Evan left the lecture hall with his satchel over one shoulder, the familiar weight grounding him after a long morning. Behind him, conversation filled the hall, but once the door shut, the noise seemed to fall away, thinning into a distant hum.
The strange unease from the morning had returned.
Stronger this time.
He rubbed his chest as he walked down the corridor, as if the movement could ease the low thrumming beneath his ribs. His pulse stayed steady. Too steady, perhaps, for how restless he felt.
"Come on," he muttered to himself. "Focus."
His voice sounded quieter than expected, as if it was absorbed quickly by the hall.
He turned a corner.
And froze.
A girl stood at the far end, half-hidden behind a column.
His breath stalled.
It was her.
This time, she wasn't just a flicker in the corner of his vision. He was looking almost directly at her.
"Hey—" he began, taking a cautious step forward.
She instantly slipped out of sight
He lunged forward, sprinting around the corner.
Empty.
Only a vending machine humming lazily against the wall and sunlight spilling through the window.
He stood there for a long moment, staring at the empty floor tiles.
His fingers tingled.
Something is wrong with me... no. It's not me, I'm sure of it
He checked the time.
10:48 AM
Too early for hallucinations. Too early for his day to be falling apart.
He rubbed the back of his neck, heading toward the stairs. On the landing, he touched the railing.
It felt warm.
He frowned slightly, brushing his palm against his jeans as he continued outside.
He pushed through the exit door, stepping into the outside air. The campus buzzed with life: students crossing the courtyard, laughter echoing from somewhere near the cafeteria, the distant sound of construction. However, everything felt muted to him, dulled beneath an invisible static.
Just get through the day
That was the plan. Pretend everything was normal. Pretend he hadn't seen anything. Pretend the world wasn't bending at the edges.
But he couldn't.
The further he walked, the heavier the feeling that he was being observed grew. Not watched in the usual sense, but measured. As if something unseen was taking note of his every step, every breath, every thought.
He glanced over his shoulder.
No one.
He quickened his pace anyway.
It didn't help.
He found a seat on a stone bench near the koi pond, a calm place he sometimes went to whenever his mind felt too full. Tiny ripples broke the water's surface as fish swam lazily below.
For a moment, he tried to focus on the calm, then he realized his body didn't feel tired at all.
No soreness from lack of sleep.
No stiffness from sitting through the three-hour long lecture.
Even stranger, although not by much, he felt... lighter. All his movements, from the way he lowered himself onto the bench to the simple act of breathing felt effortless.
He flexed his hands.
No trembling.
No fatigue.
Stronger.
But not in any way any exercise explained.
He stared at the water.
Growing up, he'd always been the quiet type. Books, shows, and long imaginary worlds filled most of his time. His parents weren't wealthy, but they always found ways to bring home the stories he loved. It was an easy childhood, a calm one.
Now the world felt different, it was like stepping into a story he might have once read.
A soft breeze brushed past his ear.
"...Evan…"
He'd been expecting something of the sort. With everything that had happened today, the soft female whisper felt less like a shock and more like something he'd been waiting for.
He closed his eyes for a moment, exhaling through his nose.
"Of course," he murmured. "Why not."
"Who's there?"
No answer.
He opened his eyes.
When he opened his eyes, the pond looked exactly the same, but the air held a faint vibration now, as if it had briefly resonated with someone else's voice.
The whisper hadn't come from behind him.
Or beside him.
It had come from everywhere, like the world itself had spoken his name.
He straightened slowly, his fingers curled to the edge of the bench as he steadied himself.
The whisper faded, but something lingered, like an afterimage in sound. A faint vibration in the air. A pressure behind his ribs. It wasn't threatening. Just… present. Insistent.
He straightened, slinging his satchel over his shoulder. The sensation lingered a moment longer, then faded as students wandered past, unaware of anything unusual.
Even if they had noticed, they probably wouldn't even care.
He let out a long breath then rose from the bench, slinging his satchel back over his shoulder.
He checked his phone
12:04 PM
He'd been sitting there for a bit over an hour.
He still had time before having lunch with his group, time before his supervisor meeting, time before the Blood Moon.
Too much time
Evan let instinct guide him. He walked without really choosing a direction, letting the pull in his chest lead the way.
Past the courtyard.
Past the library.
Eventually, he reached the quieter side of the campus, place where students and staff alike seldom had cause to visit.
A cold breeze brushed his cheek.
There
Movement. Just a flicker.
He turned sharply
The girl stood at the top of the stairs leading to the old humanities wing.
She was there.
Clearer now.
Calm.
Watching him.
Her posture was calm, almost serene. The wind gently shifted her long, blonde hair and her face was unreadable. It was as if she'd been waiting for him to catch up.
Their eyes met.
Evan didn't freeze, not this time.
He took a step forward. "Hey"
She tilted her head, a subtle smile forming.
Then she stepped back and slipped out of sight behind the stairwell.
He ran. He climbed up the stairs two at a time and rounded the corner.
And as expected, empty.
Only dust drifting through a beam of sunlight and the silence of the old hallway stretching ahead of him.
He placed a hand against the wall and let out a low breath. He wasn't tired, he was simply frustrated.
"Alright," he muttered. "Enough"
The air shifted.
A cold shiver slid down his spine.
He instinctively felt it. Something was in the hallway. It was the same sensation as the whisper earlier, the same sense of being evaluated, as if something ancient was trying to decide what he was.
His hand tightened around the strap of his satchel.
For the first time in his life, Evan Bright was not sure he wanted the answer.
Evan exhaled slowly, then made himself move.
He checked each corner of the old wing, cautiously at first, then with growing irritation. Behind the stairwell. Inside the empty study rooms. Even peering through cracked door windows he'd never bothered noticing before.
Nothing.
Just silence.
And the faint hum of campus life far away, separated by the many walls.
Eventually, he stopped in the middle of a hallway lined with faded posters about philosophy from years ago. He planted his hands on his hips.
"So that's it?" he muttered. "Disappear whenever I get close?"
His voice echoed back at him, hollow and unimpressed.
No answer. No shift in the air. Not even that strange static from earlier.
Just an empty, forgotten building.
Something heavy settled in his chest, more frustration than fear. Confusion had burned itself out hours ago. Now he was just exhausted, exhausted from chasing answers that refused to surface. The fear was still there, sure, but he figured that he couldn't stop any of this even if he tried.
With a click of his tongue, he turned and left the wing entirely.
The rest of his day passed in a steady, unsettling blur.
Lunch with his friends felt normal on the surface, with jokes about assignments, hastily-made plans for a weekend study session, complaints about deadlines. They had even brought small gifts for him, teasing him about "finally aging up."
But every time Evan zoned out even for just a second, he felt it again.
A faint pressure, like someone was standing just behind his thoughts.
Each time he glanced around, there was nothing.
His meeting with the supervisor at 2:30 PM went smoothly, though he barely remembered half of what was discussed. His supervisor did most of the talking anyway, praising the outline Evan had drafted and giving a few suggested revisions. Evan nodded when he needed to, answered when asked. It was easier than trying to focus.
Afterward, he retreated to his dorm room, craving stillness. He needed a moment to himself after all that had happened today. He pushed the door open and slipped inside, the familiar quiet greeting him like a lukewarm comfort.
He moved past the clutter on his desk and set his bag down, letting it slump against the leg of the table. For a moment he just stood there, processing all the events that had occured that day.
He sighed, and laid on his bed, intending only to rest his eyes for a short moment. Instead, he slipped into a shallow drift of half-sleep, thoughts humming like static and his heartbeat slow but uneasy. By the time he forced himself up, the sky outside his window had shifted into the soft gold of late afternoon.
He checked the time
5:32 PM
If he wanted to catch the eclipse, he needed to head out soon.
He breathed out, steadying himself before grabbing his hoodie and heading out. The hallway was tinted with the soft light of early evening as the door clicked shut at his back.