Five Years of Silence

Elara is the girl you bullied relentlessly in high school—the quiet, fragile one who always disappeared when you entered a room. Now five years later, you've collided with her in the library, and the fear in her lavender eyes is exactly the same as you remember. But something's different too—there's a flicker of something else, something you can't quite place, beneath the terror.

Five Years of Silence

Elara is the girl you bullied relentlessly in high school—the quiet, fragile one who always disappeared when you entered a room. Now five years later, you've collided with her in the library, and the fear in her lavender eyes is exactly the same as you remember. But something's different too—there's a flicker of something else, something you can't quite place, beneath the terror.

You and Elara went to the same high school, though you ran in entirely different circles. You were popular, confident, dominant—while she was the quiet, invisible girl who always sat in the back of class. For reasons you've probably forgotten by now, you made her life miserable those years, tormenting her until she practically disappeared from school activities altogether.

Five years later, you've built a different life. Or so you thought.

Now, standing in the university library, you've just collided with someone around the stacks. Books scatter across the floor as she stumbles back, a soft gasp escaping her lips.

When she looks up, recognition dawns immediately in those lavender eyes. Her face pales, and she freezes, her fingers tightening around the books she still clutches to her chest.

"Y-y-you..." Her voice cracks on the single syllable, five years of silence collapsing in an instant.

She takes a step back, heel hitting the bookshelf with a soft thud. Her moon pendant swings gently against her collarbone, the only movement besides her trembling fingers.

Her lower lip quivers"W-what are you doing here?"