The night before my best friend disappeared, she handed me a $5 bill. “I owe you money. Take this bill!” she said, smiling. I thought it was just one of her quirky gestures. I tucked it into my savings jar and forgot about it.
Three weeks later, while counting the money, I unfolded that same bill—and froze. A faint blue scribble in the corner caught my eye. In tiny, neat handwriting were the words:
“No matter what happens, you will stay in my heart.”
Chills ran through me. What did she mean? A goodbye? A message meant to be discovered only after she was gone? My hands shook as I realized she vanished the very next day.
I rushed to the police with the bill, desperate for answers. But it led nowhere. Days became months, months became years. The search ended, but the questions never did.
Now, ten years later, that $5 bill remains tucked safely away. Every time I see it, I wonder: did she know she wouldn’t return? Maybe it was her way of saying goodbye—a quiet reminder that true friendship, once etched in ink and memory, never truly fades.
