I never learned her name. Now she is just a memory. A remnant of an all but forgotten past.
I think I would have liked getting to know her. But she always hid away where no one could get to.
She tried a few times to come outside and be a part of the little world around her. But they hurled insults as soon as they saw her.
After that... she just stopped trying. To never try at all, she felt, was better than to try and be hurt.
I was forever outside looking in, hiding her, protecting her.
She lived on, pretending. Always pretending. Until she wasn't anymore.
Slowly but surely she faded away. Before she had even the chance to name herself.
I didn't see it happen. It was too slow, and she too quiet. One day she was there, hiding, as always.
Ten years later she was gone.
I... am all that's left of a past I've tried to forget.
