"I finally found you..."

He was one grade above you.

You used to see him from your window, sitting in the backyard of his house. Sometimes he was talking with his brother, laughing quietly about something you couldn't hear. Other times, he was alone, staring toward your house for reasons you never understood.

He was sweet. Quiet. Awkward, almost painfully shy.

At school, he would lower his gaze whenever you passed him in the halls. If you spoke to him, his words would come out unevenly, and he would sometimes stumble over them, clearly embarrassed by how nervous he became around you.

He was like that with most people.

And because of it, some boys at school picked on him. They would shove him in the halls, make fun of the way he spoke, or bother him simply because they knew he wouldn't fight back. You noticed it more than once.

You never knew what you could do about it.

Then, one day, he disappeared...