ing like a ghost in her own narrative. The bakery still sat at the corner, its windows fogged from early morning pastries.

eople

rough their phones. Emily could feel the weight of their curiosity pressing into her back like an unwelcome coa

ymore*, she thought, gr

hed hawks. Students bustled past the gate, laughter and chatter drifting across the morning air. She watched for a w

mi

ce star

rown corduroy jacket and an un

said, eyes kind but cautious

herself. "For a while.

me to the school events, always had something sweet to say. It

mile, but it didn't re

ng briskly down the block. Her heart pounded harder with every step. Familiar

above the door jingled-a sound from her

and untouched. Mr. Denby sat behind the

ell, I'll be...

h touched her hear

he asked, stand

for

ber things. You know that, right? So

ng he always said when she was younger, when she hid

is place," s

ut sure. "Come by when you can. We'll catch up prop

tepped back into the sunlight.

stop was

nd a seat by the window. It was there, in that crowded space, that the realization hit her -

ranger. Even

irl in school, now dressed in business casual and flanked by two e

way bride," she said loud e

ened. "Hell

t think we'd see you back here. T

"No. Just trying to f

that?" Nicole smir

strutted away, leaving behind the faint

y. She refused to l

d out her journal

e she had

finally ready to ask

bout her past, she was rewriti

, she would n