“Ali, you got mail!” Mom shouted.

I looked up from my math homework. Mail? From who? Nobody ever got physical mail anymore.

I put down my tablet and walked downstairs. Mom noticed my furrowed brow, and I took note of hers.

“Who’s it from?” I asked as she handed it to me.

“See for yourself.” Mom answered. “There’s no return address.”

I tore open the seal.

𝒜𝓁𝒾.

𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝒸𝓀. ℐ𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒, 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝒸𝒽 𝒾𝓈 𝒽𝑜𝓌 ℐ 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝒾𝓉’𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝒶 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝒸𝓀 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

ℳ𝓎 𝓃𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒜𝓁𝒾 ℋ𝒶𝓇𝓉.

𝒴𝑒𝒶𝒽. ℒ𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝒾𝓃.

ℐ 𝒹𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒, 𝓈𝑜 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓆𝓊𝒾𝒸𝓀𝓁𝓎. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒’𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝑒𝒶𝓈𝓎 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓅𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈. ℐ’𝓂 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓊𝒷𝓁𝑒. ℬ𝒾𝑔 𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓊𝒷𝓁𝑒, 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎.

ℐ 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽. ℐ 𝒸𝒶𝓃’𝓉 𝑔𝑜 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓉𝒶𝒾𝓁 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓃𝑜𝓌, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 ℐ 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝑒.

ℐ’𝓂 𝓅𝓊𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝓃 𝒽𝓊𝑔𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊’𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒. ℐ’𝓂 𝓈𝑜 𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒜𝓁𝒾. ℐ 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊’𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓉, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 ℐ’𝓂 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊.

𝒮𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒.

𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒸𝓇𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝒹, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓌𝑒’𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝑒𝒸𝒽𝓃𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈. 𝒲𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒹𝒾𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹𝓈, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓌𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝒟𝒩𝒜. 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓀 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝓃 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎.

ℐ 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝒶 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑜𝓌𝓃, 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊’𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹.

ℱ𝑜𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇.

𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓅𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈.

ℐ’𝓂 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒜𝓁𝒾. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓁 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒹𝑒𝓅𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℐ.

ℒ𝑜𝓋𝑒,

𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒪𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹𝓁𝓎 𝒮𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇

I could hardly process the words on the page right now.

“Parallel worlds?” I asked. It seemed like the safest question.

“Not you too.” Mom warned. I guess I looked confused. The parallel worlds. Your father was always obsessed with them. I told him it was stupid. They didn’t exist.”

“Apparently they do.” I handed her the letter.

“Come on, Ali. You really believe this?” She laughed weakly. “It’s a stupid prank. Ignore it.”

Something didn’t feel right. “Are you sure?” I asked.

“Almost positive. Kids used to prank call and write prank mail all the time when I was younger.” Mom tossed the letter into the trash. “Go finish your math.”

“Alright.” I trudged back up the stairs, feeling like something was missing.

I plopped myself down at my desk again, and moved to pick up my tablet.

It was then that I noticed I still held the envelope.

Inside were things I’d never even of imagined.

And they were real.