Sunlight flooded the lecture hall, washing the rows of desks and chairs in a warm, almost sleepy glow. Rin had been listening to the lecture, at least he thought he had, but a soft tapping pulled his attention away.
A bird was pecking at the window.
He watched it hop along the glass, head tilting, beak striking again and again. His mind drifted, sharpening around the small detail. Feathers. Size. The pattern on its wings.
Then it clicked.
A Northern Mockingbird.
"Why did it take me so long to remember that?" he muttered quietly to himself.
"Rin. Rin. Rin. RIN!"
The shout snapped him back to reality. Rin flinched as his best friend leaned in far too close, voice echoing louder than necessary.
"Where the fuck did you go, dude?" Cassian said, not bothering to wait for an answer. "You were thinking about Sapphire again, weren't you? Nasty motherfucker."
Rin punched his arm without hesitation. Cassian yelped, clutching the spot as Rin grinned, the small burst of payback oddly satisfying.
A lengthy and rather confusing lecture on Law and humanities followed, with him and Cassian occasionally engaging in dialogue, the class was huge, filled with students from different races, as a result, they were rarely, almost never the focus.
Luckily for Rin, Cassian was intelligent, so passing exams was no feat.
Finally, the lecture ended.
The two nineteen-year-olds stood and slung their bags over their shoulders. Both were tall, each one more than six foot, but Rin edged Cassian out by a few inches. Lean build. Matte black hair. Brown eyes that always seemed to draw people in.
Including Sapphire, the only person he actually wanted to and had succeeded in attracting.
He smiled and waved at the Professor as they headed out, the hallway completely awash with end-of-day noise. The classroom door shut behind them.
The day was done.
They both walked past rows of students, different colours and sizes, bumping into a few but it was normal, people don't really watch where they're going, at least that's what Rin told himself.
He already had his earbuds out and was ready to shove them in to drown out the noise, filter it with his preferred genre of music when... "Did you hear bro? Monster Zero 2 dropped like two days ago, can't wait to play that shit" Cassian inquired.
Just then Rin felt it, a sudden chill washed him all over, completely engulfing him, he couldn't shake off the feeling that something catastrophic was about to happen, he stopped dead in his tracks with his hands raised to his ears, earbuds between his fingers, everything seemed normal and Cassian didn't even seem to notice.
He managed to shake the feeling off after a few seconds and then replied casually, "Monsters aren't real, bro," shoving his earbuds in deep enough to drown out Cassian before he could launch into another passionate rant about what he believed was the greatest video game ever made.
Despite their good looks, neither of them was popular. They drifted through the school halls like background noise, unnoticed, unremarkable, never trying to draw attention. Rin had almost completely tuned the world out when he felt a tug at his shoulders. The grip wasn't strong enough to be aggressive, but it wasn't weak either.
He turned quickly, and there she was.
She wasn't tall, maybe around five-four. Long brown hair flowed with minimal effort, bouncing with every movement. Full lips, a delicately shaped nose, and eyes that glistened from every angle. Sapphire Celeste Everhart. To him, she was flawless.
She immediately launched into a stream of words, how she'd been trying to reach him, where he'd been, what time it was, how her day had gone, how eager she was to get home. Rin barely processed or understood any of it. He was too focused on her beauty, the way her lips moved as she spoke, her voice blending into a blur.
When he finally gave up trying to keep up with her, he did what always worked. He leaned in and kissed her, soft, gentle, and guaranteed to halt her mid-sentence.
"Okay, okay, you got me," she laughed, her cheeks flushing red noticeably. "So… how was your day, baby?"
Cassian, meanwhile, was already gone. Eager to get home and dive into his new game, it was no surprise, really. Being rich, or at least having very rich parents, meant he never waited long for things. He waved at them as he jogged off, disappearing down the hall.
His gaze drifted back to his girlfriend "Well," Rin said, "I saw a northern mockingbird today. Looks better in pictures, though."
She smiled and asked, "Wait… was it your first time seeing one?" Rin had expected more curiosity, but he knew her, she was a core student of science, she was bound to know these things, he only shrugged and kept walking. She stayed close, her fingers laced through his as he replied "now you're making me feel unexposed".
The halls were now suddenly overtaken by her laughter and intermittent snorts, He loved making her laugh, she clung to his arm as they walked out the front entrance, never lacking in conversational topics.
Taking the bus home together after school was routine for them. Their houses weren't too far apart, and the ride was filled mostly with Sapphire's voice. Rin listened carefully as always, nodding now and then or laughing when she said something especially funny. She talked a lot, but she was genuinely amusing, one of the many things he liked about her.
When they reached their stop, they walked hand in hand toward her house. Rin stayed alert, hoping not to run into her dad. He'd met him a few times before and could still feel those cautious eyes on him. Rin kept his distance, determined to avoid awkward stares, or worse, a confrontation. He didn't even want to imagine a scenario like that.
As they reached the gate, Rin broke the silence. "I'm glad you had a good day, Saph. Just wanted to make sure you got home safe."
She immediately stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "I can't wait to see you later."
"I can't babe" he replied. "I've got to stop by the library for my mom, then head to the market. I'm helping her set up her shop, you know how it is."
She nodded, understanding and softening her expression. He had already planned his day, she wore an expression that looked like every cell in her body was itching to protest but eventually she mustered a reply "Tomorrow then?"
"Tomorrow for sure" Rin said.
She smiled brightly, turned around, her hair swaying as she walked inside. Rin stood where he was, watching until she disappeared into the building.
A gentle breeze brushed against him as he turned to head to the bus stop, ignoring most of his surroundings, he was often like that, absent-minded in a sense, whenever he wanted to be.
He was midway to the bus stop when he felt it again, he clutched at his chest this time as the feeling grew stronger, a dark presence imposing itself on him as he struggled to remain on his feet, icy shivers coursing through him from the nape of his neck to his toes, he remained there motionless for what seemed like forever.
Tilting his head back and forth in an attempt to identify who or what it was, he was only met with the stares of unfamiliar pedestrians, some of whom didn't even acknowledge his presence.
Jolted back to reality by the honking of a car nearby, a furious driver ready to exit his vehicle, he quickly gestured an apology and rushed off the roadway.
He got onto the bus and instinctively walked all the way to the back, he couldn't shake off the feeling. "What the fuck was that?" he muttered to himself as he practically slumped on the seat, covered in sweat as he pulled his hood on, lowering his gaze, his ears plugged again, he tapped the play button on his phone in an attempt to drown out the feeling.
The journey was painfully short, he had hoped to stay on longer, disconnected from the rest of the world, but he had an objective to complete. He took the buds off and jumped off the bus.
He walked in to the library, which was the biggest in the state, he was certain that whatever books he was required to procure, he would look no further than here.
He approached the counter and greeted the librarian, a short, grey-haired woman, no younger than sixty, she had dark streaks in her grey hair that would suggest her attempts at dyeing it, he pulled out a note and a library card from his pocket and dropped them on the counter, written on the little piece of paper were three books:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
Pride and Prejudice.
Where The Crawdads Sing.
Written boldly by his mother, the librarian took one look at his card, completely ignoring his note, then pointed to the stack section, a reasonable distance from where they both stood.
He neglected to hesitate as he moved towards the select destination, he walked in and let out a sigh of relief, being the only one there brought him rekindled tranquillity, the light draped in through the windows, giving the room a sense of serenity that he had only felt when he was with Sapphire.
He felt peace.
Browsing through the rows of books, he had already forgotten about the antecedent feeling when, he felt it, his breath was cut short, something huge, heavy, unmovable had grabbed at his neck, he struggle to breathe, unable to call out for help, all he could do was choke and hope somebody noticed.
He was lifted off the floor and suddenly thrown into the stack of books, the whole frame crashing down on him, his eyes blood shot, saliva dripping as he coughed relentlessly, trying to say something, anything, before he could regain an iota of his strength, he was picked up again by the same force.
He wondered if no one could hear what was happening, he was utterly isolated, he swung and he kicked, struggled, every effort completely useless as he was thrust once again into a wall, the pain sharper than anything he ever felt, he let out a cry as the sat there, blood pouring into his eyes, out of his mouth, trickling down his chin, vision blurry, half awake.
"It must be a dream, it must be a FUCKING DREAM!!!"
He thought to himself as he noticed something he couldn't wrap his head around, footsteps, huge footsteps that created sizeable pores on the ground, moving towards him, every cell in his body was on fire, he tried to move, he wanted to run.
He was picked up again, this time he felt it, devastatingly excruciating, a sharp pain that pierced through the front of his abdomen all the way through his back, blood spluttered out of his mouth as whatever it was pierced through his skin, his bones, his organs.
In that moment he thought to himself "Is this how I die? This makes no sense!!" images of his Mother flashing before his eyes, of Sapphire, of Cassian. "Help. Help. HELP!" he muttered unintelligibly as he floated in the air, bleeding profusely onto the marble floor.
Amidst all the gut-wrenching but unnoticeable chaos, a familiar sound caught his attention. It was the mockingbird, pecking at the window again and just before he drifted into permanent unconsciousness, his final thought:
"Huh, Weird Coincidence".