It’s 3:24 in the morning when my head hits my pillow. My body aches from exhaustion, but my mind is still abuzz. Every thought and feeling circles back to Mary Grace. Her pale skin, radiant in the moonlight. Her gleaming eyes as she smiled at me. The carefree way she played with her hair. The way she listened without judgment as I opened up to her. Always attentive. Always honest and empathetic.
My eyelids soon droop until they are too heavy to keep open. When I awake a few hours later, a shaft of morning light beams through the window. I blink until my eyes adjust and grudgingly rise from my bunk. Aside from me, the room is empty. My three roommates have already joined the scramble for first dibs on a morning dump or a pre-breakfast shower.
Judging by the clamor outside my room, everyon
