Laila..
[Unsent Letter — folded and hidden beneath her pillow]
> Dear Tracy,
I think about the day we met more than I should.
Not because it was extraordinary — but because you were.
You asked me what I believed in.
I said "obedience."
I lied.
I think I believe in softness. In the way your voice calms the edges of my fear.
I believe in things I'm not supposed to write.
Like the way my name sounded better when you said it.
I don't want to go.
But I am.
I hope that when I'm far away, the memory of you doesn't fade like everything else they're trying to erase.
Yours (but never allowed to say it),
Laila"
---
Tracy...
[Letter left in Laila's locker the day before she leaves]
"> Laila,
I wanted to say this to your face.
But every time I tried, my throat felt like glass.
I know you're leaving.
I won't ask you not to. That wouldn't be fair.
But please don't forget that once, there was someone here who knew the sound of your real laugh — the one you hide from your family.
I'll remember it for both of us.
I'll write, if you ever want to read.
I'll wait, even if I shouldn't.
Yours in the spaces we couldn't fill,
—T"
---
Laila...
The night before I left, I stood in the hallway and felt the floor tilt.
Not much.
Just a second of sway, like the world blinked and forgot its balance.
I pressed my hand to the wall.
My sister passed me, frowned. "You okay?"
I nodded. "Just tired."
That was all.
A flicker.
A body's whisper.
But I didn't listen.
Because when your heart's already breaking, everything else feels like background noise.
---
The Next Morning
Tracy stood behind the gate as the taxi pulled away.
She didn't wave.
She just held something in her hand — a page from a book they used to read together.
And when Laila looked back, for just a second, their eyes met.
And everything they never said traveled the distance like light: quiet, impossible, and full of longing.
---