"Another letter from Charlie came!" exclaimed Denise as she looked through the piles of letters on her lunch break. She skimmed over the letter and was excited to find out he was coming home for Christmas and was bringing his family.

"I'm so happy for Alice," Denise commented. "She gets to see her family on Christmas." Denise finished her lunch and resealed the letter. She placed the letter back in the pile and drove out of the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot to finish delivering the mail for the day.

When Denise got home, she checked her mailbox. "No letters from Max," she said sadly. Denise entered her small ranch house and changed out of her uncomfortable uniform into a pair of cozy sweat pants. She pulled her salt and pepper hair into a ponytail and began to straighten up her house. As she was cleaning, Denise found an old photo album. She flipped through the pages and was reminded of all of the past Christmases she had with her family.

"Nothing has been the same since Max moved away." Denise was reliving the moment when her son, Max, moved to California. He said he hated living in Abbot, Maine. He thought the town was too small and he needed more space. He packed up everything- his house and his family- and moved all the way across the country. Denise shoved the album behind some other books on the bookshelf and continued to clean.

"I wish he would visit or at least send letters telling me how everyone is doing." Denise woke up early the next day and went to the post office to pick up her work for the day. There were a couple packages and a lot of letters.

"Looks like everyone's getting cards for the holidays," Denise declared on her way to her mail truck. The first house she went to was Alice's. She had a couple packages that Denise needed her to sign for, so Denise hopped out of the truck and walked up to the front door.

"Good morning!" said Denise as the woman opened the door.

"Good morning, Denise, how can I help you?" asked Alice as she looked at the stout mail woman standing in her doorway.

"I just need you to sign for these packages," explained Denise as she handed Alice the papers. "So, are you excited for the holidays? I heard your son was coming home." Denise couldn't believe she had just said that. Alice didn't tell her about Charlie coming home. She only knew because she read the letter.

"Yeah, I haven't seen him in a while," Alice said confused, "how did you know about that?"

"Oh you must have told me or maybe someone else did," Denise tried to cover up her previous statement. "Thank you, here are your packages. Have a nice day!" She quickly walked down the step and back to her truck.

As Denise was getting in her truck, Alice went back into her house. She thought it was weird how Denise knew about her son. She didn't remember mentioning it to Denise. Alice looked through the letters she had received today. Alice noticed one from one of her co-workers. She read the letter. Alice had been corresponding with her co-worker for a couple of months. They had come up with a plan to embezzle money from their company. The plan worked and now they were trying to figure out where to meet up so Alice could get her half of the money. As soon as she finished reading the letter, Alice burned it and began to write a letter responding to her co- worker.

The following day Denise had finished delivering the first half of the mail and decided to take her lunch break. She looked through the piles of letter.

"Maybe I shouldn't read these anymore," she said to herself. She couldn't help it. The letters kept her entertained. She picked up one. It was another letter from Charlie. Denise opened the letter. "Alice will be so shocked when she reads this letter," blurted Denise, "I can't believe Charlie is having another baby!"

It took Denise a little longer than most days to finish her work, but she got it all done. When she got home, she had dinner and went to bed. The next day she went to work again. Denise knew she had deliveries for Alice, but she didn't want to go back to Alice's house. She was afraid that she might let something else about Charlie slip from her mouth. Denise finally worked up the courage and drove to Alice's house. On her way over, Denise had planned out the conversation she was going to have with Alice to make sure she didn't say anything wrong. She walked slowly up the walkway rehearsing the conversation one more time before she made it to the door.

"Good morning, Alice!" announced Denise as the door to Alice's house opened.

"Good morning," Alice looked at the packages in Denise's hands and asked, "More papers for me to sign?"

"You know the routine," chuckled Denise. "So, are you excited to see Charlie and his family? I heard he's going to have another kid soon." She did it again. Denise just couldn't keep anything to herself.

"Yeah, they just found out they were having another boy," Alice said suspiciously.

"Well, here are your papers. Have a nice day."

"Thanks, you too," Denise said hurriedly. She practically ran back to her truck. Luckily, that was Denise's last stop and she went home for the day.

Alice turned around and closed the door. She was very suspicious of how Denise had been acting lately. She thought about the things Denise had brought up to her. It seemed that every time Alice got a letter from Charlie, Denise would know what it was about the very next day.

"Maybe Denise has been going through my mail," Alice pondered out loud. Then she thought of the letters she has been getting from her co- worker. "What if she's been reading those letters too!" Alice quickly glanced at the letters she got today. One of them was from her co-worker. She examined the envelope cautiously and noticed a tear on the flap.

"I can't have Denise go around knowing about the money. Who knows who she might blab it to. She can never keep her mouth shut for more than two seconds without blurting out something she isn't supposed to." Alice stayed up all night thinking about how she could stop Denise from exposing her.

The next day was bleak. Rain poured down on Denise's windshield. The wind threatened to blow the letters right out of her hand. Denise dreaded going back to Alice's house. Thankfully, there weren't any packages to deliver so all she would have was drop off the mail and drive away. When Denise pulled up to Alice's mailbox, she noticed there was a letter addressed to her. Denise was very excited about the letter decided to take her lunch break so she could read it. She hadn't gotten a letter in such a long time it was a nice surprise. Denise opened the letter and began to read.

"Dear Denise,

I hope the holidays have been good to you. As you know I have had a great time so far. Some how you found out about my son and his new baby and I'm sure there are other things you have found out that I don't particularly want you to know about. If you wanted someone to talk to you should have known that I was always there..." as Denise read that last line a shadow appeared over the paper. Denise slowly turned around and saw Alice standing over her with a letter opener.

Denise was found dead a couple hours after the incident. Alice was no where to be found. Her son came home for Christmas to find his mother's house empty. The police searched and searched but could never find her. If only Denise had never read those letters...