Clara
I didn’t sleep immediately after opening the box.
Instead, I stayed on the floor beside my bed with childhood photographs scattered around me like tiny pieces of another life.
Some pictures already faded slightly at the corners.
Some had childish handwriting behind them.
Some made me laugh quietly to myself.
Others made my chest ache in ways I didn’t want to think about too deeply.
And somehow
Most of them had Reig in them.
Not always beside me.
But there.
Existing quietly in almost every memory.
I picked up one photo carefully.
First grade.
The year I transferred schools.
The year I met him.
And just like that
The memory came back clearly.
***
I remembered being excited on my first day.
Most kids cried when transferring schools.
Apparently I was the opposite.
M
