A Friend Through Letters

A Friend Through Letters

I had this close friend yet she lives in a city farther from my home. Yet even after years, I still remembered the day we both became friends.

“Class, we’ll be receiving letters from students of my friends. The moment you receive a reply you are now penpals,” my teacher said.

It was in the middle of fall when our English teacher taught us about the word “penpals.” Since my teacher was also from another city, she wanted us to become friends with students of his colleague.

That wasn’t the day that stuck me the most. On a typical Friday, we were about to get our first reply. I knew that I wasn’t good at writing or my skills are quite bad. As my teacher gave me the envelope, I became really nervous. I stared at the envelope for a moment then opened the sealed side little by little which made my heart beat a little quicker. When I fully opened the envelope, a yellow paper along with a key chain popped out.

 “Dear Alligator,

From this day onward you are now considered my friend. I know this is too soon yet I’m really excited to know you more. I was so happy to get a letter from you. By the way, I inserted a friendship chain for you. The other part is with me. God bless you!

Love, Polkadots.

P.S. I hope you write back soon.”

I stared at the key chain with a music note and smiled. Even after sixth grade, I used my allowance to buy stamps and mail it to her. Remembering those nicknames we made up, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself but that made the whole thing exciting. Until then I didn’t know her real name. Though I haven’t seen Polkadots personally, I’ve learn a lot about her during our exchange of letters.

During senior year, I received a letter from her. It says that she wants to come and visit me. I got quite excited when I read her letter.  I went to picked her up at the airport. Along with me was a cardboard with the word polkadots and a lot of spots surrounding it. I was wearing the key chain as a bracelet. It was about thirty minutes when a guy came up to me.

“Hey Alligator!” he said.

The only thought that came to my mind was “Polkadots was a boy”. Along the way to the hotel, we were both silent at the backseat of the car. It was easier to talk through letters than personally with polkadots.

“It’s much easier to write than to talk, right?” he said.

I just nodded. I guess I was kind of embarrassed.

“I knew it would be quite awkward when we meet because you’ve mistaken me for a girl. But you know what?” he said. “I’m glad I met you.”

After those words, he fainted. I panicked inside the taxi telling the driver to go to the nearest hospital. I repeated the words in my head saying to myself that he can’t die, not now. This was the second time my heart quickly beat.

He was sent to the emergency room with the help of the driver and nurses. I watched as how the doctors attended to him. After a while, he was brought to a room. I entered his room cautiously. When I got the clear view of the bed, he was there sleeping with needle and equipment attached to him. I watch his face as he slept peacefully.

“You can sleep peacefully even at a time like this.” I said.

I heard a knock on the door then the nurse opened it.

“Excuse me. I think these belong to the patient,” she said as she handed some things to me.

“Thank you.”

When I was about to put his things at the side table, something fell to the ground. I checked to see what fell but I smiled when I saw it. It was the other half of the keychain he gave me. Along with my chain it formed a double-eight note.

The doctor walked inside the room and checked his vital signs.

“Are you a relative of the patient?”

“I’m not a relative but a friend. What’s his condition?”

“I think that the patient was suffering from too much stress or fatigue leading to his collapse but other than that he’s fine. He can be discharged after he has wakes up.”

“I’m glad that he’s fine.”

“I’ll be taking my leave now.”

“Thank you Doctor for your hard work,” I said before he left. The doctor smiled then closed the door behind him.

I looked back at “Polkadots”, who was still sleeping even after the conversation with the doctor. Though we knew each other by just writing, there were still a lot of things I wanted to know about him.

“I don’t know what you did to get into this condition, but I really hope you wake up soon.” I said while holding his left hand.

“I-I really wanted to s-see you,” he said softly.

“Are you okay? Do you feel pain? Do you want me to call the doctor?” I stood up quickly but his hand stopped me.

“No. I’m really fine. The reason I am here in this condition is because I wanted to see you.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” I said while taking my seat.

“My father told me that we were going to move because he got a job in this city. After knowing that we were moving to your place, I asked him to bring me along with me. My mom then said that if I really wanted to go I had to help out in my cousin’s café for the plane ticket going here.”

“You shouldn’t have risked your health just to come here right away. You could have waited and moved with your family here.”

“Knowing that it was your place, I wanted to come as early as possible. I hope you understand. I really wished to meet you face-to-face. Yet I’m sorry that you saw me in this condition.”

“It’s fine. If I were in your condition I would have done the same thing. But aren’t we still strangers? We don’t even know each other’s…”

“It’s Joseph,” he interrupted. “My real name is Joseph.”

I smiled, “Hi Joseph! I’m Alice. It’s nice to finally meet you.” I held out my left hand.

Two days after…

“I’m sorry I couldn’t stay for long.” Joseph said.

“It’s not a problem. You’ll be coming back anyway.”

The airport announcing system made a call to the passengers boarding the next plane.

“I have to go. I’ll be back.” He said as he entered the airport.

“I’ll be waiting.” I shouted.

When I got home that day, I opened my bag and found a letter inside it. I knew it was from him but this time I’m sure that we became even closer.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Friendship can be made in different ways. Sometimes people don't remember how you became friends with a close friend especially your first talk that brought you close together.

This one-shot story is about a friendship that started through letters. Actually, I experienced having a penpal and it was really fun. Receiving letters from a person who lives in another country was one of the best memories but it didn't last long.

So this story is dedicated to @cezdominique because today is her birthday and she was one of the reasons why I wrote this story. She's an irreplacable friend of mine that I cherish the most. In a span of a year, we were able to do lots of things together and as to thank her for the memories I posted this story. 

"Making friends is easy but finding a true friend takes time."