It took her hours to fall asleep as she struggled with a far too familiar feeling of restlessness and an inability to get comfortable. When her alarm buzzed, she awoke with a start. She had an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach that today was going to be different. She shook off herself off, and told herself not to be so silly, one is hardly to feel put together after such a horrible sleep, and went about her morning as she normally would. As she brushed her teeth slowly and carefully she rolled her eyes and humphed. No matter how carefully she brushed her teeth, they were always going to be too big for her face. She stared at herself in the mirror with a hard look on her face; again, she told herself not to bother with such thoughts, they didn't prosper any productivity. Nodding to herself once, she went on to wash her face, and attempt to tame her unruly curls.
She tiptoed down cold stars to find the cat scratching at the door, as she opened it to let him out, she noticed a letter placed neatly on her front steps.
'How bizarre…' she thought, she thought, who left mail on the steps? There's a perfectly good post box with their number on just around the corner. Gently, she picked up the letter. With curiosity brewing inside her, she examined the letter and failed to notice the tawny owl flying away on the horizon. The first thing she noticed was that it was heavier than normal, it had thicker, old looking paper. 'Parchment? How strange…' she thought. She wondered who was writing to her parents in such a fashion, the must be important with such an stately looking wax seal. She briefly wondered if it was some kind of government letter. Where her parents in trouble? Suddenly concerned, she flipped it over and the first thing she saw, in velvety green ink was a perfect "H." She promptly tripped over the cat. The letter was not addressed to her parents as she had assumed, but to her!
Apologising profusely to the, now very grumpy, lump of fur scowling up at her, he sat herself down quietly down on the steps, the lump purred as it nestled up against her feet. The return address was equally puzzling, it sounded made-up, like somewhere from one of her books. She stared at the letter, unsure what to make of it. It was then that she was realised she was shaking, half with excitement, half with complete and utter terror. She stared at the letter for only a moment longer before she went inside and placed it neatly on the kitchen table and walked out of the room.
"No need to think about it anymore. Mom and dad will be home soon and I'm sure they'll want to read it first, no one writes to an 11 year old, anyways." She lectured herself as she sat down on the sofa and stared at the television, not even noticing the small pile of gifts in the corner of the room.
"But, you know, it is addressed to you. So technically, it wouldn't be wrong to open it…And what if it has to do with… No. Stop it. You're being ridiculous. Honestly." It was hardly 10 minutes before the curiosity had completely eaten away at her. She glanced back to the kitchen; she had to open it- she just had to. She snatched up the letter and glared at the return address.
"This couldn't have to do with…No one even knows…" she said softly, eyes suddenly widening. Slowly, the real reason this strange letter unsettled her so much was bubbling to the surface. It was her most well-kept secret, she was the only one who knew, so these people couldn't be writing to her writing to her about it. But What if they knew? Why would they write a letter though? She had often imagined that if anyone found out some sort of police would show up at the door and take her away to be studied, no questions asked. What if it all a weird joke?…But then, she thought out loud:
"What if it has answers?" And that was that. She jumped off the sofa and grabbed the letter again. She was so tempted to open it, but something was held her back. She turned it over to the front again, where her name was written, convincing herself that opening it without her parents there was the right thing to do. Slowly, she moved her eyes up to the return address. There it was, the word that had caused her such trouble;'…witchcraft'. For a moment she hesitated, everything logical told her to throw it away, but in a moment, she would tear the seal open and hungrily read the words written inside.