Justin licked the envelope and placed it in his backpack. He’d hand the letter to his teacher first thing in the morning. In five years’ time, he’d hear back from his friend.

 

* * *

 

Olivia opened the letter from Earth, eager to learn what her friend Justin had been up to five years ago. As she read his description of the changing seasons, she imagined what it would be like to live somewhere so beautiful. She glanced out the window. Her planet was indeed beautiful. From what she knew of Earth, the constant season on Eden resembled their spring.

 

She wrote a letter back, telling Justin what she’d been up to for the last five years. How she’d finished high school and had one year left of college. How she couldn’t wait to meet him when she finally saved up enough money to make the trip, just like she had promised when they were kids.

 

* * *

 

Justin opened the letter from Olivia during his lunch break. He smiled at the notion of her finishing college. Despite the distance between them, they were on similar paths. Both were the same age, having chosen one another as pen pals in elementary school as part of the Cosmic Outreach program. They had continued the program through middle school and decided to carry on with their letters through high school and into adulthood.

 

It took five years to deliver a letter from Earth to Eden. After the initial pilgrimage, Eden established the Lightspeed Express (although it could only travel that fast in name) between the two worlds. Scientists had discovered the Earth-like planet in the year 2086. The first pilgrimage from Earth took place a mere decade later.

 

Despite advancements available to the public, there wasn’t a more reliable way to send information between planets. There were rumors of a satellite floating in space between the planets, used by world leaders to send information faster, but none of those rumors made it clear whether the general public would ever be given an opportunity to utilize it. But, until those were made public, the only way to send information was the shuttle every five years, and without the help of school funding, sending anything was an indulgent expense, which is why he and Olivia agreed to keep it to a single letter.

 

Earth and Eden may be similar, but their distance made them feel forever foreign. Perhaps that’s why Justin savored the letters so much. Each felt like an opportunity to learn more about the world so far away and through the eyes of someone actually living there, instead of a paragraph in a textbook or one of the few videos provided in school of the idyllic landscapes. Justin assumed the real experience was saved for only those who could afford it – and someday he would!

 

He relished the idea of finally meeting Olivia someday. Would she be like he imagined her to be? How old would they be? The journey was an expensive one. He’d been saving up too, wanting to help her pay for the trip, since they’d decided she’d visit Earth first to experience the seasons for a full year.

 

He coughed into his fist before sealing the envelope.

 

* * *

 

Olivia opened her letter from Justin after getting home from work. Her robot-butler, AI-Len, rubbed her feet as she read the words from her lifelong friend.

 

He enjoyed his work, which made her smile. He had a case of the flu, which made her frown. She remembered hearing about the flu from him when they were younger and how he seemed to get it every year while still at school. It seemed he couldn’t escape it after entering the corporate world, either.

 

She replied to his letter, letting him know she was growing closer to her goal.

 

“Within this decade.”

 

* * *

 

Justin opened the letter from Olivia while in the waiting room of his doctor’s office. The chairs in the waiting room were rather uncomfortable considering how crucial they were to ailing guests.

 

“Within the decade.” He couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Justin,” said a nurse, standing toward the end of the hallway. He wore blue scrubs and a teal-colored mask. “Right this way.”

 

When the doctor showed up, Justin was eager to tell her of his symptoms. He’d submitted bloodwork the month prior, after not getting over his yearly flu, along with a chest x-ray.

 

“I think I went too hard with my running over the winter,” he said. “This flu won’t leave.”

 

“Justin,” said the doctor, her voice somber. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but you’re not experiencing flu symptoms. We’ll need to conduct more tests, but… what you’re experiencing could very well be lung cancer.”

 

Justin wrote a letter back to Olivia. A tear dropped onto the first draft. He only wrote about how much he enjoyed his job and how he looked forward to meeting her in person someday.

 

* * *

 

Olivia laid back in her massage chair as AI-Len mixed her a martini per a recipe she’d received from Justin. Eden didn’t have the exact ingredients, but she found substitutes.

 

She wrote in big letters at the top of the page:  I’M COMING TO VISIT YOU. She’d secured the money needed for the trip and would leave in a year, which meant she’d arrive just a year after Justin received her letter, making the wait that much less unbearable.

 

* * *

 

Justin opened the letter from Olivia as he lay in the hospital bed.

 

The bold letters at the top of the page sent chills down his spine. He popped his lips before reaching for his glass of water.

 

He started writing back to her, then stopped. Knowing the letter wouldn’t reach her in time. He stared blankly at the wall in front of him. At the calendar pinned to the corkboard. In a desperate plea, he’d urged the doctor to give him a timeline.

 

He wouldn’t make it another year.