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Content Warning: contains themes of bullying and some profanity.
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 22/09/2026, 10:55PM
Dear Thomas,
Do you still go by Thomas, or is it Tom now? Anyway, I hope this email gets to you. I found your name written on the inside of a book I found in the house. It’s The Complete Stories of Edgar Allan Poe. It has a blue cover. It’s also pretty worn. Some pages are ripped out and missing. Your name is on the last page, but under it someone wrote Sally owes me $8 bucks.
I thought you might like to know I have it before I throw it out.
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this ( from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 22/09/2026, 11:23PM
If this is Sally, you’re not funny.
Regards,
Tom
(PS. Only my parents have ever called me Thomas.)
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 24/09/2026, 9:55PM
Dear Tom,
This isn’t Sally. I was going to throw the book out last week, but I was too intrigued once I saw that your names are in it. I ended up reading most of the book. You and Sally really loved Poe’s stories, didn’t you? I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why did you owe $40 to Sally?
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 25/09/2026, 9:00AM
How did you get that book? Who is this?
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 25/09/2026, 9:55PM
Dear Tom,
I can’t believe you haven’t guessed yet. I got the book in my sister’s house, you know, your old house on Bellmont Road.
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 25/09/2026, 9:00AM
Look, whoever this is, I haven’t been anywhere around Bellmont Road for years now. Whatever you found in that stupid book, it has nothing to do with me. Sally and I don’t even speak anymore.
Regards,
Tom
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 25/09/2026, 11:00AM
Dear Tom,
To be honest, I’m hurt you don’t remember me. I sat three rows behind you and Sally in English class. Mr Dean was our teacher that year. You and Sally were always fidgeting in class and always passing notes to each other whenever the teacher’s back was turned.
I remember this Edgar Allan Poe book of yours, too. Sally used to keep it close to her like it was attached to the side of her hip, then you would show up with it the next day. I’d see you both laughing.
I never worked out what the two of you were laughing about. Poe, to me, is happiest when he’s writing about someone being buried alive.
How is that funny?
And, do you still want the book back or not?
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 26/09/2026, 10:00PM
You say you sat behind me and Sally in class that year. If that’s true then tell me what Mr Dean’s nickname for her was?
Regards,
Tom
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 26/09/2026, 11:00PM
Dear Tom,
He called her Poe, of course, because she enjoyed collecting so many of the writer’s stories. Mr Dean made a big thing over it in class once. I think he even held up the book in class, announcing that we had our very own Edgar Allan Poe. Sally’s cheeks burst red. I’d never seen her that red. You laughed about it over the lunch table.
All these years I thought you guys were filling the book with little anecdotes. Possibly trying to write morbid and darkly humorous tales of your own. Boy, was I wrong.
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 27/09/2026, 8:00AM
I think I know who you are, but I can’t be sure. And I’m not trying to be condescending, but I barely remember who sat behind me in English class ten years ago. There were, what, twenty students in that class?
I’ll need some more information.
Regards,
Tom
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 27/09/2026, 10:00AM
Dear Tom,
You write you need more info. Sure.
I was there that one afternoon Sally got into trouble over the book. I was the girl standing outside the toilets watching. You and Mr Dean were arguing in the hallway and Sally was crying.
He raised his arms like he was defeated, while you admitted it was your book and took the blame for whatever he was so angry about.
He said, “I can’t believe the two of you would have the audacity to play with people’s lives like this.”
I thought you were about to cry like Sally was, like I would’ve.
You apologised to Mr Dean.
Later, I found you and told you I’d heard Mr Dean talking to you. I wanted to know what was so special about that book, but you said it was none of my business. I think you yelled at me. That hurt my feelings, but I’m okay with it now.
I know what it was now. It was a game you and Sally were playing without anyone knowing. You would place bets about people and use the Poe book as a ledger.
What did you bet about Mr Dean?
I remember what you did when I confronted you about it. You leaned in and said, “Don’t tell anyone.”
Does that help?
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 27/09/2026, 8:00PM
I know who you are now. You’re Melissa Crowe. Brydie’s sister, right? So you were the family that moved into my old house on Bellmont Road.
I have to say I’m a little surprised that you were the one who found the book. I mean, you were shyer than Brydie, but I didn’t know how observant you were. I guess you have a gift for pretending you aren’t fazed by anything while ten years later you suddenly show that you’ve been obsessed with us all along.
Regards,
Tom
P.S. You don’t want to know what happened with Mr Dean. Trust me.
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 28/09/2026, 10:00AM
Dear Tom,
You finally remember! But I wouldn’t say that I’m obsessed. I was younger when you knew me, but I’ve had a lot of time to think about you and Sally.
Brydie moved into this house first after our dad left. Then I moved in a few months later. I remember your dad pretty well, too. He’d come by sometimes to check if we got any of your family’s mail. It’s weird that I sat behind you for a year and we hardly spoke, and then I suddenly ended up sleeping in your old bedroom.
Which is where I found the Poe book, by the way.
-M
P.S. Mr Dean lives alone somewhere in Cradle Mountain, Tasmania. I talked to him and he told me you and Sally were the reason he lost his job. He hasn’t seen his wife and son for a decade. I have his address if you want to know more.
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 28/09/2026, 8:00PM
Melissa,
I’m sorry to hear about our old English teacher. I’m believing more and more that as we get older the grudges we hold get harder to shake. We blame people for the way our lives have gone. It’s sad, really.
I remember you were one of Jessica’s friends. Is she still a sore subject for you? She left school, right? I don’t remember seeing anyone else with you after that.
Does Sally know you have that book? If she finds out you have it there’ll be Hell to pay. I'm not fucking kidding!
I’ve said all I need to say. Please delete my email.
Regards,
Tom
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 28/09/2026, 8:27PM
Dear Tom,
Sorry to be the one to tell you, but Sally already knows. She was happy enough to give me your email address. We’ve been corresponding since June, which I’m guessing she hasn’t told you.
I think the two of you were pretty creative with the Poe book. Everyone we knew from high school seems to be in it. Mr Dean, my sister, Jessica, all of your old friends, Sally’s old boyfriend, even your own parents.
I see you both liked putting bets on everything and everyone around you more than reading anything Edgar Allan Poe had to say.
Or maybe the characters in his work weren’t as interesting as the people you bullied with your book. Poor Poe was just your cover story?
I see you paid Sally $10 when Jessica left school. And Mr Dean. You were betting on how long his affair with Mrs Law was going to last before his wife found out.
There’s a blank space under his name with just a dollar sign. I’m guessing you owed Sally on that one. She told me everything else. I guess she’s feeling guilty. At least one of you is.
I can clearly see why you guys didn’t want anyone to find it, otherwise you wouldn’t have cut a piece of plaster out of the bedroom wall and placed it in there.
I found my name inside the book eventually. On page 57. You and Sally bet how long it would take for my parents to get a divorce. I guess you do owe Sally $40. You were right, by the way. It was two months. How did you know?
Now it’s your turn, Tom.
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 29/09/2026, 10:57PM
Melissa,
Well, I do have great instincts. I can’t explain it. It must be a gift. I’m sorry to hear about your folks, though. I wanted to say a year, but it just didn’t feel right.
Regards,
Tom
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 29/09/2026, 11:00PM
Dear Tom,
I almost forgot. I never congratulated you on the job promotion. I looked you up on the D&B Directory for small businesses. Nice photo. You’re the Branch Manager for Trevor Realty, am I right? Isn’t Trevor one of your old friends from Mr Dean’s class?
If I remember Trevor correctly, he was always big on trust. So, how do you think he’d react to finding out you placed a bet on something that happened to him in Year 11?
Wasn’t the accident caused by the motorbike his dad gave him? Sally paid you $200 that month. But does she know you cheated? Does she know you convinced him it was fine to ride home even after you messed with the brakes?
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 29/09/2026, 11:10PM
How do you know that? What the fuck do you want, Melissa?
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 29/09/2026, 11:15PM
Dear Tom,
Sally and I came to an agreement last month. I want to offer you the same one. Only on one condition first. Just humour me, won’t you?
There’s something I want you to do for me. You’ve done it a hundred times in the book, so I really can’t imagine you’ll find it that hard. I want you to make one more bet.
But we can’t do it over email, though. Some things are just more fun in person. There’s a café on Vermont Road, two blocks from the old house. We’ll meet on Thursday at 7pm.
-M
To: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
From: tom.owens@gmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 29/09/2026, 11:22PM
Fine, but when I’m done with it, I want the book back.
To: tom.owens@gmail.com
From: m.m.c.@snailmail.com
Subject: Re: have this (from Bellmont Rd)
Date: 29/09/2026, 11:28PM
No, Tom. I’ll keep the book. But don’t worry, my lips are sealed. For a price.
-M
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