Jay's POV
The photograph looked ordinary at first.
Just another old picture pulled from a folder filled with forgotten memories. But the way the stranger held it told me otherwise. His expression had changed the moment he looked at it, and suddenly the entire auditorium seemed to grow quieter.
Nobody took their eyes off him.
Slowly, he turned the photograph around and showed it to us.
My heart skipped a beat.
It was Section E.
All of us were there.
The classroom in the background looked familiar, and the smiles on everyone's faces made it obvious that the picture had been taken a long time ago.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
Then I noticed it.
Someone standing near the center.
Someone I couldn't recognize.
A strange feeling settled in my chest.
The face wasn't blurred.
The photograph wasn't damaged.
I could see the person clearly.
And yet somehow, I didn't know who he was.
"That's him," the stranger said quietly.
Nobody spoke.
My eyes remained fixed on the photograph.
For some reason, looking at him made my chest ache.
Not because I remembered him.
But because I felt like I should.
The stranger lowered the photograph.
"His name was Stein."
The room remained silent.
I glanced around at my classmates.
The confusion on their faces mirrored my own.
We were all looking at the same picture.
Looking at the same person.
Yet none of us could remember him.
And somehow, that felt worse than not having a photograph at all.
Because now we had proof.
Proof that Stein had been there.
Proof that he had belonged.
Proof that he had once stood among us.
The only thing missing was the memory.
And for the first time that night, I began to wonder if remembering Stein was only the beginning.
Because if we had forgotten him...
What else had we forgotten?