It was almost midnight when Lizzy finally closed her textbooks. The dorm was quiet except for the faint hum of the heater and the steady rhythm of her thoughts. She stretched her arms, exhaustion heavy in her bones, when a soft sound broke through the silence a gentle rustle at the door.
Frowning, she stood up and walked over. Slipped beneath the door was a folded piece of paper. No name, no envelope. Just her name written in neat, careful handwriting.
Lizzy.
Her heart skipped. For a second, she thought it might be from Funmi maybe a reminder or a joke but when she opened it, her breath caught.
> You don't always have to hide behind silence.
Some people will listen, even when words are hard to find.
You don't have to be okay every day, and that doesn't make you weak.
It just makes you human.
– B
She sat on the edge of her bed, her fingers trembling slightly as she reread the note. Something inside her stirred a mixture of surprise and warmth. No one had ever said something like that to her before. No one had seen her so clearly without demanding anything in return.
For a long moment, Lizzy just sat there, staring at the handwriting. The letters were strong, but there was something uncertain about the way the words curved, as if he had written them with hesitation. It made her smile a small, genuine curve that felt unfamiliar after so many heavy days.
She folded the note carefully, as though it were fragile, and pressed it against her chest.
Through the window, the moonlight fell across her bed in thin, silver lines. Lizzy traced them with her eyes, her heart lighter than it had been in months. She thought about Ben's eyes how gentle they were when he'd asked if she was okay. She had sensed sincerity then, but this… this was different. It was like he'd reached into her silence and found a place she thought no one could touch.
She slipped the note into her journal, between pages she rarely opened. The paper crinkled softly, like it belonged there.
When Funmi returned from the common room a few minutes later, Lizzy quickly closed the book.
"Still awake?" Funmi asked, dropping her phone on the desk.
Lizzy nodded. "Yeah. Just thinking."
"About school?"
Lizzy hesitated. "Something like that."
After Funmi turned off the light, Lizzy lay awake, her eyes tracing the shadows on the ceiling.
Her fingers brushed the edge of the journal beside her pillow, and she smiled faintly.
Maybe strength wasn't about being unbreakable. Maybe it was about finding someone who reminded you that even the broken parts still had beauty in them.
And as she drifted off to sleep, Lizzy whispered to herself, barely audible,
"Thank you, Ben."