14 Ans D--aurelie -1983-: Les

She walked to school. She did not sit behind the gymnasium. She walked into the cantine. She sat down at a table where a quiet boy named Philippe read science fiction novels and never spoke to anyone. He looked up. He did not smile. He nodded once, almost imperceptibly.

That night, Aurélie did not sleep. She lay in her narrow bed, the Walkman’s headphones over her ears, the cassette having long since ended. The silence between songs was the same as the hyphen inside her. But for the first time, she listened to it differently. She heard not an absence, but a pause. A breath. A hinge. Les 14 Ans D--Aurelie -1983-

Aurélie said nothing.