Chapter 5 The only one

I didn’t notice her at first.

Maybe because I had stopped noticing people.

Or maybe because she had always been there.

Anna.

We had known each other since childhood.

Same streets.

Same school.

Same classrooms.

But we were never really close.

She wasn’t like the others.

She didn’t laugh at me.

Didn’t call me names.

Didn’t stand beside me just to make me look smaller.

She just… stayed quiet.

Watching.

That day, during lunch, I was sitting alone in the classroom.

Like always.

The noise from outside filled the air—laughter, voices, footsteps.

But inside, it was silent.

I stared at my notebook.

Not reading.

Just… there.

“Still sitting alone?”

I looked up.

Anna stood near my desk.

I didn’t say anything.

She pulled a chair and sat in front of me.

“You didn’t go outside?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“I’m not hungry,” I said softly.

She glanced at my lunch box.

Still closed.

“You should eat,” she said.

I didn’t respond.

A few seconds passed in silence.

“You used to talk more,” she said.

I looked down.

I didn’t remember that version of me anymore.

“They were laughing again today,” she added.

I looked at her.

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

I thought for a moment.

Then shook my head.

“Not really.”

She didn’t look convinced.

“People don’t just stop feeling,” she said quietly.

“Maybe they do,” I replied.

Or maybe they just stop showing it.

Before she could say anything else, voices came from the door.

A few boys walked in.

They stopped when they saw her sitting with me.

“Oh… look at this,” one of them said, smirking.

“Since when do you sit with him?”

Another laughed.

“Careful, you’ll become like him.”

They looked at Anna, waiting for a reaction.

She didn’t laugh.

Didn’t move.

Just looked at them calmly.

“What?” she said.

“Nothing,” one of them replied quickly.

“Just surprised.”

They exchanged looks and walked away, still whispering.

The room felt different after that.

Heavier.

I looked at her.

“Why are you sitting here?” I asked quietly.

The question came out before I could stop it.

She looked at me for a moment.

Then said, “Because I can.”

Simple.

No explanation.

The bell rang.

She stood up.

“Try to eat something,” she said again before leaving.

I watched her go.

Something about her felt different.

Not like the others.

Not like me.

For the rest of the day, I kept thinking about it.

About her sitting there.

About what those boys said.

About why she didn’t leave.

That night, I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

The room was quiet.

But my thoughts weren’t.

And for the first time in a long while…

one thought stayed longer than the rest—

Maybe… someone notices me.

I didn’t know if it meant anything.

I didn’t know if it would change anything.

But for now—

it felt enough.

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