Frank's Death Notification Letter

A naval letter printed on stiff parchment, its edges carefully trimmed but bearing faint tide-marks from sea air. Kathleen holds it clenched in both hands, the paper stiff and unyielding in her grip as if refusing to bend under the weight of its contents. It carries the formal stamp of the Royal Navy at its crest—ink dark enough to feel permanent but smudged in one corner where moisture from Kathleen’s palm has begun to blur the words.