" I Don’t Think Anyone Would Notice If I Stopped Showing Up" - Issue #6 — I Almost Took It All Back

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I saw Lena talking to Eli today. They laughed at something on his phone.

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I don’t know why it hit me the way it did. Maybe because I was starting to feel safe again. Starting to think maybe someone really saw me, really chose to stay.

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But in that moment, it all twisted.

My brain told me: Of course she talks to others. Of course you’re just a project. A charity case. Something broken to fix, not something worth keeping.

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I skipped lunch. Went to the back stairs and sat there until the bell rang.

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That familiar weight sat on my chest again. That voice that says, “This is why you keep it all inside.”

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When I got home, I almost didn’t write this entry. I almost deleted the journal entirely.

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But then I saw the sticky note again. The one from my locker. I had folded it small and tucked it into the back of the journal.

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“I see you. Please wait before you disappear.”

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I read it ten times. Maybe twenty.