The corridor was colder than she expected. Shadows stretched across the stone walls, the sconces flickering weakly as though the light itself wanted to die. Aira hugged her arms around herself, following where she thought Zara had gone.
But with every turn she took, the halls grew unfamiliar. The dorms blurred into staircases, then into empty passages with arched ceilings and tall glass windows. The deeper she went, the more the air changed—dense, heavy, filled with a silence that pressed against her ears.
And then—there it was again.
That presence.
The same one she felt when she took her very first step through the school's iron gates. The same one that had brushed against her chest like a shadow outside the principal's office. Back then, she thought she imagined it, a trick of nerves. But now… now it pressed against her skin, thick and suffocating, as if the air itself was alive and watching.
Her steps echoed too loudly.
Aira swallowed hard. "Zara?" Her voice cracked. Only silence answered.
She kept walking. But soon she realized she didn't recognize anything. The tapestries looked ancient, the walls darker, as if she had stepped into a part of the school no one used anymore.
That was when the feeling hit harder.
The presence wasn't just around her now. It was behind her.
Her body froze, every nerve screaming to run. Slowly—so slowly—she turned her head.
And there he was.
A figure stood at the far end of the hall, where the light gave up and the shadows took over. Tall, perfectly still, as if he'd been waiting. His face was hidden, but she could feel his eyes on her—sharp, unblinking, pinning her in place.
The air grew colder. Her chest tightened, and she stumbled a step back.
The voice inside her mind whispered gleefully:
"Go to him."
Her lips trembled. "N-no…" She shook her head.
The figure didn't move. Just stood there. Watching.
Her breath broke into panicked gasps. Then—suddenly—his shadow seemed to stretch toward her, darkening the floor like liquid smoke. That was enough.
She bolted.
Her footsteps thundered against the stone. She didn't know where she was going, only away—away from that gaze, away from the cold crawling across her skin. The corridors twisted like a maze, pulling her deeper instead of out.
Her lungs burned. Her vision blurred. The halls swayed, bending, spinning. She tried to keep running but her legs buckled. The last thing she felt was the stone floor rushing up to meet her as darkness swallowed her whole.
When she opened her eyes again, her dorm ceiling loomed overhead.
Her bed. Her blanket. The warmth of the room wrapped around her like nothing had happened. She sat up in a panic, chest heaving.
Across the room, Zara lay curled on her bed, fast asleep, breathing evenly as if she'd never left.
Aira's voice shook. "Zara…?"
Her friend stirred, rubbing her eyes groggily. "Mm? What's wrong?"
Aira stared. "H-how did I get here? I was—I was in the hall—I got lost, I—"
Zara frowned, her voice thick with sleep. "What are you talking about? You've been here the whole time."
The words sank into Aira like ice.
"No…" she whispered. "I wasn't."
But Zara only blinked, confused, before rolling back under her blanket.
Aira sat frozen, her heart hammering. She didn't dare argue, but when she swung her legs out of bed, her eyes fell on something that made her throat go dry.
Her shoes.
They were sitting neatly beside her bed where she had left them earlier—only now, the soles were streaked with dark, wet mud. Tiny clumps had even fallen onto the floorboards.
Her stomach knotted. The dorm floor had been spotless before.
It wasn't a dream.