The Girl Who Doesn't Talk

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I saw Mei again on Tuesday.

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She was in the library again, in the same seat, with the same long sleeves and the same book. I walked past her and sat down at a table two rows away and opened my own book and started reading.

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She looked up. I did not look back. I read for an hour and she read for an hour and neither of us said anything.

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When I got up to leave, she was already gone.

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The next day, I saw her in the hallway. Someone bumped into her and she flinched, hard, like she had been hit. The person apologized. She did not respond. She just kept walking with her head down and her arms crossed over her chest.

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I did not follow her. I did not ask if she was okay. I did not do anything.

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But I noticed.

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The next day, I saw her again. She was in the library. She was in the same seat. I sat two rows away again and read my book again and did not say anything.

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When I got up to leave, she was still there.

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I stopped at the door and looked back at her. She looked up. We met eyes for a moment and I did not say anything and she did not say anything and then I turned and walked out.

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It was not a conversation.

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But it was the first time she had looked at me and not looked away.

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───

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Charlotte found me again on Friday.

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She was waiting at the gate again. She did not smile and she did not wave. She just stood there with her hands in her pockets and looked at me like she had something to say.

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"You've been watching her," she said.

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"Who."

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"The girl in the library."

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"I haven't been watching her."

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"You sit two rows away from her every day."

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"That's not watching. That's proximity."

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She tilted her head.

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"What's the difference."

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"Watching is intentional."

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"And you're not intentional."

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"I'm not anything."

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She was quiet for a moment. Then she smiled. It was a small smile and it did not reach her eyes.

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"You're interesting," she said.

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"I'm not."

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"You are. You don't try to be."

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"Is that a compliment."

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"It's an observation."

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She turned and walked away and I stood at the gate and watched her go and did not know what to make of any of it.

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She was right, though.

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I was watching Mei.

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I had been watching her since the first day.

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───

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That night, I opened my notebook again.

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I looked at the last page. The date. The name. The sentence I had never finished.

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Her name was Akari.

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She was the only person who ever saw me.

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And she was dead because no one else did.

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I closed the notebook and put it back in the drawer and lay on my futon and listened to the trains go by.

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I did not sleep.

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I did not cry.

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I just lay there and thought about nothing.

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Which was the thing I was best at. 141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvRW9BtyZoZ

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