Alice

It was still early, but the campus was already crowded.

Enrollment day—the kind of day filled with long lines, paperwork, endless questions, and a quiet kind of anxiety that sits heavy in your chest. Shirley and I walked side by side, both clutching our folders, both sporting visible dark circles that betrayed our lack of sleep.

“Why does it feel like there are more people than last semester?” she complained, adjusting her hair as we squeezed through the crowd.

“There are also more decisions to make,” I replied with a faint smile.

What I didn’t say was that what I was carrying in my chest felt heavier than everything...