The girl who waited

The silence had become more than just a habit—it was her reality. Each day, she drifted further away from the world, from the people she once called friends, from the family that no longer noticed the changes in her.

At school, she sat in the back of the classroom, her books open but her mind blank. The words on the pages blurred together, meaningless. Teachers called on students, discussions filled the room, but she felt like an outsider watching from behind a glass wall.

She wondered how it had come to this.

She remembered the girl she used to be—the one who laughed loudly, who ran through the rain without an umbrella, who dreamed of endless possibilities. That girl felt like a distant memory, someone from another lifetime.

One afternoon, as she walked home, she passed by a group of her old friends. For a brief second, she thought they would acknowledge her, maybe call out her name. But they didn't. They were too busy talking,