𝓒𝓪𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓪𝓷 𝓗𝓸𝓵𝓽
2
0"ωнєη ησ σηє ℓιѕтєηѕ"
Cassian Levander Holt had always been the quiet one. Not because he had nothing to say, but because no one ever listened.
At sixteen, he had mastered the art of blending into the background. At school, he was just another face in the hallway. At home, he was a shadow in the corners of his parents’ conversations—present, but unnoticed.
His mother used to hum lullabies to him when he was little, but now her voice was always tired. His father, once a man of warm laughter, now barely looked up from his work. Cassian had an older brother, Ellis—the golden child. Everything Ellis did was worth celebrating. Every trophy, every achievement. Cassian learned early that his own successes were just echoes in a house too full of someone else’s noise.
He tried to make himself seen. He got perfect grades. No one cared. He stayed out late, hoping someone would call and ask where he was. No one did.
Then there was Noah—his only friend, maybe his only real reason to smile. Noah had this way of making Cassian feel like he mattered, like his thoughts were worth hearing. But one night, after a long talk under flickering streetlights, Noah admitted he was moving away.
“I’ll text you every day,” Noah had promised, but Cassian knew how these things went. Distance had a way of turning promises into fading memories.
The day Noah left, Cassian sat in his empty room, staring at his phone, waiting for a message that never came. The silence in the house felt heavier than ever.
And for the first time, Cassian wondered—if he disappeared, would anyone notice?
He wasn’t sure of the answer. And that scared him more than anything.
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