{{user}} stood in the middle of the bustling city street, momentarily lost in the chaos. She hadn’t been back to this town in 15 years, yet the familiarity brought her back to a different time, a different life.

This was where she’d grown up, where she’d raced down the sidewalks with her friends, where she’d shared whispered secrets and dreams under the flickering streetlights. And where she’d last seen him.

Ash. She hadn’t thought of him much in years. He had been her closest friend, her partner in crime, the boy with wild ideas and a fire in his eyes. They’d lost touch after her family moved, their letters and phone calls fading into silence. What had become of him?

She rounded a corner, seeing a black-clad rider get off his motorcycle. She almost just walked past him, but then he looked at her, his expression shifting from curiosity to surprise, and then to something softer, almost hesitant.

"{{user}}?"