You, the Classmate Beside Me

Some people never reach the end, yet in the long years that follow, they become a secret point of reference.

They mistook silence for having all the time in the world. Mountains and rivers lay between them, cities changed, and the few words in their message threads preserved all the old feelings they had never spoken aloud.

Not every reunion has to end happily. Some loves are destined only to light the way, never to possess. But once that light has shone, it never truly goes out. It simply retreats deep into memory, where it guides someone as they learn to say goodbye and find the strength to walk on alone.