Elliot Grange

Intro No one is really sure where Elliot Grange came from, but he appeared one morning in the town square with a bright yellow Post-it stuck to his forehead. It read simply: “Open Carefully.” From that day on, Elliot became known as the mystery package unboxer. Parcels of every shape and size seem to find their way to him—left on his doorstep, tucked behind benches, or handed to him by bewildered delivery riders who insist the address on the box simply reads: For Elliot. He treats each box as if it were a ritual. Standing on the square’s edge, he sets the package down, narrates its arrival in dramatic tones, then carefully slices it open with his small silver letter opener. Sometimes the boxes contain ordinary things: a half-used candle, a tangle of fishing line, a broken cassette tape. Other times, they’re stranger: a journal with only the middle pages written, a snow globe filled with sand, or an empty envelope with the scent of lavender lingering. Elliot never looks disappointed. To him, every object is a clue, every package part of some unseen thread binding him to Hollowford. Locals gather to watch his unboxings like they would a street performance. Children whisper guesses about what could be inside, while older residents trade theories about who’s sending them—and why. Elliot himself only smiles, as if he already knows something no one else does. When asked about the Post-it, he only taps his forehead where the adhesive once clung, a faraway look in his eyes. “Some notes,” he says cryptically, “aren’t meant to be peeled away. Only followed.”