At Beyond the Box, we are constantly thinking of ideas to give something unique, refreshing as well as challenging to our community of writers. Two to Tango is one such endeavour to encourage the participants to work along with another writer as a team and bring about a creative synergy. 44 teams participated in Season 4 of this one-of-its-kind contest held in Sep-Oct 2024. Below prompt was given to the writers and they were asked to narrate the same story from two different points of view.
Prompt – Write a fictional story in which a letter gets delivered ten years late, impacting the present in some way. Feel free to interpret this in any context/style/genre.
The Special Mention winners in the kids’ category were Smayan & Ashvik (Team 40). Enjoy their story!
Title: CTRL+ALT+RECONNECT
Point of View #1 (Rahul)
By Ashvik
I received my friend’s letter 10 years late. He had sent it to invite me for a coding competition, because it was a team event and needed two people. He knew I’d be the most enthusiastic partner for something like that. The problem? The competition was the next day. But by the time the letter actually reached me… well, a whole decade had passed!
Back then, since I never got the invite, I thought he didn’t want me as his partner. I got upset, he got upset, and our friendship just collapsed. I avoided his calls, and he never tried again. For years, I assumed he had just left me behind.
And then, out of nowhere, I finally received his letter, and the mystery was solved. I couldn’t help but laugh. Immediately, I called Ramesh, and to my relief, he answered. When I explained, we both rolled on the floor laughing at how ridiculous the whole thing was. Then he told me that, by coincidence, the same competition was being held the next day again. We decided to go for it.
Point of View #2 (Ramesh)
By Smayan
The day I heard about the coding competition, I instantly thought of Rahul. I knew he’d be the perfect partner. So I wrote him a letter and sent it right away.
When the big day came, I waited and waited at the venue, but Rahul never turned up. The judges called out my name, but when they saw I was alone, they disqualified me immediately. I was crushed. I thought Rahul had ditched me, even though he knew how important this was for me. He never explained, never called, and I was too angry and hurt to reach out again. That silence lasted 10 years.
And then, one day, Rahul called me, completely out of the blue. He said he just then received my letter! Apparently, it had gone all the way to Moscow and then wandered around for years before finding its way back. We both burst out laughing.
I told him the best part: the competition was happening again this year, and the next day was the big day. So we teamed up at last, gave it our best shot, and ended up winning first place. The prize? A PS5 with three controllers. After that, our friendship was back to normal, maybe even stronger than before.