A group of childhood friends reunites for the first time in twenty years to fulfill a promise they made one summer

—but one of them never shows up.

Leo received a text from a childhood friend, Chris. “Did you receive a letter?” Leo opens his mailbox once a month since it’s empty most of the time. He found a letter in the mailbox, and his name was on the envelope. He recalled that his mother had texted him a few days ago, saying she had forwarded a letter to him.

As soon as he opened the letter, he recognized what it was. It was from the school’s graduation event almost twenty years ago, which was “a letter to my future self”.

The school was already closed down due to a decreasing younger population; however, they seemed to have managed to complete their task. He received another text from Chris. “Are you going? The others said they’re going,” He replied, picturing his childhood friends. “Of course I’ll be there.”

Leo, Jane, Alice, Chris, and Peter had grown up together in a small town, and they spent almost every day together. Yet, after graduation from elementary school, their paths had diverged. They rarely contact each other and have never met since then.

Although on the day of graduation, they wrote the same words in a letter as a promise to meet again twenty years in the future. They swore to one another that whatever happens in the future, they would keep this promise.

Finally, the day came, and they met again in front of the old school, except for Peter; everyone thought he couldn’t make it, that he must be busy. It had been twenty years, and they almost didn’t recognize each other. But once the conversation started, the tension soon lifted. They realized familiar smiles, particular habits, such things that never changed.

They decided to enter the school; even though the school had shut down long ago, there was a hole in the fence. They were grinning, recalling the memory of their childhood. They always snuck through the neighbor’s garden hole as a shortcut. Although Chris was so buff that he was struggling to go through the hole, the others laughed hard as if they were back in time.

The uneasy tension settled again as soon as they entered the courtyard and saw the old school, which was giving off an eerie atmosphere. Without students, the school was dead quiet.

“Look, the tree.” Alice spotted an enormous tree where they often spent time together. “This tree got bigger like us,” Jane said.

“Chris got bigger than I expected, though,” Leo said half-jokingly. Chris smiled and jumped up to hang on a branch, showing off his masculine arms, then climbed up.

Leo tried to do the same, but something on the trunk caught his eye. “Does anybody know why Peter couldn’t come?”

“I thought you texted him,” Alice said to Leo.

“He must have been busy,” Jane said.

“Yeah, otherwise he would come. Remember? He was always chasing after us,” Chris said and laughed. “He was desperate, because he wasn’t good at running,” Leo said.

And then suddenly, Leo’s face twisted as if he were in pain. His eyes were still on the trunk, staring at it. As if something was bothering him.

Following his gaze, Alice found that there were carvings on the trunk, and read out loud. “For Peter” and “Payback BULL?” Everyone’s face grimaced. No one opened their mouths, but stared at the carvings. Alice then gasped, and started shivering.

Now, their memories came back at the same time that Peter died on the day of graduation. Bull was a nickname for their P.E. teacher. He was popular among students, parents, and even townspeople, and everybody liked him except them.

They always disliked him. Once at P.E class, when Bull missed a ball, it hit his face, and he made a funny sound. They laughed so hard at it; it was an innocent kid’s laugh. Any comical movements made them laugh at their age.

However, Bull took it personally, and he became brittle to them. But only secretly, behind everybody. It hadn’t been violent, but Bull occasionally caught them, or sometimes one of them, and scolded them with brutal, nasty words.

At some point, Peter started skipping school; they didn’t ask the reason but sensed that it was a family issue. Still, Peter sometimes snuck out of his house and played with them. The day before graduation day, they made a promise to pick him up, go to school, and participate in the graduation memorial photo together. They excitedly argued about what poses they would do.

The next day, they went to school together as they promised.

However, Bull caught them alone before they reached their classroom. He said to Peter, “You can’t enter the classroom. You don’t have the right to participate in the graduation photo.”

Then, he grabbed Peter’s shoulder and pulled, dragging him somewhere.

They were stunned for a while, then started chasing after them, but it took time.

They found Peter lying at the bottom of the stairs, unconscious. When they managed to rush into the graduation ceremony to call for help, they saw a pale-faced Bull, looking down, shaking. They were certain Bull had done that.

Leo broke the silence. “Oh, my god. How could we forget about this?”

“It happens.” Jane answered quietly and then continued, “I’ve seen many cases like this in my patients. And actually, I accidentally recalled it a while ago when I was testing hypnosis on my patient.”

She took her phone out of her pocket. “I meant to share this with you today, in here. Look! I took care of Bull,” Jane said with a half-smile, showing off her phone screen to others.

It was a picture of a man lying on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. It was exactly the same situation as the last moment of Peter.

“Is this..?” Alice’s voice was small and shaking. Jane seemed slightly red in the face. “Yes, it’s Bull.”

Chris jumped down from the trunk, bewildered, and stumbled on something.

“Watch out, that’s the spot where I buried him,” Jane said proudly. Her face reminded the others of a child version of her, who was a strong, bold, and decisive girl.

If you were gripped by this mystery, you might also enjoy the tension in Distortion of Truth.