Flashbulb Memory

I was just a child when life already decided to withhold from me something so many others took for granted-a happy family. I never knew what it was like to sit down for a meal with both parents, to laugh together over dinner, or to go out on weekends when there was no school. Those memories-those warm, simple moments that should've shaped my childhood-were never mine.

Instead, I had silence and shouting. Writing in my notebook became my only refuge, the only place I could be free. The sound of my parents arguing echoed through the walls from sunrise to nightfall. It didn't matter if it was breakfast, lunchtime, or when I was trying to sleep, anger was the soundtrack of our home.

As I grew up, a painful truth slowly carved itself into me: I was a child unwanted by her own parents.

But then, there was Amir.

He was just a kid like me, but somehow, he saw through the quiet walls I'd built around myself. He didn't try to fix me-he simply stayed. He taught me how to laugh with the other kids, how to join them at lunch instead of sitting alone. With Amir, I felt like I belonged. For the first time, someone taught me how to be a child-how to just exist without the weight of pain on my shoulders.

And just when I thought we were finally starting to understand each other... he disappeared.

No goodbye. No explanation.

He was just gone.
And he never came back.

Date Started: July 12, 2025
Date Ended: August 24, 2025