CHAPTER 35 — THE RETURN OF THE ECHO
The wind had a strange bite that evening, the kind that made the air feel charged, unsettled, as if a storm were gathering somewhere just out of sight. Lena stood outside the counseling center, her bag slung over one shoulder, her breath curling in the cold twilight. Her session had run late — longer than she expected — and everything felt heavier now: her chest, her footsteps, the world.
She stepped onto the dimly lit walkway, the familiar path leading back toward campus housing. Students walked in groups, laughing, unaware of the sharp unease building beneath Lena's ribs. She kept her steps steady, her gaze forward.
But halfway down the path, she stopped.
Something felt wrong.
It wasn't a sound.
Or a movement.
It was the absence of something — as though the night had suddenly leaned in to listen.
Her phone buzzed.
She flinched.
For a second, she considered ignoring it. Pretending she didn't feel the rising dread slithering into her veins.
But she looked anyway.
A message.
No name.
Just a number.
**You walked out stronger. I told you I'd help you.**
Her breath shattered.
Maya.
That handwriting on the rooftop.
The photo left in the philosophy aisle.
The feeling of being followed.
Everything she tried to file away under stress, paranoia, trauma — it all snapped into sharp, undeniable focus.
Her hand shook violently as she lowered the phone.
Someone moved behind her.
She whipped her head around — too fast — making her vision tilt. A tall figure stepped out of the shadows between two buildings.
Elias.
He looked tired, strained around the edges, as if he'd run here the moment he realized she might still be walking home alone.
"I was trying to reach you," he said, voice tight. "You didn't answer."
She tried to speak, but her throat clenched.
He saw the terror in her eyes and stepped closer immediately.
"Lena… what happened?"
She handed him the phone.
He read the message, and his expression darkened, jaw tightening in a way she had only seen once before — during the confrontation with Maya. A protective fire burned behind his eyes.
"Where did this come from?" he asked quietly.
"A new number," Lena whispered. "It wasn't saved. I didn't recognize it."
Elias looked around slowly, scanning the dark corners, every window, every quiet doorway.
"Come with me," he said. "Now."
She didn't argue.
The air felt wrong.
Dangerous.
Watching.
---
They walked quickly but carefully, Elias's pace controlled, his hand hovering close to her back, guiding her without touching. Every sound made Lena flinch — the rustle of leaves, the wind sliding past a lamppost, footsteps of students blocks away.
"Elias…" she finally managed. "This… this isn't her. It can't be. We saw—"
"I know what we saw," he interrupted softly. "But trauma leaves openings. Someone could be using her as a way to get to you."
His voice was steady, but Lena sensed something else beneath it — the fear that Maya's shadow was not just a trick of the mind.
They reached her dorm. Elias checked every corner before letting her go inside. He closed the door behind them and locked it silently.
Lena's breath trembled. "I don't want to live like this forever."
"You won't," he said. "I'm here. We're going to figure this out. Someone wants you afraid — and they're going to be disappointed."
His confidence steadied her, but her hands still trembled.
She walked into the living room and froze.
There was something on her table.
A single envelope.
Elias was at her side instantly.
He didn't touch it yet — just looked at it the way someone might examine a venomous creature.
"Did you put that there?" he asked.
"No," Lena whispered. "I haven't been home all day."
Elias slid on a pair of gloves from his coat pocket — he'd started carrying them after the last incident — and opened the envelope carefully.
Inside was a photograph.
Another one.
This time of her sitting in the counseling office earlier that afternoon. Through a window. From a distance that meant someone had followed her there.
On the back was the same jagged handwriting.
**You're healing beautifully. But not with him.**
Lena stepped back, her heart cracking open with panic. "Elias—"
He didn't look at her. He was staring at the message, jaw clenched so tightly his neck tensed.
"This isn't over," he said. "Whoever this is… they're escalating."
Lena wrapped her arms around herself.
"What do they want?" she asked.
Elias finally looked at her, his eyes dark and steady.
"They want you alone."
She swallowed hard. "And you think they'll stop?"
"No," he said softly. "I think they're just getting started."
Lena felt the room tilt — not physically, but emotionally, everything shifting under her feet.
And in that moment, far beneath the fear, something else settled into her chest.
Determination.
This wasn't Maya's story anymore.
It wasn't her shadow.
It wasn't her voice.
Someone else had taken over.
And whoever they were…
They believed Lena still belonged to them.
Lena lifted her head, her voice steady even as her heartbeat raced.
"Then let's find out who they are."
Elias nodded slowly, pride flickering in his eyes.
"We will," he said. "Together."
But neither of them noticed the dark silhouette standing outside the building across the courtyard — still, patient, watching.
And not alone.