Last Summer’s Warmth

She ignored the paper stuck in the pot of succulents she'd just bought three days ago and went about her morning routine hoping that if she decided to finally ignore it, it would disappear. But the paper stayed put and even after she came back from her morning jog, it had barely moved from its place. 

"Why are you so hell bent on making my life miserable?" She grumbled, finally pulling it out of the pot. "Don't you have better things to do?" 

The paper didn't deign her with a response. Feeling mocked by its resounding silence, she unfolded it with a sigh. Already knowing what would be scrawled across its gleaming surface. 
"I know what you did last summer." That's all it read, no sign of the sender or a return address just like the last 21 she'd received. 

The sentence still made her heart accelerate, threatening to smash it's way out of her ribcage. 
It had come in everyday in the past three weeks. Pieces of paper stuck on her dorm room door, in her shoes that she always kept outside afraid to track mud into the pretty purple carpet and now in her cacti which she'd kept near the only source of sunlight in her small room. 

Once the paper had come in a pretty pink envelope with a ribbon tied around it through normal mail. Clearly addressed to her dorm room but with no name as usual. She'd wondered if it was a practical joke but after a month of regularly getting them, she decided that no one could possibly push it this far. 

She realized she couldn't exactly go to the authorities, she had no evidence except the letters and no one she suspected. Dan hadn't taken her seriously when she'd explained what had been happening. He'd brushed it off as a prank and told her to forget about it.That had made her question if it was him. If he'd been sending her these messages as a way of commemorating the summer from a year ago. 

She doubted he would be lifting a pen or buying postage stamps anytime soon even for showing his affections for her. He tended to be unaffected by the idea of romance. 

She stared at the words again, trying to picture the person behind the writing. Written in neat calligraphy, the loops and swirls looked harmless to the eye. The sentence seared into memory as she put the paper away, she had more important things to do. Coursework for classes she was taking and a presentation on Monday which she still hadn't started working on. 

It was 3 AM by the time she finished doing homework and 4 when she finally decided to go to bed. But the letter kept flashing through her mind, making it hard for her to fall asleep. Dan was already lost to the world, turned away from her in peaceful rest. She wished to wake him up so that she'd have someone to talk to, the piece of paper seemed to burn in at her consciousness, tugging at her overactive imagination were unbidden memories. 

"You can't accuse me of cheating. I just asked that girl for a spare pen. Babe, a spare pen." Dan had yelled in protest last summer, when they'd had the biggest fight of their lives. She'd disagreed because she had witnessed the disgusting little minx trying to hold onto his hand while passing him the pen. The girl had smiled flirtatiously and she was sure that Dan had smiled back too. 

How could his poor man brain resist a beautiful little minx? 

The fight had gone on for days and she'd imagined a hundred and half ways to break it off with him and how much it had hurt to think about it. But she'd manage to save their relationship and Dan had changed his nasty ways, forever. They had no problems in their relationship now.

Dan had resorted to being quiet and submissive which wasn't much different from his usual self. But he loved her more than ever. He'd never left her side and had been a constant support. He'd comforted her after every bad day she'd had and held her through her triumphs. Life was finally good. 

When she'd finally stopped worrying about being heartbroken, the letters had started arriving. One by one slowly, they trickled in each day. Appearing in random places in different forms but with the same sentence repeated over and over again. And each one a distinct reminder of the bad days she'd had to go through. Of the despair and dread. 

What if I stay up and wait for the letter to be dropped off tomorrow? What if I catch the person and confront them about the prank? She thought to herself. It seemed like a great idea considering the letters couldn't appear out of thin air, someone ought to have been planting them around the places where she could see them. 

With that thought she got out of bed and walked to her desk, looking out of the window situated above her desk. The window opened out to a fire escape that connected all the dorm rooms on her side of the building. It didn't look like a stable structure with years of rust having eaten away at the railings, but it was better than nothing. But it also had made it convenient for the person who had stuck the letter in her succulents today. 

She decided to close the window as a caution. The letters had never appeared in the same place twice but it was better to be safe than sorry. Then she walked to the door and ducked into the hallway to check for people. Potential mailboys. But the hallway rang with whispers of early risers. She left the door open, tying a piece of string from the doorknob to a spoon. Moving the door would make it fall and alert her against any intruders. Finally satisfied she'd climbed back into bed and dozed off, she had more homework to catch up on before the week started. 

The trip wire spoon alarm she'd made for herself had been of no use. The letter had been taped to the door-frame that day and on her window this morning. The same writing, marring the smooth surface with the same line. "I know what you did last summer."

All through the presentation on Monday, her mind kept replaying the order of how the letters had arrived as she analyzed and over analyzed who it could be. The professor hadn't been very pleased with her distracted mumbling, telling her off for being underprepared he let her know how it would affect her grade. But the threat fell to deaf ears, she'd nodded dumbly and left for her next class. 

When she returned to the dorms, people thronged the hallway and loud raucous laughter filled the air. She smiled at a few familiar faces but she wasn't really close to anyone except Dan. They were from the same town and she'd pined after him all through high school. 

Dan had been the football team captain in his sophomore year. The sports scholarship he received made his path to university smooth unlike her own. She'd had to work two jobs despite the scholarship to afford accommodation in the campus. But it had been worth it when they'd finally started dating. 

It had been a dream come true for her. Dating the only boy she'd ever crushed on. Having him love her the way she loved him. It had turned sour after the number of times she'd caught him flirting with other girls. He'd encouraged them by shooting them that smile of his. The very smile that had drawn her in. And girls couldn't help falling over themselves for him. He was just that good. She wished he'd been different. She'd finally snapped when that disgusting classmate of his had flirted right in front of her. Touched his hand with that intimate look, pretending to exchange a pen. 

He could no longer evade her accusations. She'd seen him use that smile when she'd brushed their fingers together and whispered his thanks. That's when she knew that he was cheating on her. The instant it had clicked, it had nearly destroyed everything she had ever loved and treasured. She pushed the thought away forcing herself to think about the present and how she couldn't be happier. 

They were doing great. They were communicating. He no longer talked over her and she felt like he valued her opinions. He was perfect again and his loyalty never wavered. He was patient and they'd gotten closer. She felt like she knew him inside out. Like if she looked hard enough she could see the contents of his heart. An insight into his otherwise mysterious ribcage. His insides were unravelled to her and he trusted her. Loved her unabashedly. 

"I'm back." she announced opening the door and letting herself in. It had been unlocked for Dan as always. He was napping, probably tired from the long day and didn't move when she announced her return. 

"Danny." She whined trying to get his attention and shook his shoulder until he'd turned around to face her. He looked at her with heavy eyes. 

"Today was murder. You wouldn't believe how mean Professor Clairewall was to me. And I got another letter. I don't know what to do." 

Dan looked like he hadn't heard her, probably having fallen back into the arms of Hypnos. He was the only peaceful thing against the chaotic backdrop of her life. 

She kept talking in a low voice more to herself than him. He needed all the rest he could get with the football season starting soon. He probably wouldn't be playing this year but he hadn't confirmed or denied her questions. He'd simply brushed it off. 

"I don't know what to do. It's starting to worry me a lot. I think I might stay up tonight to try and catch the person who's been dropping them off. Maybe that confrontation will give me evidence or at least some peace of mind." She explained before climbing into bed beside him ignoring the pervasive smell. 

He definitely needed to bathe more often than he did but she found his laziness endearing. She'd gotten used to his smell, the unique scent of his skin, a reminder of how lucky she was to still have him despite their volatility. 

When she woke up next, the clock on her table shone red with the time. It was 4 AM and she sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She'd heard something at her door and she jumped out of bed, creeping towards it. Barely registering that she'd slept right after class and was still in the clothes she'd worn yesterday. 

Throwing the door open she came face to face with a boy she'd never seen before. He was as tall as her, his wide gray eyes looked at her in confusion as she stepped back, startled. He was clutching onto a familiar sheet of paper and looked as confused as she felt. 

"It was you. All this time." She barked, staring at the stranger with contempt. "You mister, have a very sick sense of humour." 

"Who are you?" The boy asked, making her stare at him in response. 

Who knocks on a random door to ask the occupants who they were? Wasn't it supposed to be the other way round? 

"Excuse me, I live here. What kind of question is that?" 

"I thought this was Saraya's room. Are you her roommate?" The boy asked, trying to look past her and into her room. Her pulse spiked as a sudden fear gripped her, pushing him back out she growled at him. 

"Saraya lives on the floor below me. You're in the wrong place."

"Oh." Was the only sound he made as the realization hit him. He staggered away in shock, shaking his head in disbelief. "Shit. Are you sure? I've been delivering the letters to the wrong address all this while."

She nodded. "I know Saraya from Economics class. She lives in the room below. It's 203. Mine's 303."

"Oh god. But this is the second floor. That makes no sense." He dropped onto the floor, holding his head and letting out a laugh. 

"Yeah. They made a mistake while numbering the doors. The ground floor rooms are numbered from 101. It's the lamest mistake ever and mail often ends up on the wrong floor." she explained sympathetically. The letters had clearly been misplaced and she breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Oh my god. This is so embarrassing. It was such a great joke and I sabotaged it myself. I'm so sorry for all the trouble." He rambled, pushing a hand through his dark hair, snorting out another embarrassed laugh. 

She shook away his apology, too relieved to be upset. She felt her eyelids droop with sleep and realized how stressed she'd been with the letters. The tension seemed to leave her shoulders as the boy apologized profusely. 

"Don't worry about it. I need to go back to sleep, it would be really awkward if my boyfriend woke up to me talking to you like this." She said, waving him away. "You can have the letters back if you want? I kept all of them because I thought it would work out as evidence when I filed a complaint."

"I'm so glad you didn't report me. I'm really sorry. You can keep the letters as a reminder of my stupidity." He smiled, scratching the back of his head. He waved at her and left. She gazed after his retreating form until he disappeared down the dark hallway. Finally locking the door, she climbed back into bed. Popping a pill to help her sleep. 

The stench had become unbearable now. With nothing to worry about, her brain seemed to have relaxed and become more receptive to her surroundings. The smells had changed from sickly-sweet to a dusty, dry scent as the seasons had passed. Dan's eyes had lost their sheen in the middle of winter and their wild movements last summer. He'd changed from being alive and happy to dead silent after their last fight. The last blow no longer looked as gruesome as it had before. No blood or wound to show for the damage inflicted to his head. 

She'd salvaged whatever she could of him. The online course in taxidermy had helped.
Her thoughts drifted back to a conversation they'd had last summer before the beginning of his silence. Dan had asked her why she insisted on checking his phone every evening, he'd never done anything to break her trust. 

"Because I'm insecure. You're too good for me and I feel like I'm just tagging along instead of being a part of your life, you know. It's like I belong to you but you can't belong to me. You're out there. You belong to the world."

He'd laughed and hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her to bed and held her close. She'd curled into him, nuzzling her face into the warmth of his neck. 

"I belong to you. Only you." He'd whispered against her forehead. "And no one can change that, sweetheart. I'm yours."

"All of you?" She had joked, smiling against his neck. 

"All of me. My head and my heart and my bones too. " He'd promised. Pressing another kiss to her forehead. 

Now, she missed his kisses and his promises. He had kept them. His bones had been hers. But she missed his warmth today. She'd missed it everyday since that last summer. 

A/N: From the time I entered a Wattpad contest but mistook the prompt to mean dark in the context of crime instead of romance. (20 year old me was a whole other person indeed. 23 year old me cannot edit this without rewriting it, so it shall stay the same)