Best_friends

The banging grew louder, accompanied by the muffled voice of his friends. The insistent banging continued, punctuated by the muffled rumblings of Alex's frustration. Emma's voice, normally melodic, now rose with a hint of urgency, "Kael, please! We're worried about you. Open the door."The silence that followed Emma and Alex's questions hung heavy in the air, a thick fog of grief that threatened to suffocate them all. Kael, drained from the storm he had weathered within, remained a silent statue, his face a mask of raw pain.

Emma, her eyes filled with a mixture of concern and frustration, tried again.

"Kael, please" she pleaded, her voice cracking. "We just want to understand. Why didn't you come to school? Why didn't you call? We were worried sick."But Kael remained unresponsive, his gaze fixed on some unseen point beyond the room. The words seemed to bounce off his shell of grief, unable to penetrate the darkness that shrouded him.