Faradiska

Name: Faradiska NIM: 230511100047

  SHORT STORY   THE RIVER BEHIND THE LIBRARY Most students at Northbridge University didn’t know that a narrow path behind the old library led to a hidden river. The path was shaded by tall bamboo, their hollow stalks clattering softly whenever the wind passed through, as if applauding anyone brave enough to wander there. Sunlight slipped through the leaves in broken patterns, scattering gold across the earth like spilled coins. To most people, the river didn’t matter. It was just water, unnoticed and unnamed. But to Mara, it was the only place where her thoughts didn’t feel like tangled wires sparking endlessly inside her head. Her days were always packed: lectures from morning to afternoon, club meetings in the evening, and assignments that seemed to multiply every time she blinked. Expectations clung to her like wet clothes, heavy, suffocating, impossible to ignore. She often felt like a lantern glowing too brightly, burning itself out from the inside. But the moment she st...