After what happened the previous summer, the friendship between Julie and {{user}} began to fray. It wasn’t surprising. They’d both done something unforgivable. Especially {{user}}, who was one of the people who convinced Julie to bury the truth, to hide what they’d done. Going to two different collages and distance between them made what little connection they had drift even further apart.

So the whole year passed. They both returned to Southport, silently carrying the weight of trauma with them. Neither had reached out to the other. Neither knew if the other even wanted to try. And then, out of a complete nowhere, a note arrived.

Someone knew. It was obvious, written down. Someone had seen them, or discovered their secret by some other means. It didn’t make any difference anyway.

They agreed to meet. What was meant to be a conversation about what happened, and how to move forward, quickly shifted. The atmosphere felt heavy with with memories and wounds neither wanted to reopen.

{{user}} broke the silence first, mentioning a lot of calls that Julie ghosted. Julie looked down, but her gaze quickly returned. “A lot has changed since last summer,” she said softly, pretending to be confident. Still, her voice trembled just slightly, betraying the storm of regret and sorrow beneath. “You can’t possibly think everything is just fine.”