The sun was shining brightly on that early November day. It had been Jake’s birthday. He had turned forty. Ed was going to surprise him; but instead, he got a phone call. It had been a policeman calling to tell him that Jake had been killed along with his girlfriend. She had been knifed and he had been shot. That day was a few days ago, and the funeral was still a few days off. Today was… Today…

Ed broke down and cried. He cried the day he received the news, but not like he had now. His hand clenched, crushing the letter in it. He had only received it today, but if he had known sooner, maybe, just maybe he could have saved his brother. The letter was long, and it had been roughly stuffed in an envelope so that the envelope bulged out on each side. The paper it was written on had a distinctive smell that he had never smelled before. There was nothing he could compare it to, but now he had associated it with Jake’s death.

Ed straightened the letter out and looked at it again. He wiped the tears from his eyes and started to read again.

In all stories there are those who are fortunate and those who are unfortunate. I have heard your story. I have seen it unfold. You are the fortunate one. You survived. We could use more like you. You should know more than anyone that there are things out there that can’t be explained with any other means than the occult. The affair between two families that resulted in so much death and yet left you alive is one of those things.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The next few pages laid out a detailed description of the events that his brother went through. They were so odd that it really wasn’t believable, and yet, the last paragraph dug deeply into him.

There are worlds within worlds, and the events in each affect all the others. We need people like you who have witnessed such events to prevent repercussions and to stop other such events. If you are interested, please send a letter back.

Signed,

The Council

P.S. The Universe depends on you.

Ed didn’t know what to do. These people were probably kooks, but then again, he’d seen his share of oddities. He cried again over what happened to his brother. Even the things in the letter seemed to make sense the more he tried to tell himself that couldn’t be possible. How could someone uninvolved know unless it was real?

Ed looked at the envelope. It had no address on it. How was he supposed to send it? He figured that he would put his name on an envelope addressed to “The Council,” and on a letter inside, he would put the words “I’d like to learn more.” He didn’t expect anything to happen, just an odd face from the postman. Ed licked the sweet tasting glue on the envelope, nearly giving his tongue a paper cut in the process. He sealed it with the letter inside and ventured outside. The wind blew and chilled him to the bone as he made the fifty-foot distance from his porch to the mailbox. Ed put the letter in the mailbox and listed the flag. Inside his house, a phone rang.