The sun was setting as we walked through our neighborhood, the sky painted in streaks of orange and violet. The echoes of the competition- the cheers, the applause, the excitement- still lingered somewhere in the back of my mind, fading slowly with each step we took.
Emilia walked beside me, her silver medal catching the fading light. After a few moments of silence, she glanced over with a small, knowing smile.
"So," she asked, "did you have fun in the competition?"
I chuckled under my breath. "Yeah, I did. It was more than I expected, honestly."
She nodded gently. "It felt good, didn't it? Being part of something amazing."
Her words hung in the air- simple, but warm, and they stirred something deep inside me. For a moment, I was somewhere else entirely- before the accident, before everything had changed. I saw myself walking home with Vivian through the streets of Starlight Hills, both of us laughing about small things, the world still uncomplicated, still whole.
That same feeling- that easy rhythm of friendship- had been missing for so long. And somehow, today had brought it back, quietly, like an old song remembered after years of gloominess.
Emilia's voice broke the thought, soft but certain. "I think everyone will remember this week for a while," she said softly.
"Yeah," I replied, smiling faintly. "For me, it brought back something I thought I'd lost."
She looked at me for a moment, as if she understood without needing to ask, then nodded.
We walked on. The streets grew quieter, the light fading into calm blue of evening. The day — the competition, the noise, the rush, the ceoey- had come to an end. But somewhere in that stillness, something within me begin to heal- a long forgotten feeling of connection slowly stitching itself back together.
The friendship I'd thought was lost forever- no longer felt so far away.
And as the last light faded beyond the rooftops, I realized- somethings don't end. They just wait for the right moment to find their way back.