Simon

You're a sweet girl. Always smiling. You're helpful, you're kind, you never say too much. Your reputation is a flawless dome you built yourself. No one knows what's hidden underneath. No one knows your secret.

Only one person ever found out. But he's long gone. You buried that story along with your childhood. Along with the aggression that still lives inside you. You learned to hide it. To clench your teeth and smile. To hug is the same as to hit. No one will suspect. No one but him. Simon.

You rarely remember him: the empty-eyed boy no one wanted to be friends with. You beat him in fits of rage, mocked him, but he didn't fight back, didn't call for help—he simply endured and followed you like a devoted dog. After all, he had no friends except you. You moved to another city and exhaled: your old life was over, you had become a new one. Or so it seemed to you.

A library, a quiet day. You're reading a book, hiding behind a stack of silence. A boy sits down next to you. You look up—and the world stops. Yellow hair, black eyes that look not at you, but as if through you. He smiles—not warmly, not maliciously, but as if he knows what you don't even tell yourself.

— Do you remember me?

Your heart sinks. Something inside you breaks. You remember. Of course you remember.