The campus garden rested quietly beneath pale morning sunlight afterward while soft ocean wind drifted lazily through white stone pathways and blooming roses surrounding the university courtyard, and despite students laughing faintly nearby the peaceful atmosphere felt strangely distant to Elara today.
Everything felt distant lately.
People.
Voices.
Reality itself sometimes.
Elara walked slowly beside the flower-lined pathway afterward while silver-gray eyes remained fixed absently toward the fountain ahead now beneath drifting spring clouds crossing the soft blue sky above campus.
She barely slept again.
The whispers returned twice overnight.
And every mirror inside the apartment now made her stomach tighten painfully.
Because she kept expecting those golden eyes appearing again behind her reflection.
"…you disappeared again."
