Light on a White Road

The world had turned white. It felt as though everything were starting over.

❄️ Into the Snow

It is the same at school. I look out the window alone during breaks, eat lunch alone, and come home to nobody again. It is not that I have no friends. I just... have no close friends. Whenever everyone else is laughing and talking together, I am always standing one step away. I thought today would be another day just like that. But when I looked out the window, it was snowing.

There was no particular reason. I simply wanted to see the snow. I put on my coat and went outside. The world had turned white. The asphalt, the street trees and the parked cars were all covered in snow, their boundaries blurred. It felt as though everything were starting over. The snow crunched beneath my foot. My footprints appeared in the snow. One step, then two. A path of my own was taking shape.

It was quiet. Wherever everyone had gone, there was nobody in the alley. The snow seemed to swallow sound. Without realizing it, I slowed down. For this moment, at least, being alone did not feel lonely. I followed the white road. I did not know where I was going. I simply walked. Then something glimmered.

✨ Discovering the Light

Something was shining in the snow. At first I thought it was a reflection from a streetlamp. But it was not. The light was moving. Slowly, as if it were calling me. I followed it. I was not afraid. If anything, it felt warm. As though it were something I had known a long time ago.

The light led me to a small park at the end of the alley.

The light led me to a small park at the end of the alley. A snow-covered bench. A frozen fountain. And there, in the middle of it all, the light stopped. I looked at it and wondered, ‘What is this?’ It was a light I could not explain. But I began to want to believe. I hoped it was good luck.

There was no reason for it. I just wanted it to be so. Nobody had told me to think that, or explained anything to me. I simply wanted to believe. So I decided I would. At that moment, the light grew brighter.

🤝 An Imaginary Friend

Slowly, the light began to take shape. An outline appeared, then color... And a girl stood there. It was me. Or, more precisely, someone who looked exactly like me. The same coat, the same hairstyle, the same face. But her expression was different. She was smiling. Warmly.

"...What are you?" "Me? You called me."

Her voice resembled mine, too. A little softer. Like an old friend.

"When did I call you?" "You believed I was good luck."

I could not find anything to say. Because that really was what I had just thought. When I asked, "What are you?" she answered, "Who knows? Maybe you made me. I am here because you believed." It made no sense. What had I made? All I had done was follow a light. Still, she was unmistakably there, glowing among the falling flakes.

"Because you believed in me, I believe in you, too."

"Why do you think you are alone?" The girl of light asked suddenly.

"Because... I really am alone. When I wake up, nobody is there. I eat alone at school. When I come home, the house is empty. My parents do not get home until dawn."

My throat tightened as I spoke. It felt like the first time I had said any of this to someone. Or rather than to someone... to myself.

"So being alone means you cannot do anything?" she asked. "...No. No, it is not being alone that stops me." "Then what is it?" "...I am scared. Scared of being rejected. Scared people will think I am weird. That is why I cannot speak to them first."

I felt as though I might cry. Standing in the snow before a light that looked like me, I was speaking my true feelings for the first time. She stepped closer. The light became warmer.

"You believed in me. With no evidence at all. You saw a light and decided to believe it was good luck. That is courage."

The wind blew. Snowflakes drifted between us.

"Choosing to believe. Choosing to believe when nothing is guaranteed. Do you know how difficult that is?"

I could not answer.

"You can do it. No—you are already doing it."

She held out her hand. A hand made of light.

"Because you believed in me, I believe in you, too."

Just as I reached for her hand, the light began to scatter.

"Wait, do not go—" "It is all right."

She smiled. With exactly my face, and an expression I had never managed to make.

"I am always here. Inside you."

The light scattered like snowflakes. And I stood alone in the park.

🌅 Following the Light Within

The next morning. As usual, I said, "I am heading out," and left home. There was still no answer. Today, the silence felt a little different. I arrived at school. I opened the classroom door. I was about to sit down as usual, but stopped.

I noticed the student sitting next to me. Someone whose name I knew but whom I had never spoken to. Someone who always sat quietly reading alone. My heart leaped into my throat. My palms became damp. What if I was rejected? What if they thought I was strange?

I remembered yesterday’s light. The moment I had decided, without any evidence, to believe it was good luck. The words that called it courage. I took a deep breath.

"Hi."

My voice came out quieter than I expected. The student looked up, a little surprised.

"...Hi?"

An answer came back. That was all. But I knew. This was a beginning.

Perhaps it becomes real the moment we believe.

Outside the window, snow began falling again. I looked out and thought. Perhaps the good luck I believed in had been real from the start. Or perhaps. Perhaps it becomes real the moment we believe.