That night, the rain came without warning.
Not loudly at first.
Just a soft tapping against the windows somewhere beyond the silence of the apartment. The kind of rain you only notice when everything else has already gone quiet.
I opened my eyes slowly.
Dark room.
Faint blue light from outside.
Rain.
For a second, I thought that was all it was.
Then I looked at the time.
2:17 AM.
I stared at the ceiling for a while, listening to the distant thunder rolling somewhere far beyond the city. The sound felt deeper tonight somehow, like it wasn't coming from the sky alone.
The weather forecast had said clear skies.
And yet the rain kept falling.
Earlier that evening, after everyone had returned from the picnic, the apartment corridors still carried traces of damp air drifting in from outside. The lights above the staircase flickered faintly once before stabilizing again.
I remembered Siena stopping near the railing suddenly.
Grace had noticed immediately.
"What happened?" she asked softly.
Siena looked toward the staircase for a second longer than normal.
Like she was listening.
Then she slowly shook her head.
"…nothing."
But Axel had noticed it too.
I remembered the way his expression shifted slightly afterward. The way his eyes followed Siena quietly while she continued walking again.
Like he knew she had heard something she didn't want to explain.
Another thunderclap echoed outside.
Closer this time.
The window glass trembled softly.
And before I realized it, my eyes felt heavy again.
Too heavy.
The sound of rain slowly disappeared.
Then the room.
Then everything else.
I was standing in the corridor outside my apartment.
But it wasn't my apartment.
Not really.
Everything looked familiar, just wrong.
The corridor lights flickered faintly overhead, casting pale reflections across the wet floor beneath my feet. Water stretched endlessly through the hallway like the building itself had drowned quietly in silence.
No voices.
No doors opening.
No movement.
Only distant thunder.
I slowly looked around.
The windows near the staircase glowed purple-blue from the storm outside. Rain moved against the glass unnaturally, almost floating instead of falling.
The air felt cold.
Heavy.
Like the entire building was holding its breath.
Then came footsteps.
Soft.
Distant.
I turned immediately.
Someone stood at the far end of the corridor.
Still.
Silent.
Grace.
Not smiling.
Not scared.
Just watching me quietly beneath the flickering lights.
The storm outside illuminated her faintly every few seconds, silver-purple light reflecting softly against the water around her feet.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then she spoke.
Very softly.
"You heard it too… didn't you?"
The moment she said that, the lights above us flickered violently.
Thunder exploded somewhere impossibly close.
The water beneath my feet rippled suddenly.
And for one terrifying second, the corridor looked endless.
Far longer than it should have been.
I took a step forward instinctively.
"Grace…"
Then somewhere beyond the thunder, another sound echoed faintly through the corridor.
Not footsteps.
Not voices.
Something softer.
Like someone whispering through walls underwater.
Grace suddenly looked toward the darkness behind me.
At the same moment, the lights overhead flickered violently again.
And somewhere far away—
I thought I heard Siena calling her name.
The air suddenly became heavier.
The corridor walls distorted slightly, reflections bending unnaturally across the water beneath my feet.
Then another feeling surfaced suddenly through the noise.
Warm sunlight.
Cricket evenings.
Badminton mornings.
Nash laughing somewhere nearby.
Something real.
Something grounding.
And then—
"Sophen."
Nash's voice cut through everything instantly.
Not loud.
Not supernatural.
Just real enough to reach me.
The corridor cracked apart around me immediately.
Not physically.
Reality itself.
The purple reflections shattered across the water while thunder roared loud enough to shake the entire world apart.
Then darkness swallowed everything.
I woke up immediately.
Breathing hard.
Rain hammered violently against the windows now.
The room felt cold.
Too cold.
For a few seconds, I genuinely couldn't tell which reality was the real one.
The dream still clung to me like water.
The corridor.
Grace.
Siena's voice.
Nash.
Another thunderclap shook the apartment.
I rubbed my face slowly before standing up and walking toward the window.
The city outside looked drowned beneath rain and darkness. Streetlights reflected across wet roads far below while distant lightning illuminated the clouds in flashes of pale violet.
And somehow, the sky looked familiar.
A knock suddenly hit my door.
Twice.
Aggressively.
"SOPHEN!"
I blinked once.
Aurea.
Of course.
"What?" I shouted back tiredly.
"WHY ARE YOU AWAKE?"
"It's literally storming."
"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION."
I opened the door.
Aurea stood there wrapped completely in a blanket like some tiny angry ghost.
"You look horrible," she said immediately.
"Good morning to you too."
"It's two in the morning."
"Then bad morning."
Another thunderclap echoed outside.
Aurea immediately stepped into my room without permission.
"Nope."
"What do you mean nope?"
"I'm staying here."
"You have your own room."
"And lightning has its own sky yet here we are."
I stared at her for a second.
"That made absolutely no sense."
"It made emotional sense."
"That's worse."
She ignored me completely and sat near the edge of the bed while staring dramatically at the rain outside.
"You think ghosts exist?" she asked suddenly.
"You ask terrifying questions too casually."
"That's not a no."
I sighed deeply.
"You watch too many horror reels."
"And you think too much."
"That's also true."
Another flash of lightning illuminated the room briefly.
For a second, I almost expected to see that corridor again.
Water.
Purple light.
Grace standing there silently.
"You okay?"
Aurea's voice pulled me back immediately.
I looked toward her.
She was watching me carefully now.
Not joking anymore.
"Yeah," I replied quietly.
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"You're doing the dramatic staring thing again."
"I'm literally standing."
"Emotionally staring."
"That still isn't a real thing."
She pointed accusingly at me.
"Nash does that too."
"That explains a lot actually."
Aurea laughed softly before lying sideways across the bed dramatically like she owned the room.
"You know," she said lazily, "you people got weird after that picnic."
I looked at her immediately.
"What do you mean 'you people'?"
"You. Nash. Grace. Siena."
She shrugged beneath the blanket.
"Feels like all of you are thinking about something but nobody says it."
That stayed.
Because she was right.
The rain softened slightly after a while.
Thunder moved further away.
The city lights outside became calmer beneath the fading storm.
Aurea had somehow fallen asleep diagonally across my bed while still holding half the blanket hostage.
I looked toward the window again.
The sky remained dark.
Quiet now.
But not empty.
My phone suddenly vibrated softly beside me.
One unread message.
From Grace.
My chest tightened slightly before I even opened it.
The message was short.
Only one sentence.
"I had a strange dream."
I stared at the screen silently.
Then another notification appeared beneath it.
This time from Siena.
Only three words.
"Did you too?"
For a long moment, I just sat there while rain continued falling softly beyond the glass.
And somewhere deep inside me, something cold slowly settled into place.