Lost in the Love Letter

ch. 1 - intro

It was December 22nd, 2018. The day that Mandy made a choice that would forever haunt her. 

She had developed a plan to give a letter to her childhood best friend, Hunter, confessing her feelings for him. They had known each other for years, and were great friends from their mixed martial arts class, called Martial Art Innovations. At this time, Amanda was 12 and he was 13, and it was the day of Hunter's black belt graduation. She had written the letter the night before with love in her heart and bliss in her mind. 

Amanda tended to always (falsely) romanticize things. This situation, however, was different to her. She was certain that it would end picture-perfect, with him feeling the same way and being her one true love forever. They had known each other for several years and endured so much together. 

So how could he possibly not feel the same?

Finally, the hour came for her to see him. She decided to wear her favorite blue ruffled shirt with black jeans. She even straightened her chaotic head full of curls. She had arrived to the studio with her parents, and sat on the mats with all the other families.  There were a lot of people there because many kids of all ages were getting their next belt. But Amanda wasn't. 

You see, Amanda had been in MMA for 9 years at that point in her life. She had slowly worked her way up the ladder and received her black-belt when she was 12. She had lots of strength for her age and size. In fact, she was practically a legend around their martial arts school because she had been there for so long and fought like a pro for her age. There weren't any more rankings after the black belt, so she got to watch her friends receive their promotions instead. 

When the belt graduation started, her heart fluttered. Amanda had liked him for about 5 years at that point, since they were very little. The graduates did their little performances and then cleared the way for him. The music changed to a dramatic instrumental song. When he entered with pride, Amanda noticed his eyes scanned the room, and paused when they found her. He let out a small smile and then began his demonstration. The butterflies in her stomach turned into huge bats. When he concluded his performance, he took a bow and the room filled with applause and cheers. Their MMA instructor then presented him with his new black belt, with his last name threaded into it in bold yellow lettering: Mr. Reyes. 

After it ended, moms and dads were racing around recklessly to gather their kids for pictures. Amanda knew it was time. Hunter, Amanda, and the rest of their MMA friends all grouped together for pictures. When they all started to disperse, she reached into her pink cross-body bag and pulled out the letter. Amanda knew she didn't have much time because Hunter's family members were getting ready to congratulate him. 

She gathered up the courage to approach him one-on-one, and tapped him on the shoulder. 

Amanda: "Here, just open it later when you're alone." *she handed the folded up letter to him*

 He looked at her, puzzled, and then took it. He playfully smiled and stuffed it into the fold of his black gi, and gave her a thumbs up. She immediately blushed and ran back to her parents' car, and left. 

Later that night, she was already beginning to regret her actions, because she hadn't heard from him yet. She spent the afternoon glued to her phone, waiting any notifications. Finally, her phone buzzed and Amanda froze. She took a breath, and grabbed her phone. 

TEXT MESSAGES: 

Hunter: What about a dead soul

Amanda was perplexed at the strange statement. 

Amanda: What?

Hunter: Your message... "Don't tell a living soul"

That's when she remembered. In the letter, she wrote "Please do not tell a living soul about this." So she decided to reply with: 

Amanda: Oh lol well idk why not... just if they don't say anything

And that concluded their brief conversation. But it didn't answer Amanda's questions... well, more like expectations. She was waiting for the moment he said he felt the same in return, and they could ride off into the sunset together, but that moment never came. 

When Amanda, Hunter, and all of their MMA friends came back together for class, everything remained pretty much the same. The only main difference was Amanda's awkwardness towards Hunter, but even that isn't out of the ordinary, for she, being a 7th grader, was already strange and embarrassing. 

Their friendship continued to burn like a flame in a candle, but alas, their flame began to fade and burn out over the next year. Then, Hunter moved out of state and Amanda never heard from him again.