The fire escape

Noah had nearly forgotten about the fire escape behind the school gym. It was rusted now, overgrown with vines, but he knew every rung, every creak, every shadow. This was their place—his and Elijah’s. The place they hid when the world got too loud. The place where they kissed for the first time.

He climbed it slowly, like he was stepping into a memory.

At the top, he sat on the ledge and looked out at the empty schoolyard, its basketball hoops swaying slightly in the wind. He could still hear Elijah’s laugh echoing across the pavement. They used to run laps just to catch glimpses of each other, never touching, only eyes meeting for seconds that felt like whole lifetimes.

Noah pulled a crumpled photo from his wallet. It was worn at the edges, colors faded, but the image was clear: Elijah leaning against a tree, grinning at the camera with that crooked smile. It had been taken the summer before everything fell apart.

Before they were caught.

Before the whispers turned into threats.

Before Noah’s father packed his bags in the middle of the night and said, “You’re not staying here and ruining this family.”

He hadn’t even said goodbye to Elijah.He wasn’t allowed to.

He remembered the look on Elijah’s face the last time they locked eyes—half confusion, half betrayal. Noah had tried to write. Once. The letter was never mailed. He didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry” felt too small. “I love you” felt too late.

And then, like a coward, he let time pass and hoped that time would forgive what he couldn’t face.

It didn’t.

From his backpack, he pulled out a notebook and pen. Maybe it was foolish, maybe too late, but something in him needed to speak again—even if only to the ghosts of who they were.

He started writing.

**“Dear Elijah,

I saw the way you looked at me that night. You didn’t know it would be the last time. I did. And I still walked away.

I’ve told myself a thousand reasons why. I was scared. I was seventeen. I was alone. But none of that justifies it.

You waited for me. And I let you.

I let the silence grow between us like a wall I didn’t know how to climb.

But I’m here now. And even if I’m too late to love you in person, I’ll carry you in everything I do from here.

They tried to make us ashamed. They buried our love in whispers and shame and threats. But they didn’t kill it.

You loved without apology. I’m going to learn how to live that way. For you.

For us.”**He tore out the page and tucked it under the frame of the gym window, where they used to stash notes. Just in case someone found it. Just in case Elijah, wherever he was, could feel it.

As the sun began to rise, Noah looked over the town one more time. It was still cruel. Still closed. But somewhere beneath the shame and the silence, a truth remained.

They had loved.

And that love still echoed—through letters, through laughter, through the fire escape no one else remembered.

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