Rubbing his eyes, Leon walked down the main hallway of the entrance hall. He was still half-asleep, so at first he didn't notice that the place looked completely different from it had during the day.
The clock struck midnight. At this hour, no one wandered the building. Everyone was asleep. So what was this lost teenager doing here?
He didn't understand it himself. When he woke up, some unknown force had compelled him to leave his bed and exit the room. And so he walked forward, not knowing where he was going. It felt like someone was leading him…
The sixteen-year-old had the eerie sensation of dreaming while awake. Something was happening to his body, his mind. Aside from the strange fact that he was aimlessly roaming the hall at night, he was convinced the corridors looked different.
They were… more terrifying. Sinister?
He blinked, squinting, when suddenly he saw a girl peeking around a corner. For a split second, he caught a glimpse of her pale skin and black hair.
Isn't that the same girl I saw at the welcome party earlier? he thought.
He ran after her, sensing she wanted to show him something.
"Hey, wait!" he called out, but the girl acted as if she hadn't heard him. She opened the basement door and gestured for him to follow. At that exact moment, a loud crash echoed behind Leon.
Terrified, he turned around—and froze.
At the end of the hallway stood a figure—a young man, around twenty years old, dressed in a General's uniform. Without a word, he motioned for Leon to come closer with his finger.
Leon, as if hypnotized, took a step toward him.
The girl he'd been chasing was still standing by the open basement door.
"Don't go with him! Come with me into the underground!" she shouted.
But Leon ignored her.
The man's expression was stern. He stood completely still, staring straight at him.
Leon noticed the Nazi insignia on his uniform.
Was this the infamous General—the one who terrorized this place for years? The same monster who turned teenagers' lives into hell twenty years ago?
"I've been waiting for you," the man said in an icy tone. The words sent a chill down Leon's spine. He stopped in place, paralyzed.
"Come. I want to show you something…"
One of the nearby doors creaked open on its own. Leon took a deep breath, trying to summon his courage.
The General gestured toward the room.
A terrifying darkness seeped from inside. Leon stepped forward hesitantly, his cursed curiosity stronger than fear.
After all, curiosity is the first step toward hell…
When he crossed the threshold, the darkness swirled and formed into a scene. Leon's eyes widened as he watched two people—an old man with a terrifying face and a boy who looked like a gentler version of a young General.
He watched as the teenager approached the old man, who pointed a gun at him. The boy didn't hesitate—he pressed the barrel against his own chest, staring the man straight in the eyes.
"If I'm a traitor, then pull the trigger. That way you'll get rid of everyone. You can start with me!"
Leon was breathing heavily. The scene stirred a strange feeling of déjà vu.
"I won't do it, because you're my grandson," the old man replied. "I hate traitors, but the blood of a victor runs in your veins. You can achieve great things—if you open your eyes."
"I've already opened them," the boy said. Taking advantage of a moment of distraction, he grabbed the weapon from the man's hand and aimed it straight at his heart.
"I'm not like you."
He pulled the trigger. The shot was ruthless. The old man collapsed, dead.
"And yet you can be just like me, Alan," Leon suddenly heard the young General whisper—right in his ear.
With a scream, he woke up in the middle of the night, realizing he was lying in his bed. Gasping for air, he looked around the room in terror.
"What's with you? It's one a.m., let people sleep," Sebastian grumbled, turning over.
Nathan looked at him, concerned.
"Are you okay? Bad dream?"
Leon turned on the lamp. He threw off his blanket and looked at his feet. He was wearing white socks—or rather, black socks now, even though he'd gone to bed in clean ones.
They looked as if he'd walked all over the building in them.
"Yeah… just a nightmare," he replied softly, though his heart was still pounding in fear.
Could he have been sleepwalking?
And if so… how the hell did he end up back in bed?
*
Nadia grimaced as she sat on her bed, watching her roommate. The girls had disliked each other from the moment they met, and nothing suggested that their relationship would improve anytime soon.
"I don't want you in this room. Get out while I can still be nice," she said coldly, her black eyes piercing.
The girl looked like Samara from The Ring.
"Can you explain to me, you freak, what your problem is with me? What's your deal? You've acted like a lunatic from the second you saw me!"
"You're not supposed to be here," the girl replied quietly, straightening her bedsheet. "You and that boy… You shouldn't be here. You're cursed," she added in a panicked voice.
Nadia felt like she'd stepped into some twisted horror movie. Why did she have to end up with a psycho roommate? The headmistress would never approve a room change, and she wasn't about to call her parents and beg for a favor. She'd insisted on coming here herself—no matter the cost.
"If you don't like me being here, then pack your things and leave. I'm staying—whether you like it or not. I'll treat you like air, so do the same," she said firmly, staring her down. "I should report what you did to me yesterday. If it weren't for Leon and Nathan, I don't know how long I would've been stuck in that disgusting closet, you idiot."
She noticed the girl tense at the mention of Leon's name.
"So, you've already met him?" she asked with a strange glint in her eye.
"Listen... This place probably isn't for you, especially if there are that many trapped souls here. My mom was in this school—she saw ghosts. She's sort of a medium. And looking at you, I get the feeling you're connected to them too. But if you go crazy here, I won't help you. Not after locking me in that stinking storage room."
"I know who your mother is!" the girl suddenly screamed, turning toward her with wild eyes. "That's why you shouldn't be here!"
Nadia froze for a moment. This girl was genuinely terrifying...
"You should be in a mental hospital, not a boarding school," she hissed, then got off the bed and left the room. She wasn't going to keep putting up with this weirdo. Maybe she should've been more understanding—because of her mom's past—but she just couldn't. There was no reasoning with this girl.
She didn't know how long she could survive sharing a room with her.
*
Breakfasts in the dining hall took place between seven and eight in the morning. That day, the freshmen were to attend their first classes, so most of them looked stressed but excited. Older students eyed them—some with curiosity, others with superiority—commenting on what they'd seen at last night's welcome party.
Leon drew particular attention. He walked beside Nathan, rubbing his tired eyes. A rumor had already spread throughout the school: he came from an incredibly wealthy family, was Swiss, and his father had donated a large sum of money to the school in exchange for "proper care" of his son.
Nathan felt incredibly awkward around him. He hated being the center of attention.
"...and he's unbelievably handsome. The guy walking with him is hot too. This year we'll definitely have eye candy to admire," said one of the older girls, resting her cheek on her hand, gazing dreamily at them. "Sebastian doesn't stand a chance."
"Sebastian's still a sweet kitten to me. I just can't stand how he wags his tail for Roxana, and she couldn't care less about him," added another girl, her voice dripping with mock affection.
Leon and Nathan grabbed their breakfast and sat at an empty table. Leon was still shaken by what he'd experienced during the night, so for once, he wasn't paying attention to the stares.
"Someone from student council must've started the rumor about your filthy-rich family. The whole school's talking about you," Nathan said, looking around the cafeteria. "It's a terrible situation—sitting next to you, I can't even eat in peace. Everyone's staring at us."
"They're staring at you because you're a snack," Leon replied, putting food into his mouth and ignoring Nathan's prolonged glare.
At that moment, Nadia walked into the cafeteria. She took her tray of food and scanned the room for a free seat. Her eyes immediately landed on the two boys she'd met the night before. They had spent quite some time together, sitting on the stairs and sharing their life stories.
Without hesitation, she approached and sat next to Nathan, deliberately choosing the seat across from Leon. She made no effort to hide the fact that she found him very attractive.
"Morning. Did you guys sleep well on your first night?" she asked with a smile.
"I slept great, until this idiot started screaming at 1 a.m.," Nathan muttered, pointing at his roommate. "Acts all tough, but he's probably scared of ghosts."
"You'd be packing your bags after one night if you'd had the same dream I did," Leon retorted.
Nadia smirked, listening to their exchange.
"What kind of dream could be so terrifying you woke up screaming?" she asked, genuinely intrigued, looking him straight in the eye. Leon returned her gaze, then replied:
"It was really strange… I was walking through a hallway, but it looked completely different from reality. I saw a young General—he had a uniform with Nazi symbols. He called me over with his finger and showed me something… a memory? A piece of the past? I'm not sure. I went into a room and saw an old man pointing a gun at a teenager."
Nadia suddenly felt short of breath. She turned pale.
"He said they were family, and that's why he didn't want to shoot him," Leon continued. "But the boy grabbed the gun and, without a moment's hesitation, pulled the trigger. The worst part was the whisper I heard right in my ear. He said I can be just like him… And he called me Alan."
Nadia dropped her spoon. She stared at Leon in disbelief and fear.
"Why… why did he call you Alan?" she whispered.
"I have no idea. I don't even know what it means. Before I saw the General, there was also a girl—she was running away. She yelled for me to follow her into the underground… told me not to go with the General," he went on, glancing at his friends. Suddenly, his eyes landed on someone near the cafeteria entrance.
"That's weird… but that's her," he said, nodding toward a pale girl standing with a tray in the middle of the room. She was staring at them intensely, her gaze unnerving.
Nathan and Nadia turned around to look in the same direction.
"That's my haunted roommate," Nadia said quietly.