a sad...and a good thing. And congratulations on the Nom title.

[one-time-pad.livejournal.com]

I'm left to wonder if the First National Post Office of R'lyeh is maddening because of its location, because of the queues, or because of the service?

This is a neat story, inventive as always -- good job.

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[hwango.livejournal.com]

You know, I stopped just before I read your example and went to go over the story again myself and see how invasive the adverbs really were. I thought things seemed fine right up until I got to that same sentence you mention. Yeah, wow, there are too many of them in there. "Manically" can certainly go, and I could construct the last part of the sentence differently to eliminate "belatedly" without changing the content.

But I'm glad you enjoyed the piece anyway. = )

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks! I do enjoy seeing the different ways people use the prompts. We do seem to end up with a pretty good variety.

And thanks for the congrats on the Nom. I was very happy to win that one.

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yes, it's important to collect all of the postmarks now, before they start to do away with them.

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Heh, I suspect the R'lyeh Post Office is maddening for all of those reasons and more. = )

[underless.livejournal.com]

Heh, this is such a great take on the prompt. But the thought of what is inside the letter from R'lyeh is a bit unsettling. ;)

[thorarosebird.livejournal.com]

Very much so! :)

[hwango.livejournal.com]

Sea weed? A very flat octopus? Non-euclidean junk mail? The Newsletter Man Was Not Meant to Read? = )

In theory, Kosmok, would be mailing the letter inside another envelope to the post office from whom he wished a postmark, and there doesn't really need to be anything inside the envelope he's mailing to himself. But maybe they'll slip something inside while it's there.

[keppiehed.livejournal.com]

You show yourself to be not just a master of comedy, but of whimsy, as well, a style I admire quite a bit. You have a deft touch with your magical pen, my friend, and this tale was a delight from start to finish. I enjoyed every word.