The things we never say.

Chapter 7

I went to work that morning pretending nothing had happened.

I drank coffee the whole morning, trying to keep up with the day.

I smiled when people spoke to me.

I answered questions.

I even laughed when someone made a joke.

But my mind wasn't there.

It was still in my bedroom.

Still staring at those words.

"You know me."

By lunchtime, I couldn't take it anymore.

I went to the bathroom and locked myself inside a stall.

I took the notebook out of my bag.

I hadn't planned on bringing it with me.

But somehow, I had.

I opened it.

There was a new sentence.

"Don't tell anyone."

I stared at it.

My hands went cold.

I turned the page.

Another sentence.

"Especially not her."

I swallowed.

Who was her?

I grabbed my pen.

"Who is she?"

Nothing happened.

I waited.

Still nothing.

I almost closed the notebook when my phone vibrated.

Unknown number.

I stared at the screen.

It stopped.

A second later, a message appeared.

"You need to stop asking questions."

My heart sank.

I typed back.

"Who are you?"

The reply came almost instantly.

"Ask yourself."

I stared at the screen.

Then another message appeared.

"Forty-four minutes."

I froze.

They knew.

Someone knew about the forty-four minutes.

I quickly typed:

"What happened during those forty-four minutes?"

The typing bubble appeared.

Then disappeared.

Appeared again.

Then finally, a message came through.

"You weren't alone."

My hands started shaking.

I typed:

"Who was with me?"

This time, there was no reply.

Instead, my phone began ringing.

Unknown number.

I answered.

“Hello?”

Silence.

Then I heard breathing.

Slow.

Steady.

Familiar.

My heart stopped.

Because I knew that breathing.

I had heard it before.

Every night.

In my dreams.

A voice finally spoke.

Quietly.

Almost like a whisper in my own ear.

“Why did you start writing again?”

I couldn't speak.

The voice continued.

“You promised you wouldn't.”

My eyes filled with tears.

“Who are you?”

There was a long silence.

Then the person said something that made every part of me go cold.

“You really don't remember me, do you?”

The call ended.

I looked down at the notebook.

A new sentence had appeared.

"She remembers you."

I read it twice.

Then a third time.

And suddenly, I remembered something.

Not the forty-four minutes.

Not the old woman.

Not the man on the bus.

Something much older.

A girl.

A room.

Two voices laughing.

And someone saying my name.

Not the name everyone called me.

A different name.

One I had never heard before.

I whispered it aloud.

And the moment I did...

Someone knocked on the bathroom door.

Three slow knocks.

I stopped breathing.

Then a woman's voice came from the other side.

“Are you okay?”

I knew that voice.

I had heard it before.

I just couldn't remember where.