Strangers in Love

Hearing the open and slam of the metal mailslot and the gentle flutter of envelopes as they fell and hit the floor, Vic rose from his spot on the leather couch in the middle of his room making sure to pause his movie that he had been watching. A violent series of coughing had racked his body once he stood up, but as soon as it started it left once more. He padded across the carpeted floor before bending down to grab the various pieces of mail that were scattered across his floor.

As he made his way back to his place on the couch, he shifted through the mail. Bill, bill, junk mail, sales papers, then his attention was stopped by an envelope that had an unfamiliar handwriting scrawled neatly along the front. It wasn't an address he recognised on the sender's sticker. Knitting his eyebrows in a look of deep confusion, he dropped the rest of the mail onto the cushion leaving it to be forgotten in favor if the one in his hand.

He slid his index finger under the flap to unstick it, somehow managing to slice his finger in the process on the edge. Hissing as he felt the slight sting that always followed a fresh paper cut. Pulling out the folded paper inside, he discarded the envelope with the rest of the unattended mail next to him. As he unfolded the off white paper, there was more neat writing on the inside that perfectly matched the one on the front of the envelope.

Dear stranger, was the opening statement on the top. Which removed the possibility that perhaps the letter wasn't meant for him and instead intended for someone who had resided here before himself.

I don't know you, and you don't know me, but I'm writing a letter to you anyway. I know it must sound odd, to take the time to write a letter to someone whom you've never met before and who probably would toss this letter as soon as they've read it, but the best case scenario would be to find someone willing to write me back. I've been feeling pretty alone and down on myself lately, so I wrote this in an attempt to find a friend, maybe someone who feels the same way I do. Do as you please with this letter in the end.

I know this isn't the way most people go about making friends, but I have a case of social anxiety that does play a heavy part in my inability to make friends with people. So, I figured it'd be easier for me if I didn't do it face to face and used a medium to help take out the awkwardness of meeting someone new. This is the first letter I've sent out so far and I'm just really waiting to see what happens with it. Just please don't come to my house and rob or kill me. You can seriously just throw the letter out instead.

Vic scratched the back of his neck, frowning at the letter. Who does something like that? Who was even writing this letter to him? His eyes scanned over the rest of the paper looking for a name.

Sincerely,
Kellin

Kellin? That was an odd name, probably belong to some creepy forty-something year old guy who had nothing better to do than hang around his house and stuff his face all day. Just thinking about that image was enough to make him roll his eyes in annoyance at having even wasted his time on reading this junk. There was no way he was going to was going to take the time to write out a letter to this guy.

Though, the more he thought about it, the guiltier he felt. Especially when he read that whoever this was was feeling down on themselves, he couldn't help but sympathize with that, he had been sick not too long ago himself and didn't have much to keep him going throughout it, he would have done anything to have someone brighten up his life at that point. Maybe this guy was going through something like that as well. He figured that there wasn't much harm that could come from sending a letter in return to this other guy.

Standing up from his seat once more so he could go grab a pen and paper, he thought over what he was going to say in response to him. Introducing himself would probably be a good way to start, but where would he take it from there? He hadn't written a letter in what felt like ages, which would be a good question to ask the guy, why did he choose a letter? There were many other possibilities to meeting new people. He would have been less surprised by a random Twitter follower or something of that nature. Maybe he was one of those people who was against technology and social networking.

It took him some time, but he finally managed to get everything written down that he wanted to say without sounding like a complete loser in return. He filled out the front of the envelope with the return address he had found in the corner of the first letter he received from him being sure to spell out the man's name on it as well just in case he didn't live alone like Vic did. Placing a stamp in the corner, he smiled softly, he'd have to remember to put this in the mailbox later.