Yvessirae Pov
The first strike against the door didn't just rattle the wood; it vibrated inside my teeth.
I scrambled backward, my sneakers skidding on the polished floor of my dorm room. I had locked the door. I had pushed my heavy trunk in front of it. I thought I was safe. But the person—or thing—on the other side didn't care about locks.
BOOM.
The wood splintered. A jagged crack snaked from the top of the door down to the handle. My heart was a trapped bird, fluttering frantically against my ribs. I looked around the room, desperate. There was nowhere to go. The window was too high, and the closet was a death trap.
I dove.
I slid onto the floor and crammed my body under the bed, pressing my face against the cold, dusty floorboards. I tried to swallow my own breath, terrified that even the sound of my lungs would give me away.
Then, the door didn't just open. It exploded.
The heavy trunk I had moved was tossed aside like it was made of paper. From my spot under the bed, I could only see feet. But they weren't human feet. They were long, grey, and bone-thin, ending in sharp, black claws that clicked against the floor.
Click. Click. Click.
The Seeker was inside. It moved slowly, dragging something heavy behind it. I watched, paralyzed, as the grey feet stopped right next to the bed. I could hear it sniffing—a wet, rattling sound like someone breathing through a broken straw.
It was looking for me.
My eyes caught a glimpse of the open doorway. If I stayed here, it would eventually lift the mattress and find me. I had one chance.
I scrambled out from the other side of the bed, my joints locking with fear, and I bolted. I didn't look back. I sprinted into the hallway, my vision blurred by tears.
"Help! Someone help me!" I screamed, but the hallway was a tomb. Every dorm door was shut tight. No one was coming.
I heard a roar behind me—a sound that wasn't a voice, but a vibration that made the walls shake. It had seen me. I could hear it coming, those long legs eating up the distance in seconds. Clack-drag! Clack-drag!
I turned the corner toward the stairs, my legs feeling like lead. I was crying so hard I could barely see where I was going. It's my first day, I thought hysterically. I'm just supposed to be a student.
Then, my foot caught on the edge of a loose rug.
I went down hard. My chin hit the floor, and for a second, the world turned white. I tried to push myself up, my hands shaking, my breath coming in jagged gasps. But when I turned over, the light from the hallway was gone.
A massive, towering shadow stood over me. It was so tall it blocked out the ceiling lights. I couldn't see a face, only two glowing, hollow pits where eyes should be. It reached down with a hand that felt like freezing iron.
Everything went black.
—
I bolted upright, a scream dying in my throat.
I wasn't on the floor. I was in my bed. My sheets were soaked with sweat, clinging to my skin like plastic wrap. I gasped for air, clutching my stomach. The pain was still there—a dull, ghostly ache where the shadow had touched me. It felt so real. I could still smell the wet earth and old paper.
I looked at the clock on my bedside table.
7:05 AM.
The sun was peeking through the curtains. Birds were chirping outside as if nothing had happened. I crawled out of bed and walked to the door. I touched the wood, expecting to find splinters, but it was smooth. Perfect. Unbroken.
I touched my stomach again. I could still feel the cold.
Later that morning, I found Maia and Dvora in the cafeteria. They were eating breakfast as if the world hadn't ended last night. I walked up to their table, my legs still trembling.
"It's real," I whispered, sliding into the chair. "The game. The Seeker. It's all real."
Maia looked up from her toast, her eyebrows raised. "Oh? You had your first 'date' with him, did you?"
"He saw me," I said, my voice shaking. "I tried to hide under the bed, but he broke the door. I ran, but I tripped... and then he caught me. I thought I died. I felt it."
To my horror, they both started to laugh.
"Welcome to St. Jude's, Rae," Dvora said, leaning back with a smirk. "You didn't 'think' you died. You did die. Or at least, the Game version of you did."
"I don't understand," I said, looking between them. "How am I sitting here?"
"The Loop," Maia explained, her voice casual, like she was talking about the weather. "You can't actually die here. If the Seeker catches you, the world just resets. You wake up at 7:05 AM and start the day all over again. Trust me, I've died a couple of times. It's a literal time loop."
I stared at her. "You've died? And you're just... okay with it?"
"You get used to it," Maia shrugged. "It's like a video game. You lose a life, you restart the level. The problem is, we've been stuck on Level One for a long time."
Dvora leaned in, her eyes turning serious. "The only way to stop the resets is to win. We have to find the items. But most people give up after the first few deaths. They just stay in their rooms and pray he doesn't pick their door."
I looked down at my breakfast, my appetite gone. I wasn't just a student anymore. I was a player in a game that didn't let you quit.
"So," Maia said, clicking her pen. "Tonight is Night Two. You want to keep hiding under the bed, or do you want to actually try and find the first object?"
end of chapter 2