Nest: Letter Two

Dear Helena,

Another letter… I know you hate it when I write you letters because it means that I am hiding something from Olya, but such is life. What is a marriage without a few secrets? I love writing letters, there is no record or trace of it other than the letter itself, which I know you keep safe. I remember that box of random things that you had as a little girl, you always have been good at hiding things and keeping them safe! Text messages, emails and Facebook messages can all be tracked… letters can’t. Also the reason that I am leaving this letter on your kitchen top rather than posting it (besides the fact that I have been here this morning while you were out… all will be explained!)

Anyway, I’m sure you are wondering why I’m actually even writing you this letter. I can hear you now: “Flynn, what do you want me to do for you now?” I honestly feel sorry for you, being the older sister. It means that your little brother will come running to you whenever there is a problem. Well, you’ll be pleased to know that this time it’s not a problem, more of a secret that you need to keep.

What I’m writing to tell you is that Olya recently bought a trough online. The whole thing seemed strange from the way that it was delivered, to its packaging, right down to what was in the trough. There was this nest, it was sort of huddled in one corner and I have never seen a nest like it. It had six greenish eggs in it, but they didn’t seem right either. They aren’t a normal egg shape, they are far more circular and rounded. I have never been more intrigued by something in my entire life. It was like this nest, this tiny little nest, sparked a burning desire in me that I didn’t know I had.

Olya and I spent all that night googling things to do with the nest, it has this strange rhythmic knock that sounds like music or like they are knocking for something or someone. We were both sat on our laptops googling and neither of us could find anything to do with what we had sitting in our shed. This obviously made my desire to know what they are even greater, you know what I’m like. We eventually gave up, and I have convinced Olya to send the trough back after I have been away on my business trip – which is what I have told her and I trust you will tell her too.

She is going to be calling you and the two boys to ask you to help us move the trough: it is so heavy! Olya doesn’t really want to send it back too much as she is really fond of the trough itself, she just wants to get rid of the nest… honestly, I think she is a little bit scared of it. She thinks that the animals inside the eggs are some illegal species and doesn’t want us getting in any more trouble than we are already, but I’m not scared. Olya doesn’t know half the things that we could be in trouble for.

As I said before, this nest and these eggs intrigued me and I need to know what they are. I have replicated the nest exactly, well not me personally but I hired someone to do it for me. I then moved 5 of the eggs into the decoy nest and kept one in it… that nest is now hiding in your garage, under a sheet right in the very back left corner. Go check if you don’t believe me. It is there because I have just been and put it there, and why I am in your house and leaving this note on your kitchen top. You just need to keep it there for the next week or so, until the trough has gone back to where it came from and Olya has forgotten the whole thing ever happened. You know what she is like… something “scandalous” will come up at the golf club and this whole trough business will be history. Olya noticed there is only five eggs rather than six, she thinks that whatever it is has hatched and eaten its own shell, so I am letting her believe that.

I need to know what these animals in the eggs are. I don’t know why, but I just do. I am begging you to keep this a secret. Act surprised when she calls you to ask us to help move the trough. You also have no idea where the sixth egg is. I will be calling at your house every day after work to check on the eggs… they appear to be getting bigger so I think whatever is inside is still growing and not ready to hatch yet.

I know you will keep this a secret for me, in return I will up your monthly payments… which again, Olya still has no idea of.

Thank you Helena, you really are the best big sister.

Flynn

by Amy Hardman

About Nest

Nest is our epistolary project, written collaboratively by students and staff and published every fortnight right here on Falwriting. You can find out more about Nest here.

If you just arrived to this series or want to reread the first letter, you can find Nest: Letter One here. If you want to know what happens next, read Letter Three and Letter Four.

Nest Podcast

We have just released the first episode of our Nest podcast, where each writer will read the newest letter and talk about their writing process and influences. You can listen to Nest: Episode One here.

You can also listen to our future Nest podcasts here.