Eric drove down the road on a cool Saturday evening, coming home from his job at Market Basket. His first day allowing him to actually drive there by himself. Finally getting his driver's license, allowing him to go anywhere he wanted. No more long tiring bike rides, no more walking it across the crosswalk, no more 2 hour rides just to reach town. Living in the small town of Goffstown, New Hampshire, just outside of Manchester. 16 year old Eric, driving down an old country road that looked like no ones been driving on it for years. What the? What's this? Eric just stared, didn't move, just stared right at it. He stopped his car, and got out. What is this? Right there, on the side of the road, in the middle of no where, stood a rusty mailbox. And the rusty red flag was up, with the paint chipping off. He could still see the old designs that were once on it, and it was starting to become a home for some lichen. It stood on a large tall log, and the number read ¨0¨ on it. The flag was up, but there was no house, just the forest, dimly lit by the dusk of night. He grabbed the rusty handle, and pulled. The mailbox made an awful squeaking sound as its hinges cringed. Inside there was a small note that was titled ¨List¨ in fancy cursive writing. The rest of the note was blank. Eric turned the small paper over. Blank. He looked around, and there weren't' even any houses on this road at all. Why would this mailbox be here then? He crumpled up the note and stuffed it into his pocket and put the flag down. He hopped back into his Olive green Jeep Wrangler and drove home. He was curious. There was no house there, maybe it was just an old mailbox from a house they destroyed and they never removed it? Maybe someone lived in the woods and that's how they got their mail? No, that doesn't make sense. EVen though it's known people will run away and live out in the wild, survivors have more important things to do than check for mail that they'll never receive. The most logical answer is that there's a house way out in the woods, and the mailbox is far away. But there was no path, this was all so confusing. What was this mysterious mailbox? And was does ¨List¨ mean?

    When Eric arrived at home, ít went the same every Saturday. He got home a six, his mom would ask him how his day at work went, and everytime he just say ¨good¨, or ¨fine¨. Then he'd join everyone for dinner, which was usually some sort of chicken with a side of vegetables and potatoes. His sister Paige sitting in the living room watching cartoons, and his father sitting at the kitchen counter working on his laptop. Same old, same old. But today felt different. Probably because that stupid mailbox was on his mind. He never noticed it before, that made him even more curious about it. ¨Is something wrong Eric?¨ his mother asked. Eric realized that he been zoning out for a while now. He snapped out of his trance and said ¨Yeah, I'm good,¨. His mom went back to cooking dinner. He went upstairs to his room and opened up google maps on his laptop. Now, what was the name of that street he was on, he knew it began with a ¨c¨, what was it. He found his house on the satellite map, and yes! That was it. Cedar street. He typed in ¨0 Cedar Street, Goffstown, NH.¨ Nothing came up except the little message box that said the address was incorrect or didn't exist. Also puzzling. He was going to get to the bottom of this, Eric couldn't stand the fact of not knowing. He had to find out what this mysterious mailbox was all about. It didn't make sense, why would there just be a mailbox in the middle of nowhere, with no even a house nearby? He was going back tomorrow.

    On Sunday morning, Eric left early for work to stop at the mailbox before hand. He turned out of his neighbor hood, down the main road, and took a turn onto Cedar Street. The road was creepy early in the morning. God only knows what's on this road at night. He came to the mailbox and saw that the flag was up. Huh, he could've sworn he put it down yesterday. Maybe he just imagined it or dreamt it. Oh well. He walked into the woods, through the brush and briar looking for signs of life. An old camp fire, a house foundation, even a tent or any sign of life. He looked back and still saw the road and his jeep, even though he was quite far into the forest. He looked around one last time, and then turned back and started walking back to the road. Eric stared at the mailbox, wondering what its purpose was. He opened it up, grabbing that same rusty loop and hearing that awful metal screech. Oh my god, what is this? This is not normal. Eric’s mouth dropped open, he became filled with fear. He slammed the mail box shut and jumped back. Did he really just see what he saw? Is this real? No, it couldn't be, did someone see him? He got ahold of himself, but still couldnt control his breathing or heart rate. This was ridiculous, he knew he should’ve never taken this shortcut. No wonder why nobody came down this road. He tried again, he opened the mailbox slowly, and saw it inside. An envelope. What was in it? And most important of all, who put it there? Should he take it? Eric reached for the envelope and took it out. It said ¨0 Cedar Street, Goffstown NH¨. And that was it. No return address, no zip code, not even a stamp. Should he open it? He knew it wasn't right to go through other people's mail. Wait a second, whose mail is this anyway? Well, it’s his now. He opened the letter, and on a piece of cheap lined paper, it read ¨my letters are not to be ignored¨ with a frowny face drawn after the sentence. My letters are not to be ignored? Did this mean if he didn't come back here everyday, he was going to die?! Nope, Eric was done. He was never coming back here again. Nope, that never existed. He put the note and the envelope back into the mailbox, and hopped back into his jeep. He was done, the mailbox never existed, this wasn’t real, it was just a nightmare, he’ll wake up, and this will never have happened.

Eric's eyes snapped open, he hopped out of bed, and got his clothes on. Ugh, Monday, school. He didn't even think about the mailbox, that was just a bad dream. Nope, all fake, all just pretend. Same life, no horrors, time to go to school. He drove down the main road again. Funny, his dream felt so real. He feels like he was just driving down this road yesterday early in the morning to go see the mailbox. He drove by Cedar Street. Funny, Cedar Street was the name of the street with the mailbox on it. Eric slammed on the brakes of the jeep and his car stopped with a screech. Eric realized this was no dream, there was a Cedar Street, there was a mailbox, there was a note in there telling him not to ignore the other notes. Eric backed up and drove down Cedar street, going 65 mph down a road with a speed limit of 30. He didn't care, who’s gonna be on this road at 6:45am? He came to screeching stop at the mailbox. The flag was still up, and Eric knows he didn't put it down yesterday. Thats either a good thing, or a bad thing. Wait, my god, Eric had already failed, he's ignoring the letters, oh no, what was going to happen to him, was he going to, die? No, he’s not dying over a stupid mailbox, it’s a mailbox, it’s not going to turn into some murderous transformer. Or will it? It’s already super natural enough, no, crazy. Stupid, that could never happen. What does he have to lose, he already has ignored the letter, death is already creeping upon him, maybe he can take the letter and make up for it. Alright, here goes nothing. He grabbed the handle and opened the mailbox…
Oh? There was another envelope inside? Sealed again, but the other note was gone. Hm, he looked at the front of the letter, and it was titled the same thing as yesterday. ¨0 Cedar Street, Goffstown, NH¨. No stamp, no return address, same thing. He opened it and inside,there was a note that read ¨my letters are not to be ignored¨ with a frowny face drawing after it. It looked like the same exact letter. Wait a second, he ignored the first thing at the mailbox, he cant believe he didn’t realize this before. The note that said ¨List¨ on it was the first letter, and he crinkled it up into his pocket. Ok, he knew what he was going to do, he had a plan, right after school, he had a plan.

Arriving at school at 7:05am, he had to get a tardy slip. The line was huge at the front office for the tardy passes. The same kids were always there. And Marcus Rooney. Nobody liked Marcus except these dumb jock who don't have a clue. Marcus has been suspended so many times, he should probably be expelled. The kid was almost six feet tall, and was ripped. Probably from steroids. He also saw Jake Lyer. He wasn't that bad of a kid, more of a nerd, and he was really good with computers. He's been suspended though for hacking school security and unblocking all websites. Most chaotic week of school of all time. He goes by a pseudonym of Cy Berman. He pronounces Cy like ¨sigh¨ and if you put his name together, it was Cyber man. But everyone calls him Cy. That’s all he knew, but he did see lots of familiar faces. ¨Can i help you?¨ said the secretary. Ms. Wallace. Kind of moody. ¨Just a tardy slip,¨ said Eric. ¨Why are you running late?” Eric wanted to say none of your business, but instead said, “Woke up late,”. Ms. Wallace shook her head as she wrote the tardy pass. Eric was annoyed. “Here,” she said. “Thanks,” Eric said. He walked to his advisory and sat next to his friend, Luke Walker, who everyone called Star Wars. “Where’ve you been, thought you were sick, you would have been lucky if you were.” He pointed to the front of the classroom. Yes! A substitute, but wait, oh, it was Mrs.Karty. The old hag no one liked. Usually everyone throws a party when we have Mr. Wellings or Mrs.Targi, but when you saw Mrs. Karty, you didn’t want anything to do with her. Whatever, bell rings in about, 30 seconds. Eric wanted to go home. Not because of Mrs. Karty, but because of the dumb mailbox. He wanted to put his plan into action. Maybe he’ll fake being sick, he’s learned lots of things of how to fake being sick in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Plain genius. He went to the bathroom, made a fake vomit solution of water, juice, and cheetos, and rushed to the nurse. He “barfed” in the trash can. The nurse rushed to his attention, and Eric coughed and groaned as he held his stomach. He may have over did it, that solution was pretty nasty and he swallowed some of it, he might actually barf again. But he didn't, he had more of a sour burp instead, and got a mouthful of that gross stomach acid stuff. Blah! “Are you alright Eric?” the nurse said softly. “Ugh, I don't know,”. Step 2, pretend you want to stay at school. Aslo learned from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. “I have to go, I have a math test,” Eric said as he “tried” to stand. “No don’t force yourself,” the nurse said. “You should probably go home, we don’t want a contagious bug going through the school,” she said. Eric nodded, and the nurse called his mother. “Can I use the bathroom,” Eric asked. The nurse nodded and pointed to the direction of where the bathroom was. Eric had a little celebration in the bathroom, and flushed the toilet, then turned on the sink for a little while to make it look like he went. “Your mother is on her way from work to pick you up,” Eric nodded and sat down. The nurse called Eric’s English teacher to inform he was absent, and shortly after that, Eric’s mom arrived to pick him up. “What happened?” His mom asked. “I don't know, I just ran to the bathroom and then I didn’t feel right, ran to the nurse’s office, and puked in there,” “Well that’s not good,” Erics mom said. When they arrived at the house, Eric layed in bed, and his mom brought him a cup of soup, and a glass of ice water. “Alright, I have to go to work, but Paige will be home at 3:00, and I’ll try and be home by 4:00,” Eric nodded. “Just text me if you need anything,” Mom said. “Ok,” Eric said. And with that, his mother left for work. Alright time to- oh no. oh no, oh no , oh no. His Jeep was at school. He doesn't know why he didn’t think about his car. He also didn't know why the nurse didn't ask if he had a car. Oh this was terrible, this messes up everything. Wait a minute, his bike! Yes, his bike! He would just take that. He knew the way. Ok, now to just pray he doesn't get caught. He slipped on his shoes, grabbed his notebook and a pencil, threw it all in a knapsack and headed for Cedar Street. Was that his mom’s car!? Nope, same car, but different license plates. He turned onto Cedar Street, and rode down the road. It was a lot longer of a bike ride than he thought it was. Alright, finally. Here it was, the mailbox of doom. He looked at it, this time the flag wasn’t up. He opened it and, there was nothing inside. Eric sat down and wrote on a piece of notebook paper, “You have my attention”. He folded the note and put it into the mailbox. Wondering if there would be a response. Who was this person, or what was this thing that was writing to him. This was the beginning of one of the most interesting things in his entire life, maybe one of the most interesting, super natural things in all of Goffstown, maybe even in all of New Hampshire, maybe even in the entire country...