The only things I have left of my classmates now are my memories and a single photograph. It’s a group portrait, with our homeroom teacher in the center, the girls around her, and the boys at the edges. The photograph has faded, and since the photographer carefully focused the camera on the teacher, the edges, smudged even when the picture was taken, have now completely blurred; sometimes I wonder if they have blurred because the boys of our class long ago passed into nothingness, before they had a chance to finish growing up, and their features have been dissolved by time.

The only things I have left of my classmates now are my memories and a single photograph. It’s a group portrait, with our homeroom teacher in the center, the girls around her, and the boys at the edges. The photograph has faded, and since the photographer carefully focused the camera on the teacher, the edges, smudged even when the picture was taken, have now completely blurred; sometimes I wonder if they have blurred because the boys of our class long ago passed into nothingness, before they had a chance to finish growing up, and their features have been dissolved by time.