HAPPY FRIENDSHIP ANNIVERSARY

The night had swallowed the last sliver of sunset.

Eli sat alone on the wooden steps of the cabin porch, the sounds of laughter from inside now distant, like a memory slipping through cracks in his chest.

His journal rested open on his knees, but the pen in his hand hovered without touching the page.

"I liked Amelia first..."

The words formed in his mind like waves crashing against a dam.

"...but we drifted."

Now she was suddenly back in his orbit, her smile warm, her presence grounding, but her eyes unreadable.

And Nora. Kind, intuitive Nora.

The one who always made space for silence and still somehow filled it with meaning.

The words she tossed into the air now sat heavy in Nora's mind, and Eli didn't even know if they were true.

He exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand through his hair.

"Why can't I just say what I want?" he scrawled finally.

"Why am I scared to choose?"

He flipped back through earlier pages of the journal, half-filled thoughts, a few sketches, random phrases.

No clear answer. No solid emotion. Just shadows of what he might feel.

Behind him, a door creaked. He didn't look up.

He wasn't ready for another conversation. Not yet.

So he closed the journal, placed it beside him, and let the silence press against him fully.

The weight of unsaid things. Of moments lost to hesitation. Of truths he wasn't sure he wanted to own.

Somewhere in the trees, a night bird called out.

Somewhere inside, someone laughed.

But Eli stayed right where he was, alone, quiet, uncertain, his thoughts louder than anything else.

 Tides Beneath Us

 Late afternoon, near the edge of the retreat cabin's garden.

"The sun filters through the trees, casting golden light over Lena and Nora as they sit on a bench, talking".

Lena: (softly)

"Nora, if you like Eli… find your spot fast. Before Amelia fills it for you."

Nora: (startled, unsure)

"What do you mean by that?"

Lena:

"I mean… you've seen them lately. How often she laughs around him.

How close they've gotten again. It's like they've fallen back into some old rhythm."

(pauses)

"And you, you're just watching it happen."

Nora:

"But what if he doesn't feel that way about me? What if I'm reading too much into things?"

Lena:

"Maybe. Or maybe you're scared. But don't wait too long, Nora.

Sometimes silence permits other people to step in."

A few steps away, partially hidden by the porch corner, Amelia stands frozen, holding a cup of tea she never meant to eavesdrop with.

She had just come out for air, but stopped at the sound of her name.

Amelia: (internally, shaken)

Why is Lena being different lately? Like… like she dislikes me, and only now it's showing.

After all these years?

If something's wrong, shouldn't she come to me? Talk to me?

She swallows hard, blinking away the sting in her eyes.

"Eli and I have been friends for a long time before we met Lena and Nora.

"Just because we're spending time again doesn't mean I'm stealing anything.

She slowly turns back inside, quietly, leaving the conversation behind, but carrying the weight of it like a silent bruise.

Where the Quiet Lives

The late afternoon sun was slipping behind the hills, casting long, golden shadows across the retreat grounds.

Laughter trickled from the kitchen, where the group was cleaning up after lunch,

"Clinks of dishes.

Someone humming. Voices blending. Familiar… yet distant.

But Amelia couldn't do it today. Not the jokes. Not the sideways glances. Not the quiet weight pressing on her chest like something left unsaid too long.

Without a word, she slipped on her hoodie, grabbed her notebook, and walked out the side door.

The screen creaked and shut behind her, unnoticed.

No one saw her go.

She wandered off the path that led down to the beach and instead took the smaller trail behind the cabins, a winding path through trees, worn by footsteps and memories.

The sound of her sneakers crunching over dry leaves felt louder than her thoughts.

She didn't know exactly where she was heading. Just… away.

Away from the quiet tension in Lena's voice.

Away from Nora's wide, uncertain eyes.

Away from Eli.

Eli.

She stopped walking and sat on a moss-covered log near a clearing where the wind whispered through tall pines.

The trees swayed above like old guardians, and the sky was beginning to deepen into soft purples.

She pulled her notebook out, but didn't open it.

Instead, she hugged her knees and stared into the clearing, where the golden light filtered through in gentle stripes.

She hadn't meant to overhear that conversation.

She hadn't meant to care so much.

But hearing her name, her intentions, reduced to whispered warnings, felt like a punch she hadn't seen coming.

"If anything's wrong, shouldn't she come to me?"

"We're all friends… right?"

She picked up a pebble and rolled it between her fingers.

"Her thoughts tangled with old memories, how things used to be in school.

Back when Eli would text her poems at midnight, back when they'd sneak off during breaks "just to walk and talk about everything and nothing.

She'd been in a relationship back then. She'd moved on. Or thought she had.

Now here they were, years later, the pieces of their old friendship quietly finding their way back… only to become something everyone else seemed to have an opinion on.

"A bird flitted across the clearing, landing on a branch and chirping once before taking flight again".

Amelia exhaled slowly.

Maybe she should have told someone she was leaving.

But she hadn't wanted to explain herself, to justify why she needed to be alone.

Why couldn't she smile and play along today?

She just needed space. Not forever. Just for now.

Behind her, the wind carried faint traces of voices calling, far off and unsure.

But she stayed where she was. Still. Silent.

Letting the trees hold her.

Letting herself breathe.

Echoes Through the Pines

The sun was now dipping low, spilling honeyed light across the cabin floor.

Kai was the first to notice. "Hey, has anyone seen Amelia?"

He asked casually, twisting the cap back on his water bottle.

Nora looked up from where she was drying dishes. "I thought she was with you and Eli."

Kai shook his head. "She wasn't at the fire pit when I came back. I figured she was reading or something."

Lena, seated on the porch steps, tying her hair back, turned slightly.

"She said she needed space earlier… but I didn't think she'd disappear."

A pause. The kind that fills a room like mist.

Eli stepped out from the hallway, brows drawn tight. "Wait. She hasn't been back since lunch?"

No one responded.

The air shifted.

"We're probably just overthinking it," Nora offered, trying for calm. "Maybe she went for a walk. Or she's journaling somewhere."

"Without her phone?" Lena added, standing now. "She never leaves without at least telling someone."

Eli's jaw clenched. "She left her phone?"

"Still charging in the room," Nora nodded slowly.

Silence.

Then everyone moved.

The group split up instinctively, searching the corners of the cabin, calling her name down the drive, behind the bushes, along the stretch of nearby forest trail.

Eli headed toward the dock, eyes scanning the water.

Nora took the back trail with Lena, their voices occasionally echoing out, "Amelia!" "You there?", blending with the rustling of wind through the trees.

Even Kai, always the calm one, started checking behind the sheds and beneath the hammock canopy, muttering under his breath, "Come on, Amelia…"

Lena kicked at the gravel as they walked. "This isn't like her. Not without a word."

Nora's voice was quieter. "Do you think… maybe she heard us?"

Lena stopped walking.

"I don't know," she finally said. "But if she did… I wouldn't blame her for walking away."

Back at the cabin, Eli returned from the lake empty-handed. His eyes darted to the horizon, then to the woods behind the cabins.

"Let's widen the search," he said. His voice was low. Commanding. Worried. "She wouldn't just vanish."

"But what if she wants to be alone?"

"Kai said, though even he sounded unsure now.

"Wanting to be alone is one thing," Eli replied. "Disappearing without water, phone, or a note? That's not her."

The shadows were growing longer now, the sky tinged with gold and lavender.

And with each passing minute, concern bloomed silently between them, like something unspoken but real. Heavy.

Even laughter from earlier now felt like a memory.

"She wouldn't just leave us like this…" Nora whispered.

"She didn't leave," Eli said, his eyes scanning the trees. "She's somewhere nearby. I'll find her."

 A Smile for the Sake of Peace

The cabin door creaked open just as the sun slipped behind the trees.

"Amelia stepped in, brushing a few leaves from her sweater.

Her hair was a little tousled, and her cheeks were flushed from walking.

But there was a soft smile on her face, calm, practiced, unreadable.

Everyone froze.

"Amelia?" Nora was the first to rush toward her. "Where have you been? We've been"

"Worried," Lena added quickly, arms crossed tightly.

Eli didn't speak. He just stood by the window, watching her. His shoulders finally eased, but his brows remained furrowed.

"I'm sorry," Amelia said gently, stepping out of her shoes. "I needed air… just wanted to clear my head.

I didn't mean to scare anyone."

"You could've told someone," Kai said, though his voice was careful, not scolding. "Left a note, at least."

"I know. I didn't think I'd be gone that long." She smiled again, this time smaller. "It won't happen again."

No one pressed her further, not when she gave that calm, collected look, the one she'd mastered over the years.

"The one that said, I'm fine, please don't ask.

They nodded, grateful she was safe. Nora wrapped an arm around her and guided her to sit.

There were offers of tea, food, warmth, all kindly meant, and Amelia accepted them with the grace of someone trying not to unravel.

But what none of them saw was the quiet decision she'd made in the woods.

She couldn't keep lingering near Eli.

Not with all the confusion swirling silently between the group, Lena's half-hidden tension, Nora's unsure heart, and Eli's eyes that always searched for hers first.

She didn't want to be the reason anything cracked.

So, she distanced herself.

That night, she laughed when the others did.

She helped Nora with dishes, gave Kai a side hug, and even listened to Lena's stories with kind eyes.

But Eli?

She barely met his gaze. Moved to the opposite end of the porch when he came out.

Choose the seat furthest from him at dinner.

And when their eyes did meet, just once, she offered a polite, warm smile.

Then looked away.

Not cold. Not angry.

Just distant enough to protect whatever was left unspoken between them.

Because for Amelia, silence had become safer than the weight of almost.