Written By: Aleona M. Lagrama
Publication Material By: Niks Lorica & Ma. Nicole Francesca Mercado
December 3, 2025
"Human touch. Our first form of communication. Safety, security, comfort, all in the gentle caress of a finger."
Communication comes in many shapes and forms, one of the most popular ones is through writing these down to share to others. Five Feet Apart was not just a book I read—it was a moment that sparked something inside me. I picked it up expecting a simple love story, but instead I found a world that felt painfully real and beautifully delicate. Stella and Will’s story pulled me in with a quiet force, the kind that makes you forget that you were reading in the first place.
Their distance, their rules, their defiance—it all made me feel emotions I did not even have names for yet. And somewhere in between those pages, I found the first spark of wanting to write. What struck me most was how a story made of nothing but ink and paper could feel alive. The book made me realize that reading is not passive—you are not just observing characters; you are breathing with them, worrying with them, hoping with them.
It amazed me how words could build a whole emotional universe. When the book ended, I didn’t just close the cover—I carried it with me. I wanted to understand how something so quiet could be so loud inside someone’s chest. That curiosity pushed me toward writing. If a story could move me, maybe I could learn to create that feeling for someone else.
I began writing small scenes, imagining characters who loved, hurt, and dreamed the same way. And the more I wrote, the more I understood that reading and writing are connected—they feed off each other. Reading inspires you, whilst writing transforms that inspiration into something new.
It taught me that stories matter because they let us experience the world through someone else’s view. They remind us that we are human—fragile, hopeful, and always reaching.
That is the real wonder of reading: it can change you without asking permission. Because of one book, I wanted to be part of that magic—to write stories that might make someone feel less alone, even for a moment.