I remember a time when my mother forced me and my siblings to exchange letters with a family friend when we were young…so I’ll write something related.
……
Yawning, Faebyen put pen to paper, writing the usual pleasantries about having had a nice week since receiving last week’s letter, detailing some fake events like going to a park or swimming in a lake, and asking how the recipient’s week was.
The entire process was mind-numbingly boring, but having written letters to Joshua for over a year already, Faebyen had the formula memorized.
Now, why would he bother solely communicating with someone he hasn’t seen in so long with letters? Parents, of course.
That year past when Faebyen was enthralled by a book series which just completed, he’d met Joshua, a kid similarly consumed by literature. They hit it off in the hour they spoke with each other, but when it came time to go home, it turned out that Joshua had no electronic means of communication, instead asking Faebyen if he wouldn’t mind becoming a pen pal. Out of meaning to be polite and not being wholly uninterested in letters, Faebyen accepted the proposal.
Much to his later dismay.
After a few weeks, Faebyen learned that he really didn’t like exchanging letters. Although he knew the experience would be very different from texting, he underestimated by just how much. The information he and Joshua sent to each other was always outdated by the time the letters arrived, so conversations about books, movies, and television shows were difficult to have, because one would first have to ask the other if they knew of it, then wait a week for a response. If the answer was no, then they had to find something else in common. Yet, even if the answer was yes, and they could “talk” about it, they might be at different parts of the story and thus not have as in-depth of a “talk” as they’d like.
Not only that, but Joshua lived quite the ways away and they only met because Joshua’s family had been on a trip, preventing the two from meeting each other in person.
That kind of stuff quickly got to Faebyen, making him almost completely lose interest in exchanging letters with Joshua…but his parents had other ideas. They “convinced” Faebyen to continue the letter exchanges, asking him how he’d feel if someone he thought he got along with just decided to cut communication with him. Faebyen tried arguing his position, but the powers of his parents reigned supreme.
Anyway, Faebyen finished writing his umpteenth letter, slipped it into its envelope, and made his way outside to deliver it. On the way, he collected the mail, sorting through it as he walked.
“Not for me, insurance-related, bills, advertisement, and…a letter from Joshua?”
Faebyen was unsure of how to react as he held a letter from Joshua, mentally going through their agreed-upon letter schedule to make sure he didn’t just write a letter on a day he didn’t need to. Yet, even after confirming that it was his turn, Faebyen still held a letter sent by Joshua.
A little intrigued, Faebyen dumped the rest of the mail on the kitchen counter before heading to his room, where he opened the envelope. Just the idea of having to write a response letter bored him, causing him to yawn.
Then he chocked.
“My parents have both died.” The letter read, causing his yawn to turn into a panic.
