Bloom:

I was reading a literature book, something I hadn't done in a long time. When I thought I was still normal and living on earth I used to read a lot of books just for fun. Stella tried to read a book too and she was succeeding pretty well for her being. She had been reading it for almost one and a half hour, but that seemed to be her limit. She threw it next to her, closed.

'Pff, I thought it would be a happy story about friends.'

'What are you reading then?' Flora asked.

Stella picked the book up again and read the title out loud. 'One friend can save a life. It sounded a little dramatic and I thought the story would be about happy friends.'

'And it's not?'

'No, it's about a young woman who loses someone close. She gets depressed and isolated from her friends because they don't seem to notice. God it's so dark, it makes me feel sad by only reading it. It wouldn't surprise me if the story ends with a suicide. I don't want to read about this stuff anymore and I really don't want to read about someone killing him or herself.'

My thoughts raced through my mind, Stella told us about the story in her book, but she didn't seem to realize she described a situation that was very close to us and we didn't realize our own situation, exactly like the story in the book. I walked to Stella and took the book from her. I read the back side.

After I had finished reading it I looked at Flora who seemed to have the same thoughts as I just had. She was thinking about Layla too. The story was about a young woman who had lost her fiancé and got sad of course. She tried to pretend she was fine because she didn't want people to pity her and her friends believed her show. But after some time the people around her didn't see her so much anymore and slowly the woman gets more and more isolated and depressed until she couldn't go on anymore.

'Stella, have you even read the back side?'

'No, but now I know I should have, cause now I will have to read another whole book.'

'But you haven't recognized anything in this story?'

'Like what?'

'Maybe like the similarities between the woman in the book and Layla?'

She could have hit herself for not having seen it all the time. 'Oh my God, do you really think Layla is like that too? Do you think Layla would ever think about… Suicide and stuff..? No, she wouldn't.' After Flora and I didn't respond immediately she added: 'Would she?'

I didn't dare to say it out loud. I felt so much guilt towards Layla. I hadn't seen her in days, though I knew she was in the school somewhere. I just hadn't realized it. And Flora too. 'Flora, have you spoken to Layla lately?' I asked.

She shook her head. 'No, last time was more than a week ago. Helia and I asked her if she wanted to join us to Magix, but she said she had other things to do.'

'Huh, like what? She never joins us anymore to anywhere,' Stella said.

'I think Layla is suffering a lot more than we could have imagined,' I said.