Lucas was walking through the desert.

It was dry and windy, with nothing around him except endless sand stretching as far as he could see. The heat was unbearable, and his throat felt like it was burning from the inside.

He was thirsty. Tired.

Yet he kept walking in one direction, as if he somehow knew where it led.

He stopped for a moment and looked behind him.

Nothing.

He turned around and looked ahead.

Nothing but more desert.

The wind blew harder, sending sand across the ground and around his legs. He looked up, watching the vultures flying in circles above him. There were several of them, slowly circling the sky as if they were waiting for something.

As if they were waiting for him to die.

Lucas continued walking.

His legs were becoming heavier with every step. His body was exhausted, and he could barely feel his feet anymore. Still, he forced himself forward.

Then, in the distance, he saw something.

Someone.

A girl.

Lucas stared at her for a moment, unsure if what he was seeing was real.

He suddenly started running toward her.

He wasn't strong enough to run properly, but he tried anyway. His legs felt like they were going to give out beneath him, yet he kept moving.

The girl remained in the distance.

Lucas kept running.

He thought he was getting closer.

But somehow, she seemed just as far away as before.

He pushed himself harder.

His vision began to blur.

He stumbled.

Then he fell onto the ground.

The sand felt hot against his body.

He couldn't move anymore.

Lucas lay there, barely conscious, feeling as though he was dying.

The vultures continued circling above him.

Then a shadow covered him.

For a moment, Lucas thought death had finally come for him.

A figure was standing over him, blocking the sun.

"Here's some water. You look like you're dying."

The voice was soft.

A hand appeared in front of him, holding a bottle of water.

Lucas tried to sit up, but his body refused to move.

"Can you pour it in my mouth?" he whispered.

He opened his mouth.

The girl leaned closer and carefully poured the water into it.

Lucas swallowed desperately.

The water felt like the greatest thing he had ever tasted.

After a few moments, he tried to look at her.

His vision was still blurry.

He couldn't see her face properly.

But he could hear her voice.

And somehow, even though he didn't know who she was...

It was a voice he could never forget.

It was morning.

One of the university students was walking through Cavewoods Forest.

The morning sun shone through the trees, casting soft patches of light across the forest floor. The leaves moved gently with the wind, making a quiet rustling sound above him. Birds could be heard singing somewhere between the trees, while small insects moved through the grass.

Everything about the forest seemed peaceful.

Almost too peaceful.

The student wandered deeper into the forest as if he already knew where he was going. He didn't seem lost, but he wasn't exactly following a clear path either. He simply kept walking.

The deeper he went, the quieter the forest became.

The birds were still singing.

The wind was still moving through the trees.

The river could still be heard somewhere in the distance.

Yet somehow, the silence between those sounds seemed to grow heavier.

He began to feel uneasy.

He couldn't explain it.

Nothing had happened.

There was no strange figure watching him. No sudden movement in the bushes. No sound behind him.

Still, something inside him told him that he shouldn't be there.

It was almost as if a voice inside the back of his head was quietly repeating one word.

**Run.**

The student stopped walking.

He looked behind him.

Nothing.

He turned around and looked between the trees.

Nothing.

The forest looked exactly as it had a moment ago.

Peaceful.

Beautiful.

Safe.

He frowned.

Maybe it was the rumors.

Cavewoods had always been surrounded by stories. Students talked about strange things happening inside the forest, especially around one particular place.

The suicide spot.

He continued walking.

Eventually, the trees began to thin out, and he found himself standing near the edge of a cliff.

He slowed down.

Below him, the river flowed along the bottom of the cliff. The water moved calmly, reflecting pieces of the morning sky as it passed between the rocks.

The sound of it was strangely soothing.

For a moment, he simply stood there listening.

Then he carefully stepped closer.

He was cautious around the edge, keeping his distance from the drop as he slowly approached it.

One step.

Then another.

He finally reached a point where he could see down the cliff properly.

As he stood there, he looked down.

He saw someone.

It was a man.

At first, the student couldn't understand what he was looking at. The man had his pants down and was moving back and forth, seemingly distracted by something in front of him.

The student stared.

Then he noticed that the man wasn't alone.

There was a girl with him.

He couldn't see her properly. Her body was mostly hidden from where he was standing, but she seemed to be holding the man from behind.

The student continued watching, confused by what he was seeing.

Then the girl suddenly looked up.

She saw him.

The student froze.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then he quickly ducked down and hid behind the edge of the cliff.

His heart began pounding.

**She saw me.**

He waited for a few seconds before slowly raising his head again.

He looked down.

The girl was gone.

Not hiding.

Not running.

Gone.

Instead, he saw something moving through the water.

A long tail disappeared beneath the surface of the river.

The student stared in disbelief.

A mermaid.

He barely had time to process what he had seen before he looked back toward the man.

The man was lying beside a rock.

Blood was running down his body.

He wasn't moving.

The peaceful forest suddenly felt different.

The light seemed to disappear.

The sky darkened.

Then, without warning, rain began to fall.

The student didn't hesitate.

He turned around and ran.

He left the suicide spot as quickly as he could, sprinting through the forest without looking back.

But something was strange about the rain.

It seemed to be following him.

Everywhere he ran, the rain fell around him.

Yet when he glanced behind himself, the rest of the forest seemed strangely untouched.

He kept running.

Faster.

He didn't stop until he finally reached the edge of Cavewoods.

He stumbled out of the forest and nearly collided with someone walking along the road.

It was Lucas.

Lucas was carrying two novels in his hands.

The student crashed into him and fell to the ground.

"Hey, hey! Are you alright, man?" Lucas asked.

He quickly crouched down beside him.
The student didn't answer.

Lucas checked on him, trying to see if he was still conscious.

But the student had already blacked out.

He opened his eyes.

For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was.

The room looked like a hospital, though it wasn't quite the same. He slowly realized that he was inside the university clinic.

He could hear people talking nearby, but their voices sounded distant and unclear.

He tried to focus.

It was Lucas Asterisk and the nurse, Carlinham.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" Lucas asked. "He doesn't seem fine to me. Looks like he's about to have a date with death."

Lucas said it with a completely serious expression.

Nurse Carlinham looked at him.

She couldn't tell whether he was joking or being serious.

"He'll need to rest," she said. "I did some tests, and everything is okay."

Lucas nodded.

"Well, hope he doesn't kick the bucket. Byeee."

He turned around and walked out.

Nurse Carlinham watched him leave.

She shook her head, clearly bothered by his behavior in a situation like this.

The student lying on the bed continued staring toward the door.

He could barely remember what had happened.

The forest.

The cliff.

The girl.

The river.

And the thing he had seen beneath the trees.

His eyes slowly closed again.

Lucas walked out of the clinic.

The university apartments were nearby, but the building also had its own rooms for students who were sick, along with everything the nurses needed to take care of them.

As Lucas walked down the hallway, he turned a corner and accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry," he said without looking at who it was.

Then he looked up.

It was Ayomikun.

"Lucas," Ayomi said.

Lucas looked away for a moment before turning back toward her with a smile.

"Ayomi? Looking beautiful as ever."

"Thanks." She smiled. "There's something I want to show you."

She took her phone out of her purse.

Lucas looked at the purse.

"That looks expensive."

"Yeah, I know. My favorite purse."

"Ah, yeah. Till someone randomly snatches it and runs away with it."

Ayomi looked at him.

"That will not happen."

"Hopefully."

She ignored him and began scrolling through her phone.

After a moment, she stopped and turned the screen toward him.

Lucas looked at the picture.

It showed someone's feet wearing an anklet.

The anklet was shining brightly, covered in what looked like diamonds.

Ayomi looked at Lucas.

"Is it cute?"

Lucas looked at the picture.

Then he looked at Ayomi.

Her eyes were glowing with excitement, and she had a smile on her face.

**She's probably going to get bitchy about it.**

Then she spoke.

"I don't find it cute, but normal."

"Oh, okay," Ayomi said.

She looked back at her phone.

Lucas watched her for a moment, slightly surprised.

**I thought she was going to be bitchy about it.**

"Do you think there's something bad with nose rings?" Ayomi asked.

Lucas couldn't help but think she was about to get an anklet and a nose ring.

"No, I don't. They're just some shit people love."

He looked around the hallway.

For some reason, he suddenly wondered why they were even standing there talking.

Some people think nose rings are for prostitutes," Ayomi said.

"Um..." Lucas paused. "I just found that out now."

Ayomi continued looking at her phone.

"I think we should go to the Blackline shop. I wanna buy something."

"Ohhh, noooo. I have work today."

Ayomi slowly looked up at him with a serious expression.

"Seriously? Come on."

"I'm dead serious. Maybe next time."

Lucas began walking away.

"Don't forget," Ayomi called after him.

Lucas didn't turn around.

Ayomi walked in the opposite direction, already looking back down at her phone.

He wondered about it all the way back until, without really noticing, he found himself standing in front of apartment 707.

Lucas stopped at the door.

He stared at the number for a few seconds, then inhaled slowly through his nose. Whatever thoughts had been running through his head disappeared for a moment.

He opened the door.

The first thing he saw was Todd.

He was tied to the bed, barely conscious, his wrists secured above him. Whitney stood beside the mattress holding a pair of scissors in one hand. She didn't look surprised to see Lucas.

She barely looked at him at all.

Lucas stepped inside and closed the door behind himself.

Whitney simply shifted her attention back to Todd.

Lucas walked past her as if nothing unusual was happening and went over to the chair sitting in the corner of the room. He dropped himself into it, leaning back.

Whitney glanced at him.

"You good?"

Lucas looked at her.

"Yeah."

"Okay."

That was it.

No explanation.

No question about why he was there.

No concern about whether Lucas had just witnessed something he wasn't supposed to see.

Whitney turned back toward Todd.

Todd was still unconscious.

Whitney picked up a bottle of water from beside the bed and poured some over his face.

Todd suddenly jerked awake, coughing as he tried to pull himself away.

"Ssshh," Whitney whispered.

Todd froze.

His eyes moved around the room until they landed on Whitney.

Then they moved toward Lucas.

His expression changed immediately.

Fear. When He saw that Whitney has a scissor between his dick .

"Who the fuck is Jessica?" Whitney asked.

Todd stared at her.

"I—I don't know—"

Whitney raised the scissors slightly. Slowly moving closing it as if she would cut his penis off without any hesitation.

Todd's voice broke.

"Please."

Lucas watched from the chair.

Todd started crying.

The sight was so absurd that Lucas suddenly laughed.

It wasn't even a deliberate laugh. It just came out.

Todd turned his head toward him, staring at Lucas as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Help me," Todd said desperately. "I'll pay you, Luc."

Lucas stopped laughing for a second.

Todd looked at him with a pleading expression.

"I'll give you anything."

Whitney reached over and covered Todd's mouth with her hand.

"He's busy," she said casually.

Lucas looked at Whitney.

She didn't seem bothered by him being there.

If anything, she seemed more bothered by Todd's talking.

Lucas stood up.

He looked toward Todd one last time.

Todd's expression changed.

The desperation disappeared.

He stared at Lucas with pure hatred.

Lucas walked over, picked up his pants from the floor, and put them on. Todd continued staring at him. Lucas didn't say anything.

He simply walked toward the door.

As he passed Whitney, she moved aside without a word.

Lucas opened the door.

Behind him, Todd was still staring.

Lucas stepped into the hallway and pulled the door shut.

Apartment 707 became quiet again.

Three girls walked out through the gates of the University of Western Ravenport, talking among themselves as they made their way down the street.

"So where are we going?" one of them asked.

The other two looked at each other.

"I don't know."

"We could go to the library," one of the girls said. "I found some really nice magazines there."

"Magazines?"

"Yeah. There's this whole section with them. Fashion, music, college stuff... there's actually some good ones."

The first girl smiled.

"Okay, let's go."

The three of them continued down the sidewalk toward the library, talking about what they wanted to read and laughing about things that had happened during the day.

None of them seemed particularly concerned about getting anywhere quickly.

They were simply looking for somewhere to sit, relax, flip through magazines, and waste a little time together.

The university disappeared behind them as they walked farther into Western Ravenport.

--------

A black SUV pulled up in front of the gates of the University of Western Ravenport and came to a stop.

The passenger door opened, and a girl stepped out.

She stood there for a moment, looking around.

The university was bigger than she had expected. Students were walking through the gates, groups were scattered along the sidewalks, and cars continued passing along the road in front of the campus.

She looked around again, taking everything in.

For a few seconds, she completely forgot about the car behind her.

"Hey!"

She didn't hear it.

"Hey, you forgot something!"

Still nothing.

The girl continued staring toward the university, completely caught up in the unfamiliar surroundings.

Her mother leaned toward the passenger-side window.

"Hey!"

The girl finally turned around.

"Huh?"

"Come here."

She walked back toward the SUV and leaned slightly toward the open window.

Her mother looked at her with a small smile.

"You forgot my kisses."

The girl smiled.

"Oh."

She leaned closer, bringing her face toward her mother.

Her mother kissed her cheek.

"There."

The girl pulled back, smiling.

"Enjoy the new university," her mother said.

"I will."

The SUV began pulling away from the curb.

"Byee!" the girl called, giving her mother a little wave.

Her mother waved back through the window as the SUV disappeared down the street.

The girl turned around again.

This time, she faced the university gates.

She took a breath.

Then she walked inside.

Bella Beaumont walked through the gates of the University of Western Ravenport.

The university was known as the largest university in Ravenport, with nearly twenty thousand students spread across its enormous campus.

And Bella could immediately see why.

The campus seemed to stretch farther than she could see.

A wide-open yard covered in green grass spread out between the buildings, with large trees scattered throughout it. Benches were positioned beneath some of them, and students had practically claimed every comfortable spot.

Some were sitting in groups, talking and laughing.

Others were lying on the grass, soaking up the afternoon sun.

A guy with headphones was stretched out beneath a tree with his eyes closed, completely detached from everything around him.

Nearby, two girls were sitting on a bench sharing a magazine while another student stood in front of them, apparently telling them a story that had both of them laughing.

Someone was playing music from a phone.

Someone else was arguing over a football.

A group of students had gathered around a tree, passing something between them while talking quietly.

Bella slowed down.

She hadn't expected the university to feel like this.

It wasn't quiet.

It wasn't orderly.

It was almost like a small city.

Students were constantly moving in every direction.

Then, suddenly, two students came running across the grass.

"Give it back!"

"Catch me first!"

Bella turned her head.

The student in front was holding a phone above his head as he ran, while another student chased him across the yard.

"You stole my phone!"

"I borrowed it!"

"You've been running for five minutes!"

Bella watched them disappear between two groups of students.

She almost stopped to see how it ended.

Almost.

Then she remembered.

**Class.**

Her first class.

Her first day.

"Right."

She continued walking.

Bella followed the signs until she reached the sixth entrance to the university.

The number *6* was displayed above the doors.

She pushed one of them open and stepped inside.

The difference was immediate.

The outside had been open and chaotic.

Inside, the university felt like a machine.

Students were constantly coming through the doors.

Some were leaving with books tucked underneath their arms. Others were rushing inside, checking their watches or looking down at pieces of paper with room numbers written on them.

A few students stood against the walls, talking between classes.

One guy was sitting on the floor eating something from a paper bag while reading a textbook.

Another student nearly walked into him without looking up from her phone.

"Sorry."

"You're good."

She kept walking.

Bella looked farther into the building.

There were corridors branching in several directions.

Staircases.

Elevators.

Signs.

Room numbers.

More doors.

And people everywhere.

She couldn't help wondering how anyone was supposed to learn their way around this place.

**How do you even know where you're going?**

She eventually reached a reception desk positioned directly ahead.

There were three women working behind it.

That suddenly made sense.

With thousands of students constantly moving around the campus—and new students arriving all the time—one reception desk probably wasn't enough.

Bella approached.

One of the women looked up.

"Hi."

"Hi," Bella replied. "I'm trying to find one of my classes."

The woman smiled.

"First day?"

Bella nodded.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it."

Bella glanced behind the woman toward the massive interior of the university.

"I'm not sure about that."

The receptionist laughed.

"Everyone says that on their first day."

Bella pulled out her class information.

"I need room—"

She stopped.

Her eyes wandered toward another hallway.

There were signs everywhere.

She looked back at the receptionist.

"How many classrooms are there here?"

The woman thought for a moment.

"More than you'd want to count."

Bella smiled awkwardly.

**If this place has a thousand apartment rooms, how many classrooms does it have?**

She remembered seeing the university's residential buildings on the way in.

A thousand rooms.

Twenty thousand students.

Dozens of buildings.

Hundreds of corridors.

She suddenly wondered how many people had gotten lost here.

And then another thought came to her.

**Who the hell stayed in room 666?**

Bella looked down at her class information again.

"Okay," she said. "I probably shouldn't think about that right now."

The receptionist raised an eyebrow.

"Think about what?"

"Nothing."

Bella smiled.

The receptionist pointed toward one of the corridors.

"Your classroom is through there. Take the second staircase, go up one floor, and follow the blue signs."

Bella looked toward the corridor.

"Blue signs."

"Yes."

She nodded.

"Okay."

She started walking.

Behind her, another student approached the reception desk.

"Excuse me, do you know where the science building is?"

One of the other receptionists immediately answered.

"Outside through Entrance Four, then left."

Another student appeared.

"Where's Room 318?"

"Third floor."

"Which staircase?"

"East staircase."

Another student stepped forward before the previous one had even moved away.

"Can I get a replacement student card?"

Bella glanced back.

The three receptionists were already dealing with someone else.

Then someone else.
Then someone else.

She smiled to herself.

The university really was a machine.

And she had just become one of the thousands of moving parts inside it.

Bella returned to the reception desk.

"Excuse me," she said.

One of the receptionists looked up from her computer.

"Yes?"

"I'm trying to find the class for second-year Business Studies students."

The receptionist didn't even need to think.

"Third floor. Room 1025 BSE."

Bella nodded, trying to remember it.

"1025 BSE."

"You can also follow those students," the receptionist added.

She pointed toward a group of students walking past the reception area.

"They're going to the room next to yours. 1026."

Bella looked over.

There were five of them.

Two girls and three boys.

They were walking together, talking among themselves as they headed toward the staircase.

"Oh, okay."

Bella smiled.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Bella turned and hurried slightly to catch up with them.

Behind her, the receptionist returned to her computer as if nothing had happened.

The other two receptionists were doing the same thing.

One was typing something into the university system while the other was scrolling through a long list of student information.

Every few seconds, one of them would answer a question from a student without even seeming distracted from whatever they were doing.

Bella glanced back at them.

**They're really good at this.**

She followed the five students toward the staircase.

The two girls were walking beside each other, quietly talking about something.

One of the boys was listening to them while the other two were arguing about something that had apparently happened earlier that morning.

"I told you it wasn't my fault."

"You literally pushed me."

"You were standing in the way."

"Because you told me to stand there."

Bella smiled faintly as she listened from a few steps behind.

She didn't know any of them.

They didn't know her.



Yet somehow, following them made finding her classroom feel much easier.

They reached the staircase and began walking upward.

Bella followed.

One floor.

Then another.

The university continued moving around them.

Students came down the stairs as others went up.

Someone rushed past them carrying a stack of books.

A girl stood on the landing looking at her phone while her friend waited impatiently beside her.

"Come on!"

"I'm coming!"

Bella continued behind the five students.

She looked at the signs on the wall.

THIRD FLOOR — BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

She was getting close.

The five students turned down the corridor.

Bella followed them.

A few doors passed.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Then—

1025 BSE.

Bella stopped.

She had found her classroom.

The five students continued toward the next door.

1026.

Bella looked at her classroom door, then at the students disappearing into theirs.

"Well," she quietly said to herself.

"That was easier than I thought."

Bella followed a few steps behind the five students, listening to their conversation without meaning to.

They seemed completely comfortable with one another.

"So yesterday at Nicky's was actually fun," one of the boys said.

"Until Chad got high," another replied.

The two girls laughed.

"He started fighting Jeremy for no reason."

"He always starts shit when he's high."

"And then Jeremy's girlfriend beat him up."

Bella raised an eyebrow.

"She beat him up?"

"Yeah," one of the girls said. "And you know she does boxing and UFC fights every weekend, right?"

"No way."

"Yes way. It's actually hard not to find her at the gym."

"Which gym?"

"The gym here."

The boy stopped walking for a second.

"Wait, there's a gym here?"

"Yeah."

"Where?"

"Room 1201."

"Goddamn."

The other boy looked around the enormous hallway.

"I didn't even know there was a gym here."

"This university is fucking huge," the first boy said.

The second girl laughed.

"Yeah. I heard you can stay here for five years and still not know where the game testing room is."

"The what?"

"The game testing room."

"There's a game testing room?"

"Apparently."

Bella slowed down slightly.

*There is a game testing room?*

She had barely been here for an hour and was already discovering rooms she didn't know existed.

"Some students sell each other room locations," one of the girls added.

"They do?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know who sells them?"

The girl shrugged.

"I know Lucas does."

Bella's attention sharpened.

*Lucas.*

She didn't know why the name caught her attention.

"Lucas?"

"Yeah. I once bought information from him about where I could find the music room."

"The music room?"

"How is the music room?" one of the boys asked.

"It has music."

The girl looked at him as if he'd asked the dumbest question imaginable.

"Obviously."

"C'mon, I mean is it dope? CDs, DVDs, all that stuff?"

The girl smiled.

"Even the tapes."

Bella nearly laughed.

*Tapes?*

She found herself becoming more interested in their conversation than in where she was supposed to be going.

The five students reached their classroom.

Bella kept following.

They walked through the doorway.

Bella followed them inside without realizing it.

She stopped.

The students were already finding their seats.

Bella looked around.

Then she looked back toward the hallway.

Her classroom was next door.

"Oh."

She quickly stepped back out.

Nobody seemed to notice.

She walked to the next door and entered her own classroom.

It wasn't full yet.

That made sense.

Second-year students had already spent enough time at the university to know how to avoid arriving ridiculously early.

Bella looked around the room.

There were empty seats scattered everywhere.

She chose one toward the back.

It was quiet there.

More importantly, she figured there was a lower chance of a teacher randomly deciding to ask her something.

She placed her things on the desk and sat down.

A few minutes later, the teacher entered.

The room gradually settled.

Bella expected the class to be boring.

It wasn't.

The teacher actually kept the students involved.

Questions were thrown around the room, and students answered them almost immediately.

Hands went up.

People debated answers.

Someone even corrected the teacher on a point and somehow turned it into a five-minute discussion.

Bella watched quietly from the back.

She knew some of the answers.

She just had no interest in raising her hand.

Whenever the teacher asked a question, Bella kept her eyes on her notebook and hoped someone else would answer.

Someone always did.

Eventually, she relaxed into her chair.

*Maybe this university wouldn't be so bad.*

At least the classes weren't as boring as she'd expected.

She just had one problem.

She was beginning to realize that Western Ravenport University had far more rooms, people, activities, and strange little secrets than she could possibly learn in one day.

And she'd only been there for an hour.

Bella hadn't even realized how quickly the time had passed.

One moment she had been sitting at the back of the classroom, listening to the teacher explain business principles.

The next, students were already packing their things.

The teacher looked at the clock before speaking.

"Before everyone leaves, I'm aware we have new students joining us today."

A few students glanced around.

"So, for those of you who are still learning the building, the break is only thirty minutes."

The teacher pointed toward the door.

"On this floor, the cafeteria is in Room 1043. The toilets are in Room 1046."

A few students laughed.

"And don't get lost."

The teacher paused.

"Most students make excuses about being late because they couldn't find their classroom. I don't want to hear it."

The class laughed again.

"See you in thirty minutes."

The students immediately began filing out.

Bella packed her things and joined them.

She had barely stepped into the hallway when someone approached her.

"Hey."

Bella looked up.

A boy stood beside her, smiling.

"I'm Tom."

"Hey."

"I'm new too," he said. "Well... kind of."

Bella looked at him.

Tom pointed down the hallway.

"If you don't mind, I can show you around this maze."

Bella glanced at the corridors stretching in both directions.

For a second, she considered it.

Then she shook her head.

"No, I'm alright."

"Oh."

Bella gave him a polite smile and continued walking.
Tom watched her leave.

One of his friends came up behind him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"I told you she's intimidating."

Tom kept watching Bella.

"She seems cold."

He smiled.

"I love them cold."

His friend laughed.

"Trust me, you don't want that type of cold."

Tom looked at him.

"Why not?"

"Because eventually you're gonna taste that cold, bruh."

Tom laughed.

"Whatever."

"Come on. Let's go watch the skaters."

Tom looked at the clock.

"We've only got twenty minutes. I don't wanna be late for class."

"Then move."

They disappeared down the hallway.

Bella continued toward the stairs.

She wasn't interested in finding the cafeteria.

She wasn't interested in watching skaters.

And she definitely wasn't interested in being shown around the university by some guy she'd known for less than a minute.

She pulled out her phone and checked the time.

She had somewhere else to be.

Her little sister's school.

She had promised to pick her up.

The university yard was still full of students enjoying their break.

She still had to figure out how she was getting to her sister's school, how long it would take, and whether she'd make it back before her next class.

Her first day at Western Ravenport University was already becoming more complicated than she'd expected.

Bella entered the women's bathroom.

The room was quieter than the hallway outside.

The sound of running water echoed softly from one of the sinks, and the large mirror above them reflected the rows of lights stretching across the wall.

Two girls were standing in front of the mirror.

One was fixing her hair, carefully adjusting a few strands while studying her reflection.

The other was applying lip gloss.

"Do you think if I wore something more revealing, he'd look at me?" the girl fixing her hair asked.

Her friend continued applying the gloss.

"I think he's just trying to act like he can't see you, love."

"Come on, I'm serious."

"I know."

"You know yesterday we were at his room."

The other girl stopped applying her lip gloss.

"What?"

"Yeah."

"Are you serious?"

The girl fixing her hair nodded.

"His friend came in with his girlfriend."

Her friend stared at her through the mirror.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. His roommate seems to like bringing girls into their room."

She finished adjusting her hair and stepped back to inspect herself.

Her friend put the lip gloss back into her purse.

"Let's just hope your boy doesn't get corrupted by his roommate."

The girl laughed.

"I hope not."

"Anyway, let's go. I have yoga classes."

"Already?"

"Yes."

She zipped her purse shut.

The two girls left the bathroom together, still talking as they disappeared into the hallway.

Bella remained where she was.

The bathroom door swung shut behind them.

For a few seconds, everything was quiet again.

Bella had been standing inside one of the stalls the entire time, the door closed and locked.

She stared at the stall door.

She hadn't intended to overhear any of that.

But apparently, at Western Ravenport University, you could learn something about someone's life simply by walking into the bathroom at the wrong time.

Bella waited a few more seconds before finally unlocking the door.

Bella took out her phone.

She wasn't actually using the bathroom.

She had simply decided to sit there for a while and scroll through her phone.

The stall was quiet, and nobody was bothering her.

She scrolled through a few posts, barely paying attention to any of them.

Then—

"Who even reads a Thirdleg magazine?"

Bella froze.

Her thumb stopped moving.

She slowly looked up.

The voice had sounded like a guy.

And it sounded close.

*What the hell?*

Bella looked toward the bottom of the stall door.

Nothing.

She stood up and opened the door.

She stepped out cautiously.

The bathroom was empty.

The sinks.

The mirrors.

The other stalls.

Nothing.

She looked toward the entrance.

Nobody.

Bella slowly walked back into the stall.

"Maybe it was just someone outside," she muttered.

She sat down again and looked at her phone.

Then the voice returned.

"Ah... I guess this ass is the right kind."

Bella's entire body went still.

Her phone nearly slipped from her hand.

She stared straight ahead.

Her heart began beating rapidly.

*Who the fuck could it be?*

There was a brief silence.

Then—

"Huh?"

The voice sounded confused.

"Who said that?"

Bella's eyes widened.

She hadn't spoken aloud.

She hadn't even moved her lips.

*Am I going crazy?*

She swallowed.

*I think I'm hearing another voice in my mind.*

The voice answered almost immediately.

*I should be saying the same.*

Bella stopped breathing for a second.

She stared at the stall door.

The voice hadn't come from outside.

It had come from inside her head.

"What the fuck..."

She stood up.

There was no point staying there.

Bella unlocked the stall, opened the door, and walked out of the bathroom.

She didn't look at the mirrors this time.

She didn't check the other stalls.

She simply walked.

The hallway outside was full of students.

People talking.

People laughing.

Someone rushing down the stairs.

Everything looked normal.

Bella kept walking.

She tried to focus on anything except the voice.

She looked down at her phone.

25 minutes left.

She sighed.

*Twenty-five minutes.*

"Twenty-five minutes until what, if I may ask, girl with the gloomy voice?"

Bella stopped for half a second.

She didn't answer.

She kept walking.

She walked past the reception area.

Past students sitting along the walls.

Past the entrance.

She finally stepped outside the building.

The sunlight hit her face.

Bella inhaled deeply.

She looked around the university yard.

Twenty thousand students.

Hundreds of rooms.

People everywhere.

Yet somehow, the only person she wanted to find was the one who wasn't supposed to be there at all.

She looked back at her phone.

Twenty-four minutes.

Bella put the phone away.

And kept walking.

Bella was outside now, walking away from the sixth entrance and toward the university gates.

She glanced back at the building once.

Then she continued walking.

"I should go pick up my little sister," she whispered aloud.

She deliberately said it out loud.

She didn't want to think it.

Not anymore.

The voice had already proven that it could hear her thoughts.

Bella walked a short distance from the university toward the nearby primary school.

Canva Primary School.

She reached the school and waited outside.

There were already parents and other students waiting around the entrance.

Bella pulled out her phone and began taking pictures of the school.

The building.

The entrance.

The sign.

Even some of the surrounding area.

She wasn't sure why she was taking so many pictures.

Maybe she just liked having things documented.

Eventually, the school doors opened.

Children began coming out.

Bella spotted her little sister almost immediately.

"There you are."

Her sister hurried toward her, then immediately started walking ahead of Bella.

"Wait!"

The little girl didn't.

She was already in a hurry to get home.

Bella laughed and followed her.

She took a few pictures of her sister walking ahead of her.

"Seems you love your little sister."

Bella lowered her phone.

"I do."

She smiled.

Then the voice spoke again.

"Now it's fifteen minutes left."

Bella looked at her phone.

She hadn't even noticed how much time had passed.

"Fifteen minutes..."

She looked toward her sister.

"I didn't notice."

Her expression changed.

"I should hurry."

She picked up her pace.

Her sister looked back.

"Why are you walking so fast?"

"We're going to be late."

"For what?"

"Just hurry."

Bella continued walking faster.

Soon, walking wasn't fast enough.

She broke into a run.

Her little sister stared at her.

"Hey!"

"Sorry!"

Bella kept running.

The walk home would have to wait.

She needed to get back to the university.

By the time she reached the campus, she was already breathing heavily.

She checked her phone.

Five minutes late.

"Shit."

Bella hurried through the gates and back toward the sixth entrance.

She entered the building and rushed toward her classroom.

When she reached the door, she slowed down and tried to catch her breath.

She opened it.

The teacher was already at the front of the room.

Bella froze.

The teacher looked at her.

"You're late."

"Sorry."

Bella quickly walked inside.

But she wasn't the only one.

Another girl had just arrived moments before her and was standing near the doorway, looking equally guilty.

The teacher sighed.

"Both of you. Sit down."

Bella nodded.

She went toward her usual seat at the back.

The other girl walked in behind her.

Bella sat down, still trying to catch her breath.

The teacher turned back toward the board.

"Now, where were we?"

Three hours later.

The class finally ended.

Bella walked out of the building feeling like she had somehow learned everything there was to know about the subject.

She hadn't.

But after three hours of listening, taking notes, and watching half the class argue over answers, she certainly felt like she had.

She stepped outside.

The afternoon had settled over the university, and the campus was still busy.

Students were scattered across the grass, walking between buildings, sitting beneath trees, or simply enjoying the time before their next classes.

Bella walked for a while before noticing three girls sitting together on a bench, each of them busy with their phones.

A few seconds later, four guys approached them.

One of the guys seemed particularly interested in one of the girls.

Bella noticed it immediately.

She walked over to another bench a little farther away.

Not too close.
Just close enough.

The guy stopped in front of the girls.

"Hey."

The girls looked up.

The girl he had been looking at stared at him.

"What did you fucking say?"

The guy blinked.

"Hello?"

"And what?"

He suddenly looked less confident.

"Um... I wanted to ask you to a party."

He smiled.

"I'm thirteen."

The smile disappeared from his face.

"Oh."

He looked to the side.

One of the other girls was standing there.

"And she's eleven, you dipshit."

The guy stared at them.

"Yep..."

He slowly nodded.

"Well, there has been a mistake."

The girl folded her arms.

"You like looking at little girls, do ya?"

"What?"

"Like getting them to go to parties with you so you can touch them, do ya?"

The guy's eyes widened.

"No. God, no."

He immediately turned around.

"I'm going."

His three friends followed him. The girls watched them leave.

"Byeeee!"

They waved cheerfully.

The guy didn't turn around.

Bella covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.

She failed.

A small laugh escaped her.

She looked down at the ground, shaking her head.

*What the hell was that?*

The three girls were already back on their phones as if nothing had happened.

Bella stood up.

She looked around the university one last time.

The huge buildings.
The students everywhere.
The trees.
The benches.
The endless corridors she'd already gotten lost in.

The strange rooms.
The random conversations.
The mysterious voice.

And somehow, after only one day, the place already felt less unfamiliar.

She slipped her phone into her pocket and started walking toward the gates.

Her first day at Western Ravenport University was over.

And for once, Bella wasn't thinking about what might happen tomorrow.

She was just ready to go home.