Seina sat on her bed, hugging her knees. The morning sun hadn't even touched the window yet. Her phone lit up the dark room, and her tired eyes silently scanned the last notes she had written over the week.
Day 1. Found the dead girl at school. She was alive.
Day 2. Took a midnight walk and heard a beautiful song.
Day 3. Followed the silver-haired girl through the school hallways.
Day 4. She invited me to sit with her at lunch. I choked on juice.
Day 5. Dreamed of the creature. Don't know if it was a warning or just my brain frying.
Day 6. Today is Sunday. I'm stuck in my room. Thought about telling her everything, but maybe it's better if I keep quiet.
She took a deep breath.
— Today is the seventh day…
Seina locked her phone and stood up, running her hand through her messy hair. She walked to the window and looked outside. The street looked normal, but she knew better.
Today was the day Thalya couldn't remember. The day everything could go wrong.
— Will she die again?
She sighed deeply, and later, school passed by in a blur once more.
At the end of class, Seina waited for Thalya at the school gate. It took a long time for her to appear, she was busy cleaning some rooms because she had been caught on the terraces.
She was wearing her blue jacket, eyes cast down. Seina approached slowly.
"Thalya? Do you have a minute?"
Thalya lifted her gaze, surprised, but nodded.
"Sure."
They sat on the nearby bench in silence for a moment, as if the words were too heavy to escape.
"I know this is going to sound crazy," Seina began, staring at her hands, "but… have you ever felt like something's wrong? Like something's chasing you?"
Thalya frowned, confused.
"What are you talking about?"
Seina inhaled deeply, trying to keep calm.
"No… that's not what I mean. I saw… someone. They were following you that night, seven days ago, and I can't let it happen again."
Thalya looked at her, wide-eyed, violet irises flashing.
"What are you saying? You… were following me before?"
"I know it sounds absurd. But please, trust me. I'll be by your side."
Thalya hesitated, but disgust was already written all over her face.
"Do you even hear yourself?" She stepped back. "You're just a stalker! I should've known. So you were following me that night too, when we 'accidentally' met in the middle of the night?"
Seina reached out, arms raised in a desperate attempt to calm her.
"No… that's not it, I just—"
She was cut off by a sharp slap across her face. The sound cracked through the dark street, silence stretching for several seconds afterward.
"Don't come near me. You're insane."
Her expression of disgust said it all. She turned, hurrying away with quick, angry steps.
And then, the streetlights went out at once, plunging everything into near-total darkness, broken only by the pale glow of the moon. A heavy silence fell, so thick it felt like it was suffocating the air.
Seina stood frozen, the icy wind prickling her skin. Her slumped posture whispered to herself: Am I really a stalker?
Suddenly, a thunderous sound ripped through the night—something was charging furiously between the buildings, stomping against the asphalt, tearing through everything in its path.
It was the creature.
Seina froze for a second, her heartbeat lodged in her throat. The beast came barreling toward them, a mass of darkness swallowing the very light, its white eyes blazing in the night.
"Run!" she screamed.
But Thalya didn't even look back. The creature hurled her against the wall with inhuman strength. The silver-haired girl collapsed onto the ground, motionless, while the beast loomed over her.
Seina swallowed hard, tears stinging her eyes.
"Thalya!" she cried, but it was already too late.
The creature let out a silent scream and stood there, unmoving.
Everything stopped.
The sound died. The air froze.
The entire world bent, like glass warping under fire.
The ground beneath Seina's feet simply vanished.
She fell into nothingness. Or maybe nothingness fell into her.
A white light exploded in her eyes like a thousand lightning strikes at once, without warning, without mercy.
Her body floated, but it wasn't like a dream—more like she was being pulled apart, ripped into invisible shards by a force that made no sense.
And in the middle of it all…
Silence.
Not the ordinary silence of an empty midnight. It was the kind of silence that swallowed thoughts.
That chewed on the soul. That seemed to whisper:
"Are you still real?"
When Seina opened her eyes… she was back in her room.
"Ah… what have I done? I'm losing my mind."
She pressed her hands to her head, crouching on her bed.
"What was I even thinking? I'm… a monster too."