My head hurts.
It was not intense pain.
That would have been easier.
This was worse.
Constant.
Like something was pushing from inside.
I rested my forehead against the desk and closed my eyes. The noise of the classroom filtered through the same as always—laughter, footsteps, meaningless conversations.
First day of school.
And I already wanted to leave.
I sighed quietly.
It had nothing to do with school itself.
It never did.
I opened my eyes and looked out the window.
The sky was clear.
Too clear.
"Of course..." I muttered. "Everything perfectly normal."
Lie.
But it was easier to think that way.
Because the alternative...
Was not worth considering.
"Dark! There you are."
I barely opened one eye.
Kimberly.
Orange hair with yellow tips, constantly moving as though standing still would physically kill her. Her eyes shined far too brightly for someone who clearly had not changed at all since middle school.
"Hey, Kim."
"'Hey, Kim'?" She frowned. "That's all I get after so long?"
"How long exactly?" I asked without moving.
"An entire vacation break."
"Then yeah. That's all."
She hit me directly on the head.
"Ow—"
"You deserved that," she said while crossing her arms. "So what did you do during vacation? Let me guess... books, books, and more books."
I glanced at her from the corner of my eye.
"Why ask if you already know the answer?"
She smiled proudly.
"Because I'm always right."
"That's debatable."
"You're debatable."
Before I could answer, another voice interrupted.
"You two never change."
I turned my head.
Xia Jing.
Black hair tied into a high ponytail. Straight posture. Calm eyes.
Too calm.
"You still act like children."
"Hey," Kimberly complained, "he's the problem."
"Sure," I replied. "Everything is always my fault."
Xia let out a quiet laugh.
"Not always."
Pause.
"But most of the time."
Kimberly nodded aggressively.
"See?"
I rolled my eyes.
It was not annoying.
Not entirely.
It was...
Normal.
And lately, that had become the strangest thing of all.
"You shouldn't block the hallway."
The voice cut cleanly through the conversation.
Too clean.
Too precise.
I turned immediately.
And there she was.
Natasha Eleipsi.
I recognized her instantly.
Not because of her face.
Because of the feeling.
Golden hair perfectly arranged. Violet eyes that did not move quite the same way as everyone else's. Her posture was elegant, composed...
But rigid.
Like every movement had been carefully calculated beforehand.
"Professor," Xia greeted naturally.
Kimberly simply stared at her, silently judging.
"I didn't expect to see you this soon," I added.
A faint smile appeared on Natasha's lips.
"Coincidences are far less common than people like to believe."
She had not answered what I said.
That irritated me more than it should have.
She stepped slightly closer.
Too close.
"How is your book?"
Silence.
One second.
Too long.
Something tightened inside my chest.
Immediate rejection.
Instinctive.
The memory of yesterday's voice crossed my mind.
"She will ask you about the book..."
No.
I was not thinking about that.
"Nothing special," I answered calmly. "Just another story."
She watched me carefully.
Too carefully.
As though searching for something beneath the surface.
"I see," she said eventually.
But her tone never changed.
She did not sound convinced.
Nor interested.
Only...
Observant.
Kimberly leaned closer toward me.
"She's weird," she whispered. "Is she always like that?"
"I don't know," I replied quietly. "I met her yesterday."
"Yesterday?"
"At the tree."
"...That somehow explains nothing."
Natasha walked away without another word.
I never heard her footsteps.
She simply stopped being there.
"Yeah, she's definitely weird," Kimberly muttered.
"She's not the only one," Xia added.
I said nothing.
There was no need.
The rest of the day continued...
Normally.
Too normally.
Classes. Teachers. Noise.
Everything exactly where it should have been.
As though nothing was wrong.
Until lunch.
"I want to explore the abandoned hospital," Minho announced casually, like it was a completely reasonable idea.
I looked at him without interest.
"No."
"I haven't even invited you yet."
"You don't need to."
He laughed.
"You're always predictable."
Won Ho leaned forward onto the table.
"They say weird things happen there."
"People say weird things everywhere," I replied. "That doesn't make them real."
"There you go again," Kimberly sighed. "Always denying everything."
"I'm not denying it," I corrected. "I just don't jump to absurd conclusions without evidence."
"And if evidence appears?"
"Then it stops being absurd."
Silence.
Xia stared at me.
"You're difficult."
"I'm logical."
"Same thing," Minho replied.
"No, it isn't."
Then Won Ho spoke again.
Quietly.
"I dreamed about something yesterday."
I didn't look up.
"Oh?"
"It had a lot of eyes."
I froze slightly.
"And tentacles."
Silence.
"It was talking," he continued. "But I couldn't understand anything it said."
My hand tightened.
Barely.
It should not mean anything.
It did not mean anything.
"Dreams are just noise," I said. "The brain processes garbage all the time."
"It didn't feel like garbage."
My head...
Disagreed.
I stood up.
"I'm going to the bathroom."
Nobody stopped me.
Cold water didn't help.
The images remained there.
Fragments.
Not memories.
Not exactly.
"It's not real," I whispered.
Again.
"It doesn't make sense."
Again.
"It's not real."
I opened my eyes.
My reflection stared back at me.
Pale.
Exhausted.
And for one second...
It did not look like mine.
I blinked.
It disappeared.
"..."
I shut off the faucet.
"I need to stop thinking about this."
Lie.
I stepped outside.
Classes ended.
I didn't go home.
Not immediately.
Rain began without warning.
I didn't run.
There was no point.
I stepped into a narrow alley and slid down against the wall.
The sound of rain drowned everything else out.
Perfect.
I pulled out my earphones.
Music.
Noise.
Something loud enough to silence the rest.
I closed my eyes.
"I'm tired..."
No.
That wasn't it.
I exhaled slowly.
"It's not worth thinking about this so much."
Another lie.
I leaned my head back against the wall.
"I just... want to sleep."
The world felt distant.
Far away.
Like I didn't completely belong inside it anymore.
And for some reason I could not understand...
I felt as though that day...
Had already begun to end.