The university campus buzzed like a living thing—students pouring across the walkways in colorful streams, laughter bouncing off old brick walls, someone yelling about a missed lecture while sprinting past with a coffee they were absolutely going to spill. It was chaos, but the familiar kind. The kind Eliana Bennett usually loved.
She moved through it with effortless grace, her long curly black hair swaying against her back as though it had its own rhythm. Sunlight kissed her warm brown skin, making her glow in that quiet, unintentional way that always turned heads. Normally, her honey-brown eyes carried a calm confidence—soft, observant, unshakable. Today, though, something was off. The brightness flickered, like a light struggling to stay on.
Her phone felt heavier than it should have in her hand.
The message replayed in her mind, sharp and intrusive, refusing to be ignored.
