1 Dear whoever is going to read this,

Dear whoever is going to read this, I doubt anybody will read this, but just in case... My name is Hana. I am 22. The last thing that I remember is graduating college. I remember it vividly, and it's a day that I will never forget.

I felt the butterflies churning in my stomach like they had nowhere else they would rather be. I took a deep breath and held it in. I leaned over and touched my head on Ajax's shoulder.

"Hana, are you ok?" He took a lock of hair from in front. "You look a lot paler than when you didn't have your robe on."

I smiled weakly as he rubbed his hand down my arm. I savored every second of it.

"Will you make it through graduation?" His eyebrows furrowed into a 'V' shape as he peered into my eyes.

"I'll be fine. I'm tough. I can make it. Besides, how hard can a speech be? At least I'm not the key speaker." The laughter started to seep through.

Ajax stared at me, which increased my laughing.

"No, that's me, remember? It won't be that bad. Nothing's going to blow up on you speaking. Besides, you look gorgeous in that dress. You wouldn't know we planned it out to match today," He smirked. "Now can you give me a hug before we walk through these curtains? It's our last chance to hug before we're not attending the same college." His smile drooped a little as he reminded us of reality. I ran my eyes up and down his royal blue blazer and matching pants paired with this dragon red before pulling him in for a tight embrace. If I could, I would marry this man here and now. He had the most dreamy, dark blue eyes that I had ever seen. His skin looked like he was kissed by the sun, but it suited him well for an Italian-American. One of the things that I love the most about him is that he always cares for kids-- a quality necessary if you are going to teach kids about language.

I hugged him as hard as I could and didn't let go until I heard those dreadful words, "and now, may I present to you our student representative speakers for this year's class: Ajax Ciardi representing the departments of literature, art, and music and Hana Lixue representing the departments of science, mathematics, and medicine. They are co-representing the department of social sciences." A deafening roar erupted from the auditorium. Ajax pulled away from our hug and held my hand in the air as we walked onstage from behind the stage's side curtains. We held hands until we reached the podium. I noticed the yellow and orange chrysanthemums flowers in front of the stage. Flowers calms me down faster than anything in this world could. They grounded me in reality. I loved working with them. My grandmother always said that my talent for gardening and finding flowers was unmatched by every else.

I looked down at the paper as it steadied in my hands. "Thank you for coming here today on this special day for us." I cleared my throat and looked at the flowers lining the rows and rows of students. "The last few years have been an amazing experience for me and my fellow classmates. We have learned, grown, cried, laugh, loved, hated, and experienced every moment of our college careers, but now we are preparing to go into the big, bad world out there. We will change this world in one way or another. We will make it better. My fellow classmates, our college days as undergraduates have finished, but our journey is just beginning. We don't know the plans that the future holds, but I know how we will get there. We will get there by putting one foot in front of the other. We will make choice after choice. Our choices today- good or evil- will make us into who we are tomorrow. Thank you, and now we will hear from my amazing boyfriend, Ajax." I smiled and turned to him. He had this Lucky cat's grin and a look that said that he was proud of me. I will never forget how handsome he was at that moment.

"Like Hana said, thank you for being--" The fire alarm sounded. While a few people near the exits left, the majority of the people sat still waiting to see if there was an actual fire or if it was a mistake.

The president of the college approached the podium. "Hello, everyone. Security says everything is clear. There is no fire here." He turned to our right and reached his hand out to shake Ajax's

I slowly backed towards the left side of the stage near the emergency exit. I saw the chrysanthemums fly up surrounding the podium, a loud booming sound hit my ears, and then a constant ringing was in my ears. I looked at the podium and saw a chest with the President's jacket. I looked to my right. The diploma case sticking out of his chest. His shirt color deepened its red color. I saw this crimson red hair on an Italian's face. My face felt wet as I looked at his face. The words that he formed on his lips were "love" and "revenge." A tugging sensation occurred as my eyes became heavier and heavier with each passing moment.