Elaine walked back to the dorm with a clouded mind, thoughts swirling in her head without a single answer. Her heart felt heavier with each step, weighed down by confusion she could not voice.
Inside, she stood before the mirror, tilting her head to the side in a desperate attempt to see her own neck. Was there really a mark there, like she had been told? She strained her eyes, but the angle refused to grant her clarity.
Before she could try again, the door burst open with a loud bang, Dana stormed in, her presence sharp and suffocating, almost like smoke spilling invisibly from her ears. Her face was etched with frustration, but Ellie could only glance once before looking away. Dallé had her own demons whatever burned in her chest was not Elaine's to bear tonight.
With a heavy sigh, Dana collapsed onto her bed, leaning back against the headboard as though the day itself had drained her. Elaine turned away, pretending not to notice, as she strode to her bed and settled in, though her own pulse was unsteady, She sat quietly, the silence pressing down on her, until her mind slipped back into memories she thought were long buried.
The vision came like a dream. The sky above shone bright, and beneath it, a little girl sat on a swing, rocking back and forth. Her humming was soft, sweet, and melodic, carrying a peace Ellie hadn't felt in years. The girl's hair gleamed like polished silk black, parted into two halves. The upper part was drawn high and adorned with glittering ornaments, while the lower half cascaded freely down her back. She played with the trinkets on her necklace, her slender fingers brushing against them with innocent delight.
Then, slowly, she turned her head. It was as if she were unveiling herself to unseen watchers. The moment her face tilted, the sky darkened, clouds thickening with the promise of a storm.
Finally, she turned fully and Elaine's breath caught, the girl's slender neck bore a long, deep slit. Blood soaked her once-pristine dress, crimson staining the white fabric. Yet what haunted Ellie most wasn't the wound, but the bright, unshaken smile stretching across the girl's face.
Ellie jolted awake with a soft gasp, her body trembling. The brightness of her room assaulted her eyes, a sharp contrast to the oppressive gloom of her dream. She pressed a hand to her chest, forcing herself to breathe in and out until her heartbeat steadied. The dream was vivid too vivid and unlike others, she remembered every detail.
Yet something was missing. The emotions. She knew the dream had terrified her, but in waking, the fear was strangely absent, leaving her unsettled and restless.
The days blurred into each other, uneasy and heavy, to anyone else, life in the dorms might have seemed ordinary, but to Elaine, each passing hour felt increasingly suffocating.
"Dana," Elaine called softly one afternoon.
Her roommate looked up from the book in her hands, arching a brow. "What is it?"
Elaine hesitated before turning her back toward her. "Can you… take a look at something for me?"
Dana set her book aside, her tone curt. "What am I looking at?"
"My neck." Elaine's voice was almost a whisper.
Dana stood, moving behind her. "And what am I supposed to see?"
"Just… a mark," Elaine said, repeating the same words she herself had once heard.
After a long pause, Dana gave her answer. "There's nothing."
The simple response made Elaine's chest tighten. Nothing? Then what explained the weakness in her body? The strange lapses of memory where she would find herself in unfamiliar places without walking there? The endless, haunting dreams she could not escape?
She was losing weight, sleeping more than ever, yet feeling drained instead of rested. Her neck sometimes burned with a sharp pain, like needles piercing her skin at random intervals. And despite Dana's reassurance, Elaine couldn't shake the dread coiling in her gut.
Later, Dana remained in the room alone, sitting idly on the study chair, a small, almost sinister smile tugged at her lips. Her eyes flickered with knowledge she hadn't shared knowledge of the faint, cracked skull mark etched on Elaine's neck, a mark invisible to the ordinary eye.
Meanwhile, Elaine roamed the halls, her mind restless. Allan's words returned to her in a whisper she could not silence, "a living vessel".
She had laughed them off before, forced herself not to believe. But now, she could no longer ignore it. The pain in her neck, the dreams, the exhaustion it was all too much.
Her footsteps faltered, and she looked around the vast school building, uncertainty gnawing at her. "Is it really possible to find him?" she wondered.
She walked on, aimless yet desperate, her heart pounding in rhythm with her steps. Allan wasn't the type to linger in noisy crowds, she reasoned. So she tried the library first. Empty. Then she searched classrooms one by one, searching in silence.
Finally, her search ended.
There he was. Seated in a empty classroom, the afternoon light spilling faintly across his face, a book rested in his hands, its title stark and familiar to her. "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
Elaine froze at the threshold, her breath catching in her throat. She had sought him out in desperation, yet now that she stood before him, her courage faltered. Her lips parted, but no words came.
She almost turned to flee until he closed the book and lifted his gaze, his eyes locking directly onto hers.