The Purple Envelope

by Nibia Azuaro

“Good morning sweetheart”, Elizabeth said to her husband as she made breaskfast.

“Good morning honey. Uh, I go in at 10:00 am today so I’ll take the kids to school. You should have enough time to check the boxes you brought from your parents’ house.”

“Yeah, but I have to go grocery shopping first and then go visit my mom. She called saying there was a letter for me. Seems like someone just dropped it off in her mailbox and im kind of curios.”

“Well that sounds really weird, but well in that case do it over the weekend, or tomorrow. I’m getting tired of seeing them in the room. I have to go now. Tell the kids I’ll be waitng in the car. Love you.”

“Love you .. too,” She said as she noticed that Richard didn’t hear anything since he closed the door before she responded.

Later that day Elizabeth decide to go to her parents’ house first. She more than curious to know more about this mysterious letter. A letter? She thought as she got in the car. Who writes letter nowadays? I better hurry up and find out. After about 15 minutes she finally arrived at her parents’ house and after chatting with her mother about how things were going, her mom finally pulled out a purple enevelope. She got really nervouse because purple was her favorite color But it might have been nothing but a big coincidence. Her name was written on the front with black bold letters. She then decided to go home abnd read it with her husband. She thought it was something important.

As she headed to the grocery store she found herself somewhat nervous, maybe more than she already was. While at the store she felt like everyone was watching every single move she made. She walked until she found the stuff she needed for dinner. She paid and walked out of the store. Once she got to her car she felt like somebody was staring at her. She opened the door and looked to her right, saw nothing. Her left, nothing. She thought about the letter and quickly got in the car.
“Where is that damn letter”, she said nervously, “I thought I left it on the passengers seat.” She checked under the passengers seat and finally saw the purple envelope.
“Richard wont mind if I read the letter without him. I wonder who is it from?
And why doesn’t it say on the envelope? That’s really weird.”

She took the letter out of the envelope and started reading. While reading her body got extremely hot and felt sick, like she was about to puke. Her face turned red and her hands started to sweat. What in the world is this? She then read the letter again but this time out loud:
“Dear Eli, you are definitely the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen in my entire life. You’re amazing and I know that you and your husband should not be together. He’s not the right guy for you. He hasn’t always been there for you, I have. I’ve been watching you really close. And I know every single movement you make, so don’t try to get the police involved because they’re not going to stop me. I will not stop until you’re by my side. I haven’t since the first day I saw you, so why would I stop now? Now if you want your husband to live, then you’re going to have to meet up with me but I wont tell you where. You’re going to have to find me. You got 96 hours to find me though. Good luck.
P.S. 96 is the first clue, think Eli, think if you want him to live. You’re the only one that can save him”.
Elizabeth could not believe what she had just read. Her eyes got watery as she put
her seatbelt on. What is all this about? Of course I want him to live, what is this person
thinking? He’s the father of my kids and the love of my life? She thought to herself.
On her way home she thought about the clue over and over again. 96 hours? 96 divided by 24 equals 4, 4 days. Ninety six.
“Honey, I’m home. Richard said as he walked into the kitchen. Where are the
kids? Did you got to your mom’s house? Did you get the letter?”
“They’re upstairs, doing homework. And yeah I did, we will talk about that later.”
She said as she thought whether to tell him or not. If she told him she knew he would call
the police right away but then again she didn’t want him to get hurt, in any way.
“Sure but, is everything okay? You don’t look so well”, Richard said as he got
closer and hugged her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I love you.”
“I love you too and just remember that I’m always going to be here for you.”
After dinner Elizabeth and her family went to the living room an watched a
movie. Elizabeth thought about how fortunate she was for having such a perfect family.
She was so happy with her life at the moment, why would anyone want to ruin it?
They watched the movie and went to sleep since they were all tired, fortunately
Richard was so tired that he fell asleep right when the movie started. She wanted to tell him but not until she got another note.
The next day Elizabeth woke up early to go run, she felt as if she needed some
fresh air. She also just wanted some time to relax and think about the clue. She grabbed
her cell phone, keys and the letter and left.
“Ninety-six, ninety-six, ninety-six, nine....six, of course. I graduated in 1996, wait
but, maybe I should check in the year book. But where is my yearbook? And how am I
going to know who this person is? There’s almost 300 pages and I don’t know how many pictures….per page!”. She ran back home an there was a purple note hanged to her mailbox. She grabbed it and read it:
“Seems like running helped you. I know you’re wondering how I know all this
stuff but I know every single movement you make as well as the things you think and say. I am your other half. If your picture is on page 96 then you will find me on page …think dear, you’re doing a great job but well see whether you really love your husband or not. ”
As soon as she walked in the house she remembered about the boxes she was supposed to check. These boxes had a lot of stuff from her high school years. Notebooks, books, letters, yearbooks, pictures, memories.
“Class of 1996... Page 96. Uhm what a great coincidence I didn't know my picture was on page 96, but whatever. So he said: "I'm your other half. I'm your other half, I am your other half. " Bingo! Half of 96 is 48. Page 48.”

She immediately looked for page 48 and as she thought there was another note written on the edge of page. 1717 4^th Street at 4 pm, bring your little girl, I’d love to meet her.

“Rich, I’m going to take Suzie with me later. We’re going to go shopping. Is it okay if Sam stays with you?”.

“Sure, how long are you guys going to take? Well never mind. Just go have fun”. He was confused about everything since he had never before seen her so nervous but he decided to give her some space. Or at least make her think that.

As time went by Elizabeth couldn’t wait any longer and at 2:00 pm she decided to leave. She thought that taking Suzie to the mall would help her relax a little or at least keep her busy for a couple more hours since she really had no idea of what would happen when she met with her stalker. At exactly 3:30 pm she decided it was time for her and Suzie to go to the given adress.

“Seventeen Thirteen, Seventeen Fifteen, Uh Seventeen Seventeen”, She said as she drove by the place. She noticed a purple note hanging at the door of the 4^th ST. studio. Elizabeth got scared and thought it would be better for her to park a couple of blocks away and not take Suzie with her.

I knew I should have told Richard! What did I get myself into? What am I doing?Oh God, please help me and don’t let nothing happen to me or Suzie. And it’s probably too late to just go back home. Might as well confront him and tell him to leave us alone. She said in her head as she got to the front of the studio. She walked towards the door. And grabbed the note. There was a long pause, then she started crying as she dropped the note and started to run. She was terrified. She was shaking. She tripped on a rock and grazed her knees. They were bleeding. There were tears. She ran past James Kenney, got to 10^th street and made a right. She dropped on her knees as she saw a body laying on the sidewalk. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Her body was still shaking, her knees were still bleeding and her heart felt as if it was just about to explode inside her chest. She looked down at the asphalt for a couple of minutes until she felt someone’s hand touching her head. Elizabeth got up as soon as she saw his face. It was Richard.

“Where’s Suzie? He took her! He took her!,” She insanely screamed as she thought about losing her little girl.

“Calm down, she’s okay. I got here just on time. I took care of him. And well she’s in the car with Sam. She’s fine. We’re all fine. Just calm down.”

Her body felt weak and so she sat down on the ground, she once again thought about how thankful she was for having Richard in her life. And how fortunate she was for having such a great family. Her tormented thoughts after reading each one of the stalker’s menacing notes started to erase as more tears slid down her pale cheeks.