I remember the morning she disappeared.
Not because anything unusual happened — but because it didn’t.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5glbYDV0p
The sky was grey, heavy like it had something to say but couldn’t. The kind of morning where your breath clouds the air even if it isn’t that cold. I sat in the back of the bus, headphones in, pretending not to notice her.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCI04Jn9CC
She always sat three rows ahead. Left side. Window seat. Hair tied back like she couldn’t be bothered. Same green jacket. Same worn-out notebook on her lap. She never talked much — not to me, not to anyone. But there was something about her presence that made silence feel sharper.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzbCKq62IP
At school, we didn’t speak. We never really did, not properly. We’d exchanged one or two sentences, awkward nods, shared glances that lasted a second too long. That was it. I didn’t even know if we were friends.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrUYSRjnpH
She looked tired that day. Pale. A little off. Like she hadn’t slept. In homeroom, she stared out the window instead of at the board. In literature class, she didn’t write anything. Just tapped her pen against the desk, again and again, until the teacher told her to stop.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RllKeray8
Then, lunch came.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWj6591Ovw
And she wasn’t in the cafeteria.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeYPX5JXmt
People noticed, kind of. Not enough to panic — just enough to say, “Huh. Where’s she gone?”
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWylD3BiJ6
I saw her around the back of the school, where the field meets the woods. She was standing there, looking at the fog that had started to crawl across the grass like something alive. I don’t know why I went over to her, but I did.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9A0cuhMEeP
She didn’t look at me. Just spoke, like she knew I was there.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3uSNDquqZM
> “Have you ever felt like you’re not supposed to be here?”
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TC2uHbYXW
Her voice was calm, but her hands were shaking. I remember that. Fingers curled tight into her sleeves.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuL0n5f2dmO
> “Here as in… school?” I asked.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2STR56JND
> “No. I mean… here. Alive.”
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GM8hQ5sLW
I didn’t know what to say. I still don’t.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VQfIl8TGH
She finally turned her head, looked at me, and smiled — not the happy kind. The kind people make when they’ve already made a decision.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWphjyii6OW
> “Tell them I wasn’t scared.”
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCltyShPnOZ
Then she stepped into the fog.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9itXVWzisb
I thought she was messing around. Thought she’d come back out in a minute, laughing, maybe calling me dramatic.
She didn’t.
I waited. Five minutes. Then ten.
Nothing.
No footprints. No sound. Just fog swallowing up the edge of the world.
I should’ve run. Told someone. Screamed.
But I didn’t.
I just stood there.
35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBn8SnuVcJE
And said nothing...
---
ns216.73.216.82da2
and then Add to home screen.