The Letter That Arrived Tomorrow

When Iris inherited her grandmother’s cottage deep in the woods, she expected decay and silence. Instead, she found it warm, lit by a fire that had no source.

Every night, she heard soft footsteps, a chair creaking, the kettle whistling — as if someone unseen kept the place alive.

She tried to leave, but snow blocked the road, trapping her. One evening, she found a diary on the mantle: her grandmother’s final winter entries. The last line read, “When the cold comes, I’ll keep the fire for her.”

The climax: As the snowstorm raged, Iris woke to see her grandmother knitting by the fire, smiling faintly. “It’s not time to go yet,” she whispered. In the morning, the cottage was cold, the fire gone out — but a new scarf lay across Iris’s lap, still warm.