Mary Sinclair walked into her apartment after getting her mail on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. Nothing was particularly interesting about this Tuesday afternoon, nor was there anything out of the ordinary about Mary…at least not yet…but when she retrieved her mail on this rainy Tuesday, she unknowingly entered a great adventure, one that would turn her life upside down.
Flipping through the pile of mail, she filtered out the bills to be paid and the credit card offers she could throw away…but then she saw something…an envelope addressed to her from her boyfriend…her boyfriend who had gone missing six months ago. Anxiety filled her as she looked at the plain white envelope, and the unmistakable handwriting scrawled on the front of it.
“It can’t be…” she said to herself, softly. She quickly tore the envelope open and pulled out the piece of paper inside. Unfolding it, she saw more of his handwriting, and was almost driven to tears. Was someone playing a cruel joke, or was this really real.
The letter read as follows:
Dear Mary,
I know you think I’ve been missing, and in a way that’s true. I have been missing for a very long time…but I found myself. I truly did…It took me ages to build up the courage to write to you, but I want you to know I am safe. I joined a new society called The Collective, and we are thriving. We make our own rules here, and the world outside can’t tell us what to do…who to be…
Oh, how I wish you could see it, Mary…so much so, that I have asked for permission to invite you into the Collective. I have received the okay…so with this letter I send the key to the Collective. Go to the address listed at the bottom of this letter, and present the key to a Mr. Wesson. He’ll know what to do.
If you want to fly away from all the drudgery of the world, please Mary, consider joining me…you won’t regret it.
Mary simply stared in awe at the letter. At the bottom of the evelope was a small metallic object, apparently the key.
What was going on, she thought to herself. “What in the hell is going on?”
She put the letter on the table and sat down and just stared at the wall. She jumped when the door opened. She looked over to see her roommate Sarah Sutton walk in.
“You look jumpy” Sarah said as she put her bag down. “What’s up?”
“It’s nothing. Just a little distracted is all” Mary said as she took the letter and key and put them in her room.
“How was work?” she asked as she returned to the living room to see Sarah sitting, having pulled out her laptop.
“The Usual. Boring, Monotonous…but whatever, it pays well, so I don’t complain.” Sarah said, typing away at her computer. “And you?”
“Oh, I had today off..” Mary said as she looked to her room. “I’ll be in my room if you need anything.” she added
“’Kay” Sarah quipped, too busy with whatever she was doing to really notice that Mary was severely distracted.
She closed the door, and quickly moved to her desk, picking up the letter and key. She opend the letter and sat down at her computer and opened an internet browser.
Clicking about until she got to a search site, she quickly entered “The Collective” and then the address give on the letter “1428 Elm”
The search yielded only one website. She clicked on the link and frowned as the site took it’s time loading.
“There has to be an explination. This has to be…a joke or…something” She said to herself as she watched the black page load with a simple white logo
“The Collective” it read. And underneath a little pop up appeared
“Due to a recent discovery in technology, we have been able to perfect a microcosm society, a world free of the rules and regulations that bog us down. New society members are let in by invitation only. “
“This is too weird…” Mary said to herself as she clicked around the page to see if anything was hidden…alas there was nothing. Just the Logo, the block of text, and the reflection of her face in the monitor.