Entry 4: Room 214

"Some rooms become empty long before the people inside leave."

The page turned on its own.

I didn't touch it.

I didn't even breathe.

Slowly, the paper settled.

At the top of the page...

A number.

214.

Nothing else.

No title.

No date.

Just...

Room 214.

I frowned.

"A room?"

The handwriting was different this time.

Sharper.

More hurried.

Almost as if the writer had been afraid of running out of time.

I began reading.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Dear Stranger,

If you've never lived in a hostel, you'll never understand how quickly strangers become family.

Or how suddenly they become memories.

Room 214 wasn't special.

Two beds.

Two study tables.

One noisy ceiling fan.

Peeling blue paint.

It was ordinary.

Until she moved in.

Her name was Aisha.

She laughed too loudly.

Sang while studying.

Always stole my chips without asking.

She had this annoying habit of switching off my alarm because she hated waking up early.

I pretended to hate her.

Truthfully...

I'd never had a sister.

Maybe that's why I never minded.

We promised each other something on the first day.

No matter where life took us...

We'd meet here again.

Five years later.

Same room.

Same date.

Same time.

It sounded childish.

At nineteen...

Forever feels easy.

Then life happened.

She fell in love.

I buried myself in books.

Our conversations became shorter.

Our silences became longer.

One stupid argument became weeks.

Weeks became months.

Neither of us apologized.

Because both of us believed the other one would.

Graduation arrived.

She left.

I left.

Room 214 became someone else's room.

Last week...

I finally gathered the courage to visit.

The warden smiled when I asked about Aisha.

Then his smile disappeared.

He looked at me for a long time before speaking.

"You don't know?"

My heart stopped.

She had been in an accident.

Three years ago.

She never came back.

I stood outside Room 214 for almost an hour.

The room looked exactly the same.

Different students.

Same walls.

Same ceiling fan.

Someone had even placed a cactus on the windowsill.

I wanted to knock.

Instead...

I cried.

Not because she was gone.

Because our last conversation was an argument about something I can't even remember anymore.

If you're reading this...

Please don't wait.

Call your friend.

Text your sister.

Apologize first.

Pride has never attended a funeral.

Regret has.

— Someone Who Waited Too Long

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I closed my eyes.

My fingers tightened around the notebook.

Without thinking...

I picked up my phone.

There were twenty-three unread messages.

Most of them didn't matter.

One did.

It was from Maya.

Sent almost four hours ago.

"Did I do something wrong?"

I stared at the screen.

Then at the notebook.

For a moment...

Neither moved.

I typed only four words.

"No.

I'm sorry."

Before I could press send...

A soft knock echoed through my apartment.

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

I wasn't expecting anyone.

Slowly...

I walked to the door.

I looked through the peephole.

No one was there.

Only a small paper bag resting on the floor.

Inside it...

Was an old brass key.

Attached to it was a faded tag.

**214.**

End of Entry 4.

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