Promise

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Mira heard a knock at the door while she munched on the bucket of popcorn she had ordered to see her favourite TV. She wondered who it was at that important time of the day. She hated being disturbed when it was time for her favourite TV show.

Sluggishly she got up and walked to the door. She opened it, but there was no one on the other side of the door. She looked left and right

"Who is it?" She asked, but nobody was there to answer.

Just as she turned to walk back into the house her eyes caught the little white envelope, neatly packaged on the floor. She picked it up, searching for a return address at least to know where it came from but there was no address. She found it weird because all her life, she has never received a letter before not to talk of one without an address.

Disturbed she quickly ran back into the house and made sure to shut her door. She turned down her TV, fingers shaking as she tore the envelope, and then she gently unfolded the tiny piece of paper inside.

"Mira
I'm you from the future. You asked for a sign, now you've got it. Your answer is in the promise you made to yourself under the night stars as a child."

Mira scoffed, "Future me?" She murmured. "Someone's playing a prank on me. Okay, fine, you can come out now!" She yelled waiting to see one of her friends come out from hiding just to put this weirdness away, but she was all alone.

She was about to fidget when she heard a loud bang on the door. Her heart skipped as goosebumps washed over her. But she comforted herself that she was right about being pranked.

She walked to the door and peeked through the keyhole. It was her friend Max. She had known Max right from high school.

"Okay, that wasn't funny", she screamed at him. "You know how delicate this decision is for me. The last thing I need right now is for you to make a joke out of it!" She yelled, tiny veins popping out her neck like they were trying to escape as she spoke. A sign she was truly angry.

Max stood there with a bottle of wine, confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked, ignorant of what was going on.

"You know how I'm trying to take my time to decide on whether to take the deal and sell my book to the publishing house or forfeit it and try doing it my way"

She had been in a big dilemma after she got the offer from the house, and ever since, she hasn't gotten herself to make a decision. As much as the offer was huge and she needed the cash to pay her bills that were piling up, she still found it hard to take the offer, and she couldn't tell why but she just couldn't bring herself to sell a book she had worked day and night for six months to write.

"Of course, I know all that. But I haven't made a joke out of it " Max denied it vehemently.

"So what about the letter," Mira asked, placing her hands on her waist.

"What letter?"

Realising it wasn't Max, she stood there in silence "If it's not you, then who could it be?" she asked herself.

"Can you at least let me in?" Max asked, raising his eyebrow.

Mira moved out of the way to let Max in. She walked straight to the couch she had sat on earlier and sat down. Making sure Max was comfortably seated, she handed the letter to him.

"I got this letter this afternoon," she said, handing the letter over and leaning back on the chair.

Max quickly opened it and read through it. "Okay, that's weird. Who did you say it was from again?" He asked.

Mira looked over to him. "There was just a knock on the door, then an envelope on the floor. Nobody was there" she replied, her voice weak.

"That's weird" Max took a deep breath and moved over to sit beside her. "So who knows about your promise to the star?" He asked.

"Why?"

"Because that could be the person playing this prank" Max replied, looking her in the eye.

Mira shut her eyes to think. She couldn't remember telling anyone about her childhood obsession with stars. It was just a stupid hobby she developed with her grandma as a kid.

"It was a stupid obsession I had as a kid making promises to myself looking up at the sky. I've never dared to tell anyone because I thought it was stupid"

"Then it's real," Max said, moving back to another couch and picking up the bottle of wine he had brought.

"What?"

"Yes! This letter is from your future self."

"Oh, come on", Mira replied, sitting up. "Well, I'm not surprised your obsession with supernatural things isn't new to me".

Popping the wine open, Max smiled. He picked up a cup from the table in the sitting room and poured two glasses of wine.

"Think about it. Who else knew of the deal apart from me? Did you tell Jess?" Max asked, handing one glass to Mira

Mira thought about it. Jess was also their friend from high school and a close one at that. But she hadn't had the opportunity to tell her "No, she's always busy with her new job."

"So it's not Jess and not me." He took a sip of his wine.

There was silence. Mira thought about it. Max was beginning to hit a point. The only person that knew of her deal with the publishers was sitting in the room with him and he didn't send the letter.

"So if it's not any of you, then..."

"It's from your future self" Max concluded.

Mira couldn't believe she was finally agreeing with Max. She dropped her glass of wine and held her face with her hands.

"Okay, so, what promise did you make under the stars?" Max asked, there was curiosity in his voice.

"A lot", Mira replied, lifting her head to look at Max.

"There should be one that stands out, think"

Mira shut her eyes again, trying to remember her past. "I don't know. But there was this night I sat outside with my grandma and she told me a story about following my dreams. Suddenly a shooting star" She paused, the memory becoming clearer. “And I promised never to stop following my dreams "

"And now" he took another sip. "Do you think selling your book to the publishing company is following your dreams?"

Mira felt those words pinch her skin, into her heart. It was never her dream to sell her books. But when the offer came in, it was so huge she had considered it.

"It has never been my dream", she answered, her eyes shot wide. Realising she was thinking the wrong way all this while.

Reaching out to hold her, "There, you have your answer", Max replied. Then he picked up her wine from the table and handed it over to her. "Drink girl, drink"

Mira took the wine and gulped it down, then she stared at the letter. Maybe it didn't matter where the letter was from. Her future self or not she didn't care. She was just glad it made her remember who she was and what she wanted.

She picked up her phone while Max stared at her still with his glass of wine. A few beep and she was calling the publishing house

"Sorry, but I'm not taking your offer," she said to the voice at the other end of the phone.