The monastery went quiet too early.
That was the problem.
At exactly nine, the lights clicked off without ceremony, like someone had flipped a switch on the day itself. The last echoes of footsteps faded down the stone corridors, and the heavy doors slid shut with a dull finality that felt more serious than it needed to be.
The hall where the boys were assigned to sleep was enormous.
Too enormous to feel comfortable.
It wasn't a room. It was a shared space that had once held prayers, gatherings, ceremonies. Now it held rows of thin mats laid side by side, barely an arm's length apart. No beds. No walls between bodies. Just a long floor, low ceiling, and the quiet sound of breathing multiplying in the dark.
XH lay on his back, hands folded on his chest, staring up at a ceiling he could barely see.
He wasn't tired.
None of them were.
The cold had settled into the stone, creeping up through the mats and into bones. Every small movement echoed. Someone coughed. Someone shifted. Somewhere, a phone vibrated briefly before being silenced in panic.
The air smelled faintly of dust and old wood.
"Bro," a whisper came from somewhere to his left. TZ. "There is no way I'm sleeping at nine."
A muffled snort answered from the right. JP.
NS didn't say anything, but XH could feel him awake. You could always feel NS when he was awake. His silence had weight.
A few rows down, someone from engineering whispered something, and a suppressed laugh followed. Another voice shushed them.
XH smiled faintly.
Different majors. Different circles.
Same boredom.
Same rebellion brewing.
The teachers had been clear.
"Lights out at eight-thirty. No wandering. No noise."
Monastery rules.
Respect the space.
Respect the night.
But respect was hard when your blood was still hot from travel, laughter, and the feeling of being somewhere new.
XH turned his head slightly and whispered, "You awake?"
JP answered instantly. "I've been awake since the lights died."
TZ added, "This is psychological warfare."
NS finally spoke, voice low. "If anyone snores, I'm leaving."
XH bit back a laugh.
From the far side of the hall, a voice whispered, "Yo."
Engineering.
The voice crept closer, soft footsteps on stone. A shadow crouched near them.
"Health track, right?" the guy whispered.
JP nodded in the dark even though no one could see him. "Yeah."
The engineering guy exhaled. "Thank god. I thought we were the only ones not sleeping."
TZ whispered, "No one sleeps at nine unless they're eighty."
Another engineering guy joined, settling down cross-legged. "You guys feel like this place is… watching?"
NS muttered, "It's a monastery."
"That doesn't help," TZ said.
Someone else whispered, "There's no Wi-Fi."
That earned a collective, silent groan.
The darkness did something strange. Without faces, without hierarchy, without majors stitched on jackets, everyone sounded the same.
Just boys.
Cold. Awake. Bored.
XH felt it shift then.
The invisible line between us and them dissolved.
They shared snacks quietly. Someone passed around candy. Someone else offered a biscuit. No one asked which major anyone was from anymore.
"Why are they making us sleep so early?" one of the engineering guys whispered.
JP replied, "Because adults hate fun."
A ripple of silent laughter traveled through the hall.
Another voice whispered, "What if we… didn't sleep?"
That sentence hung in the air.
XH felt his pulse quicken slightly.
TZ whispered, "I like where this is going."
NS turned his head. "Don't be stupid."
But he didn't sound fully opposed.
A pause.
Then someone said it, barely louder than a breath.
"There's an old backdoor."
The words landed like a spark.
XH whispered, "Where?"
"Near the storage hall," the engineering guy replied. "I saw it earlier. Looks unused."
JP shifted on his mat. "Unlocked?"
"Probably," the guy said. "Everything old is unlocked."
The hall went quiet again.
Not the uncomfortable kind.
The dangerous kind.
The kind where everyone was thinking the same thing and waiting to see who would say it first.
TZ whispered, "If we get caught—"
JP cut in immediately. "Worth it."
NS sighed. "This is how people end up in trouble."
"But alive," TZ added.
XH felt the decision form without being spoken.
He didn't say yes.
He didn't say no.
He just sat up slowly.
One by one, shadows rose from the mats.
Shoes were slipped on carefully. Jackets zipped silently. Someone produced a tiny flashlight, barely brighter than a phone screen.
XH glanced around.
No teachers.
No movement.
Just sleeping bodies and the quiet hum of the building.
They moved like a line of conspirators, bare feet on cold stone, breath held as they passed doorways. Every creak felt amplified. Every step felt too loud.
At the end of the hall, the engineering guy stopped.
"There," he whispered.
The door looked ancient. Wood darkened by time. A handle worn smooth by hands long gone.
JP reached for it, paused, then looked back.
"This is it," he mouthed.
XH nodded.
JP turned the handle.
The door opened with a soft, traitorous creak.
Everyone froze.
Seconds stretched.
Nothing happened.
No footsteps. No voices.
JP grinned like a man who had just cheated death.
They slipped through.
Cold air hit them instantly, sharper than before, clean and alive. The town beyond the monastery lay quiet, lights scattered like secrets.
They stood there for a moment, stunned by success.
Then JP threw his arms wide and shouted, unable to contain it anymore.
"FREEDOM!!!!!"
The word ripped through the night.
Someone slapped a hand over his mouth too late.
TZ doubled over, laughing silently, shoulders shaking.
NS stared at JP like he was going to kill him, then exhaled and laughed too, helpless.
XH felt it then.
That rush.
That ridiculous, perfect feeling.
Young.
Wild.
Free.
They scattered down the road in hushed laughter, flashlights bouncing, breath fogging, hearts pounding like they had stolen something priceless.
No campus.
No rules.
No rumors.
Just boys who had escaped a hall of silence and tasted the night.
And for that moment, under the cold sky, nothing else in the world mattered.