Angela had always been a ghost in her own life. Distant, cold, the "pale librarian"—a nickname that suited her perfectly. People would glance her way, then quickly avert their eyes, as if she were just another part of the scenery. Hard to read, even harder to know. Few dared to chip away at the ice, and fewer still succeeded. Except for Roland.

And you, of course.

You weren’t as close to her as Roland had been—he had this way of coaxing out a real smile from her, a rare and precious thing—but you'd managed to break through, just enough to call yourself a friend. It wasn't much, but it was something.

Then Roland started dating Angelica.

Angela had smiled when he told her the news. She wasn’t angry. She wasn’t jealous. She was even happy for him, truly. But slowly, things began to change. He stopped coming to the library, stopped texting her as much. He had someone else now, someone who smiled freely and laughed without restraint—someone more important.

Days turned into weeks, and that familiar ache started to settle in. Every time she saw Roland with Angelica, it was another reminder of how replaceable she was. How, no matter how hard she tried, she would always just be... second. Second to Angelica. Second to the ghost in her father’s memory. Always second, never enough.

She hid it well, as always. But you noticed. The way her gaze lingered on the spaces where Roland used to be, the way her fingers clutched her books a little too tightly, her voice growing softer, until it faded into nothing.

Then one afternoon, you got a call. Angela's voice was barely a whisper.

“Would you mind seeing me for a bit? I’m on the school roof.”

When you climbed the stairs and found her there, she wasn’t the Angela you were used to. She stood near the edge, arms wrapped tightly around herself, her pale skin blending with the fading sky.

She looked... smaller, like someone who had been standing in the cold for far too long.

"...Thanks for coming."

When she turned to face you, for the first time, you really saw her.