The entire school was filled with the echo of Miss Selena's voice coming from the loudspeakers. Along with it, somewhere far away, the low growling of zombies could still be heard. Other than these two sounds, there was no life, no movement, no voice left inside the school.
Miss Selena spoke through the loudspeaker,
"I am going to read the first letter now."
On the second floor, inside the washroom, Hasnain, his friends Sana and Afra, and a boy whose name no one yet knew, were hiding to protect themselves from the zombies. They all sat down silently and began listening to the loudspeaker with full attention.
After a brief pause, Miss Selena said again,
"I am reading the first letter now."
The Letter:
"Hi Steven,"
I do not know how to express my feelings to you. I feel that today God has finally given me this chance, because I never had the courage to tell you that I have liked you for the past five years.
I want to tell you that when you were in class 9, the nursery where you spent your afternoons among beautiful flowers belonged to my mother. At that time, I was in class 8, and I used to leave those flowers just to look at you.
You are dearer to me than a red rose, which is my favorite flower.
I used to watch your basketball matches every day at school. When you became the leader of our school basketball team for the first time and led the team against another school, and when you did not win that match, you looked so disappointed.
That was the moment when I sent you a small note through a child. On it, I had gently written:
"Do not be disappointed. You are always a champion in my heart. Whether you win or not, and I am sure the next match will be yours. — Your biggest and most loving fan."
And when I saw you win the next match, my happiness had no limits.
Now I know that you have already given your heart to someone else. I know that you have a girlfriend now. But even so, I want to tell you that I still could not stop loving you.
Maybe you will call me crazy after reading this, but even then my heart will say yes — I am crazy in love with you.
This is something I could never say to you face to face.
Madly yours,
Rosee
As the last line was read, the loudspeaker went silent. Miss Selena remained quiet for a few moments, as if she herself was trying to come out of the weight of those words.
On the other side, the people who were listening were also lost in the same words they had just heard.
Inside the washroom, the four of them sat without looking at one another. Outside, the sounds of the zombies still existed, but inside their hearts, a strange silence and heaviness had settled.
It was a moment that held fear, memory, emotion, and fate — all together.