I remember the morning she disappeared.
Not because anything unusual happened — but because it didn’t.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGoXpMlgGl
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.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyK0I33DEQ
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.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡek543znkPT
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.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3wTIq8v2m
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.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJFq2vyz8Xx
Then, lunch came.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sBKeI9ScO
And she wasn’t in the cafeteria.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXrUOQ2utP
People noticed, kind of. Not enough to panic — just enough to say, “Huh. Where’s she gone?”
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWxPJtax1U
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.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVV9xnwc9p
She didn’t look at me. Just spoke, like she knew I was there.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaH1HojoXMK
> “Have you ever felt like you’re not supposed to be here?”
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡalr43BnaT4
Her voice was calm, but her hands were shaking. I remember that. Fingers curled tight into her sleeves.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0W1Erotyqe
> “Here as in… school?” I asked.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNh17XqDeYs
> “No. I mean… here. Alive.”
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOFbM6D4W3
I didn’t know what to say. I still don’t.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbbkJ9i9et
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.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEboUaXbmr
> “Tell them I wasn’t scared.”
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sFuV9iUpq
Then she stepped into the fog.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEvTfD1QaI
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.
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmbpGrWKAXz
And said nothing...
---
ns216.73.217.22da2
and then Add to home screen.