The weather is nice.
Hmm, it really is.
It's slightly cloudy, and the blue gives off a nice warm feeling.
Who said that?
Who is speaking?
I thought while starting to feel fear.
I turned my head from the window to examine the classroom for the person speaking.
Well, try as I might, it's completely impossible to tune him out.
But human beings are one thing if not hopelessly relentless.
Who are you?
What do you want?
Come out.
I thought in my head, but there was no reply.
The fear grew in my heart.
And I, more than others, like to think of myself as someone who is relentless.
This is something that increasingly baffles me after such a long time.
I mean, why do I feel the cool breeze coming from outside the window?
Why do I feel my scruffy hair sweep across my cheeks as it covers my eyes?
Why do I feel the slight friction between my uniform and my bare skin?
Why.
Why.
Why.
Is that me?
It does sound like my voice.
That is something I would think about myself.
If that's me, then who am "I"?
I am me.
Then who is "he"?
Calm down and think.
I'm thinking right now, and I can hear myself thinking.
But I can also hear "myself" thinking too, referring to the voice.
So I had just left my dorm room alone after locking the door.
The key turned with a click, and I left after that.
Isn't "he" talking about this morning?
I remember turning the key only once, because I don't care whether they steal anything.
It's not like they would be able to steal much from me anyway.
I guess it really is me then.
Is it possible that I suddenly developed the ability to think multiple thoughts simultaneously?
Did I suddenly develop superpowers or something?
No, that's ridiculous.
Why would someone like me ever be given a supernatural gift?
I'm no hero, neither can I be the main character.
I'm too much of a coward.
Then maybe it's all hallucinations, or I'm dreaming.
I should pinch myself and see if I'll wake up.
I pinched the skin of my hand tightly.
Ow.
So I'm definitely awake.
I rubbed the red skin that was still transmitting pain to my senses.
Superpowers… something I never imagined would be given to me.
The superpower is actually scary.
To hear yourself thinking while also thinking.
It's like a voice is whispering in your mind that sounds exactly like you.
It feels really creepy.
If it's really superpowers, then maybe I should find a way to make it stop.
Well, I'm not someone who does the correct thing anyway.
They weren't wrong when they would call me dumb under their breath as I passed the hallway.
So, where was I?
I was going to drop the key off with the one in charge.
It hasn't stopped yet, and I don't have the faintest idea on how to do it.
I tried telling the voice to stop, but it doesn't seem to hear me.
I was ignored.
Next, I tried to stop thinking completely, but the voice just continued speaking.
Even if it was a superpower, then I would have been able to get some kind of reaction.
Even if it was just a tiny pause.
But I got nothing.
My thoughts shifted from getting superpowers to a parasite.
Maybe there is a parasite trying to take control of my body, and the side effect is that the process isn't complete.
That makes me feel even worse.
I can move my body though.
I tried to stand up, and I did.
So there's no problem there.
But I also ended up alerting the classroom.
Once they saw it was me, they glared at me and stopped paying attention.
I hurriedly sat down before it could result in a problem.
Then am I just going crazy?
Maybe the stress of living has finally caught up to me, and I developed a second voice in my head.
Then what is the purpose of this voice?
I was walking to drop the key off when I got distracted by something.
Then someone bumped into me.
"Watch where you're going, trash." The voice was five parts anger and four parts disgust.
Oh, I remember this incident.
I remember being distracted by the sound of someone falling.
I turned to look, and I saw one of my bullies about to jump his friend.
The friend dodged, and the bully collapsed on the floor.
But the friend that was attacked had been scratched during the attack.
I remember seeing black spots on the face of the bully.
And one of those same black spots grew on the hand of the friend close to the wound.
I had a bad feeling when I saw those black spots.
That's because there was also someone else there.
The friend couldn't carry the bully alone, so they called a passing student for help.
That student was my desk mate.
The same desk mate that I just observed to have a black spot on his face.
He probably got scratched when he helped carry the bully to the clinic.
Then that would mean that the cause of the bully collapsing is infectious.
Now, what should I do?
I should observe the situation first.
I'm not one for confrontation.
I tried to observe the condition of my desk mate.
There wasn't much to find out from his body because of his uniform and the fact that his head was down.
But I could see that the black spots were visible on the places I could see.
It looked like decaying skin and burnt skin combined.
There was a smell of rotten eggs.
And there were faint sounds coming from him, like painful moans.
Overall, he was looking and sounding very scary.
I shifted myself away from him.
I debated on alerting the teacher about the fact that his head was down.
But then I saw that half of the classroom also had their heads down.
The teacher doesn't seem to care about the students asleep.
So that's not going to work.
And I can't tell him myself that he is sick.
First of all, he won't even listen to me or acknowledge my raised hand.
Second of all, I'm not sure that the desk mate in question would cooperate to go to the clinic.
And asking for leave myself won't be allowed.
It's the only form of bullying the teachers would be able to do to me.
I won't be allowed a sick leave or a bathroom pass.
The only choice I had was to shift as far away as possible from my desk mate while watching him.
Hopefully, I'm just being crazy, and there's nothing to worry about.
He might just stay collapsed until the end of first period.
Honestly, looking at him just made me more uneasy, so I shifted my focus to the hallway.
There were a lot of people being carried away to the clinic.
There were also some weird students who seemed to be leaving in a hurry.
They looked anxious and were wary of the collapsed student passing.
They were really suspicious.
It seems like there is something going on in the school.
But I don't dare to go outside to check.
If all those collapsed students are like my desk mate, then that would be terrifying.
That means that the danger is in a large quantity.
Scary.
I'm really scared.
That led me to thinking about how nice the weather is.
Hmm, but I seem to be forgetting something.
I was about to answer the question on why I'm still alive.
It's because I'm a coward.
Growl.
I was already tense because of the situation outside, so I jumped when I heard such a deep growl.
I turned my head to see my desk mate raising his head up from the desk.
I stood up from my seat in fear once I saw his red eyes.
I was terrified at this point.
My heart was beating loudly in my ears, and I trembled.
I shakily took a step back, but then I realized I was seated beside the window.
There wasn't a place for me to run to except forward.
And in front of me was my desk mate turned monster.
The monster lunged at me as I screamed.
I tried to push him away, but I was too weak from lack of appropriate nutrition and my normal weakened physique.
I felt enormous pain as he bit into my carotid artery on my neck.
Pain.
I tried to scream, but the sound was blocked by the blood filling up my throat.
I tried to scream, but the sound was blocked by the blood filling up my throat.
Is this it?
Is this it?
Am I finally going to meet my end?
Am I finally going to die?
Is this the end?
Is all the pain and suffering going to cease?
Is all the pain and suffering finally coming to an end?
I truly hope so from the depths of my heart.
I hope so.
He he.
Is that another voice?
I thought as my consciousness slipped away.
I'm glad it's ending, I thought as I succumbed to death.