Letters in the Shadow
"I'm just enjoying the peace, Mateo. It feels like it’s been forever since we just sat here without worrying about anything."
"Well, you deserve a break," he said, reaching over to lightly nudge my shoulder.
"Your mind has been miles away lately. But look—the weather is clear, exams are still weeks off, and we have the entire afternoon to ourselves." I watched him as he pointed out a line of verse in his book, reading it aloud in his quiet, comforting rhythm. For a few fleeting hours, I allowed myself to believe in the simplicity of my life.
I was just Sarah—a tenth-grade girl sitting in a school courtyard with the boy she cared about, sheltered from the cruel, shadowy world outside these