The Curse of the Yellow Envelopes

The Rogers were just an ordinary family struck by a series of extraordinary circumstances that turned their lives upside down due to a simple mistake made by Daniel Rogers. It all began when Daniel received a mysterious letter from his mailbox. It was a dandy little yellow envelope with a beautifully designed golden pattern engraved upon it. The address was correct. But it was the name of the addressee that was wrong. It was quite similar to his son's name, Jerry Rogers, though. Since the letter neither addressed him nor his son, he threw it into a nearby trashcan. Daniel wasn't exactly insensitive though. It was an involuntary action of his. Daniel had been receiving too much junk mail lately. Almost everyday, he received an envelope that concealed useless adverts which he automatically threw away. When Daniel Rogers returned to his house and closed the door behind him, he finally realized what he had done. Daniel opened the door once more and saw that the garbage collector was already there to empty the trash can.

"Why bother?" Daniel began to rationalize himself, "I did nothing illegal. It's the sender's fault for being so careless, not mine." And so he returned to the house. He wasn't aware that someone was watching him.

A few days later, the same yellow envelope appeared in his mailbox. The name of the addressee was exactly the same as the previous one. It did not have a stamp this time. Daniel began taking it seriously. Perhaps the sender indeed got the name mixed up. Perhaps the letter was indeed addressed to his son. It might be possible that his precious son had participated in some competition Daniel did not know of and this letter was meant to invite him to a grand venue to receive a prize and make a speech or something. Such thoughts urged Daniel to peek at the contents of the envelope even more. He saw a red seal on the back of the envelope. No problem. His line of work taught him to unseal and reseal envelopes in absolute perfection. And so having the letter in his hands, he read.

Dear Sir,

Since you have already reached the prerequisite age of 13, we are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Rockford Academy of Sorcery and Alchemy. The school term begins on the first of September this year. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

We very much look forward to receiving you and offering you great opportunities to learn magic far beyond your expectations.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. Nancy Bellybottom

Deputy Headmistress.

Having read it, Daniel immediately threw the letter into the trashcan. Sorcery? Alchemy? Magic? The Rogers were an ordinary family. This must be some kind of a joke. And it isn't funny. Daniel had a high-paying job but he still worked hard to provide his 9-year-old son the best education he could possibly have. Daniel hoped that his son would eventually get enrolled in a dream university to become a doctor, a lawyer or an entrepreneur, not some guy who earns a living performing cheap tricks. Who is Nancy Bellybottom anyway? More like Smelly Bottom to him. Daniel regretted wasting his precious minutes and seconds on a crap written by some weirdo.

The next day, the yellow envelope was found in the mailbox yet again. A letter from Aunt May's letter was in it too. Daniel could tell because her name was written on the back of the envelope. Aunt May was Daniel's favorite aunt. He had played several times in her house when he was young. He threw away the annoying yellow envelope and opened the other one. The letter read,

Dear Sir,

Since you have already reached the prerequisite age of 13, we are pleased to inform you...

Daniel crushed and tore the letter into pieces. How did the sender know about his relationship with Aunt May? Had the social media sold his personal information this badly? That could not be helped as his work depended on social media. And so is everyone else in the world. He let out a huge sigh and walked away.

Out of curiosity, his wife, Mary, retrieved the yellow envelope from the trashcan. She unsealed it and found Aunt May's letter in it. How very strange.

At the end of the month. Daniel received a mail from the electric company. There was no yellow envelope this time. He did find the envelope to be thicker than usual. Possibly some promotions or a notice regarding future changes in rates? Daniel had to open the envelope to find out. He saw his electricity bill alright. The amount was higher than last month as the Rogers had the air-con turned on more often due to the summer. But the bill was attached with the letter from Rockford Academy of Sorcery and Alchemy. Daniel was completely baffled. How did that letter get in? He saw no signs that the envelope had been tampered with.

On Sunday, Daniel Rogers was just lying on the couch, doing nothing. He was utterly exhausted. He had a terrible week. In the last three days, he had been working countless hours overtime. He did not return home, staying in his office doing revisions on his latest project over and over and over again. His boss and his client had been constantly giving him hell and he was about to go nuts before he managed to get the job done. At least today was a Sunday. Since no post on Sunday, there would be no annoying yellow envelopes. Those yellow envelopes had been getting on his nerves lately. Before he was ready to leave the couch and go for a walk, a flock of white owls swooped into the house through the windows. Every one of them was carrying a letter in their claws; the letter, needless to say, was from Rockford Academy of Sorcery and Alchemy. There were just too many of them to fend off and they toppled and broke everything in their paths. When Daniel saw some of the owls mercilessly pecking the heads of his dear wife and son, that broke his last straw. He immediately grabbed the rifle that was hidden behind a painting to get rid of those nasty fowls. He was firing at all directions like a madman. His wife and son rushed to the bedroom for safety and took cover under the bed.

The white owls appeared to be unkillable; they were able to dodge every bullet Daniel had fired. One of the bullets hit an electrical appliance which then triggered an explosion. Soon, the whole house was engulfed in flames. It was fortunate that the Rogers survived unscathed, but Daniel's behavior had caused quite a stir in the neighborhood. The police arrived for questioning and they did not believe Daniel's story. No one besides the Rogers saw the white owls. The owls did not leave a trace, except for a few white feathers scattered here and there. And the letters were all burnt to crisps. What made matters worse was the fact that a stray bullet broke through the window and hit the shoulder of an innocent jogger who happened to be a police officer on his day off.

Thus, Daniel was arrested and later sent to the Asylum for a few weeks.

A lot of things happened after that. The only breadwinner in the family was gone for a while, their house was destroyed and the family got broke. The mother and son were forced to stay in a cheap wooden hut close to the ocean next to the lighthouse. There were cracks on the rooftop and even the lightest rain could cause leaks to happen.

One stormy night, the mother and son were unable to sleep due to the frequent clashes of thunder and the ferocious sounds of waves splashing onto solid rocks. Suddenly, they felt a vibration from the ground. An earthquake? Although the vibration is persistent, it had too many pauses at regular intervals to be an earthquake.

Then, they started to hear stomping sounds getting louder and louder. When they were trying to figure out what it was, someone was banging on the door. Then, not only was the door crashed flat on the floor, but the wall surrounding it was wrecked to pieces. A giant one-eye monster appeared through the opening. It was a cyclops and the mother and son could see that he was holding what appeared to be a huge club, with thousands of spikes.

"Duncans!" The Cyclops growled, "Yeh despicable muggles! How dare yeh stop Terry Fogers from going ter the school he belongs!"

"This has to be some kind of mistake!" the mother cried out loud.

"Silence! Mr. an' Mrs. Fogers are the famous couple in our world. They are unfortunately killed by the notorious demon lord. Only their child, Terry Fogers, survived an' somehow managed to drive off the demon lord."

"But..."

"SHUT UP! Yeh have no right ter talk back!"

The Cyclops pointed his club towards the mother. The mother was then shocked to find that her mouth disappeared.

The Cyclops continued, "Professor Higgins, the Headmaster of Rockford Academy, the holder o' the highest authority in Sorcery an' Alchemy, had already given yeh Duncans the greatest honor by comin to yer doorstep an' entrustin' yeh ter take care of our dear Terry Fogers. And look what yeh have done ter him! He knows nothin' o' his heritage or who he is!"

Then, the Cyclops walked towards the son, "You are a wizard, Terry. And yer future will be enormous once yeh get ter study at Rockford."

"Thank you, sir." The son finally opened his mouth, " But my name isn't Terry Fogers. It's Jerry Rogers."

"That can't be right!" The Cyclops could not believe what he had just heard.

"It's true." Jerry showed him his student ID.

"I see. So yeh ain't a Duncan. Well, yeh don' look like a thirteen-year-old an' yeh don' seem ter have that sacred birthmark. I've heard a rumor that Terry Roger's uncle an' aunt who are in charge o' his care are awful people. Guess that rumor ain't true. Wait. Just to make sure. Yeh don' happen ter be Terry Fogers's cousin while he was locked inside a cupboard, do yeh?"

"NO, I'M NOT!" Jerry screamed out loud in sheer anger that even the thunder got drowned by his voice.

"Okay. Okay. Sorry for the inconvenience caused. But still, it's yer parents' fault for not informin' the post office abou' the mistake. I'll be off then."

"And return my mother her mouth!"

The Cyclops waved his club and the mother finally got her mouth back. But she did not speak anything for she had already fainted. After all, seeing nearly half of the house being destroyed, a giant Cyclops and her mouth disappearing was too much for her.

The Cyclops also restored the wooden hut back to its undamaged state before he left. But there was one important thing that the Cyclops had forgotten to do. He forgot to cast on the Rogers the Obliviate spell, the spell that ensures no muggle will know the existence of the magic world.

That incident indeed had caused a deep scar on the Fogers and created fuel for Jerry's revenge.