November had arrived, and with it came the creeping cold that seeped into every corner of the school. The wind outside howled against the dormitory windows, while inside, most students buried themselves in their studies, taking advantage of the quiet evenings to prepare for the December midterms. These exams were meant to determine the best students in each year group — and competition was fierce.
But not everyone could concentrate during this demanding time.
Mariah was one of those people.
She was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. Jimmy had no intention of letting her go. He hounded her with text messages and unexpected appearances, persistently pleading with her to come back to him. His behavior left her rattled, uncertain, and emotionally drained. Despite insisting that she would never forgive him, despite claiming she could never be with someone who had hurt her so deeply, she still caught herself wondering — had he changed?
He seemed genuine in his apologies. The desperation in his eyes wasn't easy to ignore. She could feel that he cared. But fear clenched her heart tighter than anything else. What if she gave him another chance and ended up shattered all over again? What if his friend — the one who had always hovered like a shadow over their relationship — interfered once more?
That thought alone kept her awake at night.
Joseph, meanwhile, was battling his own internal war.
He couldn't bear the thought that the person he trusted most might be hiding a dark secret. If Mariah was telling the truth — and he still wasn't sure whether she was — then that very same friend had once hurt Halsey, his ex-girlfriend, before she'd vanished from the school two years earlier.
He still remembered the day Mariah had come to him, shaken and breathless. She had grabbed his arm, her fingers trembling, and told him she had seen it — Halsey being bullied, humiliated. She hadn't said a word until after Halsey had left for good, and even then, her confession had been riddled with fear. She claimed she hadn't spoken earlier because she was terrified.
But Joseph hadn't believed her.
He told himself she was lying, spinning stories to manipulate him. The betrayal he felt that day had carved a permanent scar. From that moment on, he hated her — not just because of what she said, but because it almost made sense. Because deep down, he feared it might be true.
And now, finding that mask among the man's belongings — the same one described by victims in the past — was a chilling confirmation that gnawed at his already-fractured trust.
Still, he clung to doubt.
How could it be true?How could someone who had stood by him during his darkest hours — who had comforted him after Halsey left — be the same person who destroyed her?
The one in the worst position, however, was Hannah.
Since the day she met Jin, something had changed in her room. The air grew colder, the shadows stretched longer, and she often sensed a presence that didn't belong. It wasn't her imagination. The phantom was real — and it whispered to her.
It told her to get closer to him.
She didn't understand why. She only knew that something — or someone — wanted her near Jin. The thought terrified her, and yet she couldn't fight the pull. It was as if invisible threads were tying her fate to his, drawing her in against her will.
To make things worse, she couldn't shake the awkwardness between them. Ever since the kiss, nothing had felt the same. Even though days had passed, the memory still lingered — as vivid and unnerving as the moment it happened. Jin had changed. He watched her differently now, with narrowed eyes and a guarded posture. He acted as if he didn't see Hannah anymore, but someone — or something — else.
She often caught him staring at her with quiet suspicion, as though he was trying to decipher a code only he could sense.
And the scariest part?
She feared he was right.
*
Jin sat on the edge of his bed, eyes fixed on the photograph in his hands — a moment frozen in time where he was smiling, arm wrapped around a laughing blonde girl. There was something haunting about the image now. A knot twisted in his chest. He couldn't make sense of what was happening with Hannah.
Her behavior was erratic, unpredictable. She'd gone from shy glances to bold, disarming actions — that kiss still burned in his memory — and yet she acted as if nothing had happened. Was it all just a game? Did she remember everything and was simply pretending not to? That had to be it. No other explanation made sense, and the more he searched for rationality, the more convinced he became that his initial theory had been right all along — that Hannah was playing a carefully planned game. A game meant to punish him.
"Don't think so hard or your brain's gonna start to evaporate."
Joseph's voice broke the silence. With a smirk on his lips, he dropped onto the bed beside him, glancing sideways at his troubled friend.
"Have you noticed anything strange about Hannah?" Jin asked without preamble.
Joseph's expression shifted instantly. His eyes lit up with interest, and he leaned forward, bracing his hands on the mattress like a cat ready to pounce.
"Are you sure you want to hear it from me?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. "Because I'm warning you — what I'm about to say won't be very... censored."
Jin sighed. "Just tell me what you mean — but gently."
A half-smile tugged at the corner of Joseph's mouth before he inhaled through his teeth, preparing himself.
"You know I'm good at reading people — it's like a sixth sense. And from the beginning, Hannah's been weird."
Jin shot him a look, prompting Joseph to backpedal slightly.
"Okay, not just weird. Specific kind of weird."
"How should I understand that?"
"Am I really the only one who sees it?" Joseph teased, clearly enjoying himself. He laughed quietly, but when he noticed the serious look in Jin's eyes, he toned it down. "You spend way more time with her than I do. Don't tell me you haven't noticed how... off she is."
He twirled a finger in the air beside his head, the universal sign for crazy.
Jin rolled his eyes. "Just tell me what you've noticed."
"I am telling you!" Joseph exclaimed indignantly, sitting up straighter. "She flips like a switch. One minute she's a timid little mouse, all soft-spoken and trying to run from conflict, and the next, she's bold — daring, even. Like she's ready to punch someone in the face without blinking. It's subtle, the way she shifts, so she doesn't draw much attention. But I noticed it. And I'm honestly shocked you didn't."
I noticed it a long time ago, Jin admitted silently. I just tried to ignore it.
"Maybe it just depends on her mood," he said aloud.
"Bullshit. That's not mood — that's whiplash," Joseph muttered, folding his arms across his chest with a scowl. "That girl is haunted."
Jin frowned at the word, his gaze sharpening.
"Not by ghosts," Joseph clarified quickly, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "I don't believe in that supernatural crap. I mean she's haunted in the head. Something's wrong with her."
Jin narrowed his eyes. "Takes one to know one."
Joseph blinked, taken aback by the comeback. Then he laughed, wide-eyed with mock outrage. "Oh, wow. So that's what we're doing now?"
Without missing a beat, Jin reached across the bed, grabbed a black eyeliner pencil from Joseph's cluttered desk, and tossed it at him. It bounced off his chest.
"Go on, highlight those 'charismatic' eyes. We wouldn't want the girls to miss your 'dark charm' and die of heartbreak."
Joseph snorted, catching the pencil. "I hate you."
But Jin wasn't smiling anymore.
His foot tapped nervously against the floor as he sat alone in the campus cafeteria later that afternoon. His fingers drummed a chaotic rhythm against the edge of the table as he scanned the room. Hannah sat several tables away, alone, her tray untouched.
She looked uneasy — stiff, her shoulders tight, her gaze flickering anxiously around her as though she, too, sensed every pair of eyes in the room.
And maybe she wasn't wrong.
The kiss — that kiss — had become the fuel for relentless rumors. Whispers had spread like wildfire. Even now, days later, it seemed the gossip still clung to her like smoke.
Hannah's fingers tightened around her cup. She could feel the weight of judgment crushing her. Every glance felt like an accusation. Every hushed voice made her flinch. The cafeteria suddenly felt too bright, too loud, too sharp.
She had had enough.
It was her decision. Her moment. She had kissed Jin, and that was nobody's business but hers — and his.
If anyone had the right to speak about it, it was the two of them.No one else.
*
Since her arrival at the school, Hannah had been growing increasingly anxious with each passing day. Everything around her seemed to irritate her, and the sleepless nights were becoming unbearable. Unexplained student pranks, malicious whispers, and the presence of an eerie, shadowy entity that haunted her dreams left her on edge, teetering on the verge of collapse.
She noticed the glances, the hushed giggles, the quick, mocking looks students exchanged when they passed her in the corridors. She wasn't stupid. She knew they were laughing at her, hiding their insults behind polite smiles. No one dared say anything to her face, but their voices carried in the corners of the rooms, in the stairwells, in the cafeteria — always just quiet enough to sting.
And now, she had had enough.
Her breathing grew shallow, and a cold sweat began to trickle down her temple. Her palms trembled as she clutched the edge of the table for stability. A rapid, erratic heartbeat pounded in her chest, and tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision.
The symptoms weren't new — they had first started in June — but recently, they'd become more frequent and intense.
She squeezed her eyes shut as the phantom whispers grew louder inside her head, mingling with the muffled noise of the cafeteria. The curious stares of her peers felt like daggers against her skin. Some students giggled behind their hands, while others looked at her with concern masked as judgment, murmuring that she was acting as if she were possessed.
"—Hannah, are you okay?" came Mariah's soft voice behind her, accompanied by the light touch of a hand on her shoulder. Nick stood just beside her, silent but clearly concerned.
The sixteen-year-old didn't respond. She pushed herself up from the table with trembling arms, her gaze hazy and unfocused. Her eyes scanned the room, seeing only a blur of faces turned toward her. As she dropped back into her chair, strands of her loose ponytail clung to her sweat-dampened face.
Just then, Jin and his roommates entered the cafeteria. They froze as soon as they noticed the commotion. Joseph's sharp gaze locked on Hannah, instantly noting how pale and unwell she looked. The sight stirred a chilling sense of déjà vu — she looked just like Halsey had on that dreadful day.
But Hannah wasn't just pale — she was completely unresponsive, her vacant eyes fixed on some distant, invisible point.
Joseph's expression hardened when he caught one of his classmates snickering nearby. The boy leaned toward a friend, making some snide comment about Hannah being just as crazy as the last girl who lost it.
Without hesitation, Joseph moved — but halfway across the room, Hannah suddenly snapped.
A plate shattered on the floor, startling everyone. Cutlery and a carton of strawberry milk followed, scattering across the tiles with a metallic clatter.
"Shut up!" she screamed, her voice raw and piercing. Her eyes were wild, filled with fury and despair. Though her body looked ready to collapse, her spirit burned with fire. "Get on with your lives, you nasty parasites!"
Jin rushed toward her, his heart pounding. He grabbed her shoulders, trying to ground her, his eyes seeking Mariah's for answers.
"Hannah, calm down!" he urged. He saw the pain in her gaze — deep, unbearable sadness. "What's the matter with you?"
"They're all laughing at me... I don't want to be here anymore," she murmured. Her voice was fragile now, the rage drained from her as quickly as it had flared. She sagged into Jin's arms, her strength gone.
Without hesitation, he lifted her gently and headed for the exit. As he passed the dormitory supervisor, the tension in the room reached its peak.
"Enough!" Joseph barked, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade. "Shut your damn mouths!"
The room fell deathly quiet. Students barely breathed, not daring to disobey the one person they all feared — Joseph Scott. Son of an influential man, the principal's favorite, and the unofficial tyrant of the school. No one dared challenge him, not even the teachers.
Joseph strode to the boy who had mocked Hannah and seized him by the collar, yanking him from his chair with ease.
"You think this is funny?" he snarled, his voice low and venomous. Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed a plate of food from the table and smashed it into the boy's face, sending rice and sauce splattering everywhere. "You enjoy humiliating others? I'll show you what that feels like. Lick it off the floor."
The boy crumpled to the ground, dazed and terrified.
"Joseph Scott!" the dormitory attendant screamed, rushing toward the scene. While Joseph's behavior was usually overlooked, this was too far — even for him.
"I said, lick it up," he repeated, unmoved, staring down at the trembling student. "Right now."
She grabbed Joseph by the arm, trying to pull him back.
"That's enough! I'll handle this. You're not in charge here—"
"Back off!" he roared, shoving her away. "And if you don't like it, go cry to the principal."
Stunned and visibly shaken, the woman backed off and stormed out of the cafeteria, her face flushed with fury.
Joseph turned back to the boy, now cowering on the floor.
"If you don't do it, I'll destroy you. Do you understand?" he hissed.
Tears spilled down the boy's cheeks as he bent down and began licking the food off the dirty floor. A heavy silence hung in the air. No one dared speak. No one dared move.
Scott smirked, satisfied.
"Let this be a lesson," he said, raising his voice so everyone could hear. "If I find out any of you torment Hannah — or disrespect Halsey's name — you'll end up the same. Or worse."
Unbeknownst to him, someone stood just beyond the doorway, watching everything unfold through a narrow crack. Her hand slammed against the wall in fury, her nails digging into the plaster. Her body trembled with rage, her hatred for Hannah burning like acid in her chest.
She wouldn't rest. She wouldn't stop. Not until she tore Hannah apart — just like she had done with Halsey.
*
The nurse dismissed the sixteen-year-old from her classes, so she spent the entire day in her room. Around noon, her guardian paid her a visit, concerned about the incident in the cafeteria. Sitting down beside her, he spoke gently, encouraging her not to dwell on the opinions of her peers or let their vile behavior weigh on her. He explained that adolescence was a turbulent time, filled with confusion and cruelty, and that most students acted recklessly in an effort to win approval from others. They often failed to realize the pain they inflicted, too absorbed in their own insecurities.
Later, after classes ended, Jin stopped by unexpectedly. At first, she seemed startled by his visit—ashamed, perhaps, after the scene she had caused in the cafeteria.
"They're not going to leave me alone now…" she muttered, sitting cross-legged on the bed. Her fingers tangled nervously in her lap as she glanced at the boy standing awkwardly in the doorway.
"You're safe," Jin assured her. "Tom told me what kind of spectacle Joseph put on after I took you to the nurse."
Hannah's eyes widened in disbelief.
"I think something about what happened reminded him of someone from the past," Jin added, though his voice faltered with uncertainty. A thought flickered in the back of his mind—Mariah had been right about something, hadn't she? "Anyway, people are too scared to challenge him. No one's going to bother you anymore."
"In my eyes," she began softly, "this school was always something special. I worked so hard to get in… I thought it was everything."
Jin furrowed his brow, sensing a shift in her tone.
"I've been lying to you from the beginning," she added, voice almost inaudible.
He caught the anxious expression on her face. She scraped her nails across the bedspread, avoiding his gaze.
"What do you mean?" he asked, startled by the confession. He hadn't expected her to drop her mask—not like this. Still, he leaned into the moment, hoping to uncover the truth. "Did you… did you really want to come here that badly?"
A hesitant, sheepish smile curved her lips. "I like teasing you."
He raised an eyebrow. The puzzle pieces were falling into place.
"So, ever since we met, you've been messing with me?" he asked slowly. "Was all of this just a game?"
She didn't answer immediately. Her eyes wandered around the room, and this time, her smile was cloaked in mystery.
"I thought it would make things more interesting," she said. "You were always a bit of an enigma, so I decided to match that energy."
"I was never hiding anything from you," Jin said firmly. "I've always been honest."
"I've been honest too," she countered, though her voice remained delicate. "I just… sometimes turned my words into riddles. I wanted you to understand me, really understand me. So, tell me—who do you think is more real? Danielle or Hannah?"
Jin let out a shaky laugh, disbelieving.
"Wait a second…" He raised a finger as the realization hit him. "Are you saying… you've been pretending this whole time? Playing both roles just so I'd figure out which one was the real you?"
"Yes," she admitted, her tone serious.
The blood drained from his face.
"Why?" he demanded. "What was the point?"
"I told you… it made things more interesting," she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "If you got to know me properly, then now you know what I'm really like…"
He pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to make sense of her logic. But the more he thought about it, the less it made sense.
What was going on with her?
It felt like she had been playing with him all along, and he couldn't figure out why. Was this some kind of twisted revenge? A game for her amusement?
"I don't understand how that made our relationship 'fascinating,'" he said. "To me, it just feels like you set this whole thing up to toy with me—and now I'm completely lost."
Without warning, Hannah grabbed his hand, eyes wide and sincere.
"That's not true," she said, her voice trembling. "You're the most important thing to me."
He pulled his hand away and stood up, looking shaken.
"I don't even know who you are anymore," he muttered.
"I've been Danielle since I was born. That's who I really am!" she cried, slapping a hand to his chest. "I'm sorry for all the stupid games. I know I sound insane—I do. That's why I don't want to keep dragging this out. Please forgive me, Jin."
His eyes narrowed as he studied her. Then, without another word, he turned toward the door. His hand gripped the handle, ready to walk out.
But Hannah rushed forward. She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, pressing her cheek against his back.
"Let me be Danielle," she whispered desperately. "For you."