I wasn’t looking for a sign. But I got one. From a box of crackers.

 

[Letter Transcript – Inside]

I don’t know why they chose you. I’ve gone over everything… 

again & again. I’ve not been able to make sense of it.

You shouldn’t have stood out.

But you did.

And now it’s too late.

PAY ATTENTION!

To the one who took too long

To the one who doesn’t look at all

To the ones who already know your name. It always starts small. You won’t notice at first, but you will when it’s too late.

Don’t let them know that you know

— 9:42 PM?

------

I was just wandering. Not quite shopping, not quite emotionally stable.
Then I saw it—tucked behind a box of pizza-flavored Breton crackers like it had regrets but nowhere else to go.
Cats on the envelope. Cozy. Suspicious.

It said:
“Did they already find you?”
Which is a normal thing to read next to shelf-stable crackers.

Inside?
A letter that starts in a panic and ends in a whisper. Someone spiraling at 9:42 PM, scribbling warnings they clearly wish they didn’t need to write.

“You shouldn’t have stood out. But you did.”
“Don’t let them know that you know.”
PAY ATTENTION.

Which is also something my anxiety has said, but this had better penmanship.

There are no answers. No names. Just vibes, dread, and watercolor cats that seem complicit.

If this was for someone else—oops.
If it was for me—too late.

I left it behind so someone else could worry about it next.

—Elsie Thorne
(Chief Archivist of Snack-Based Doom)