The scenes keep looping inside my head.

  Over and over.

  The green underground floor.

  That boy crying.

  The big man standing there.

  And the thing I’ve been running from for years.

  The hospital.

  A memory I thought was dead starts growing back somewhere deep inside my mind.

  Nurses. Beds. Medicine.

  Then everything turns blue.

  I wake up soaked in sweat. My shirt sticks to my skin. My heart is racing so hard it hurts.

  I look at the clock on the wall.

  Ten minutes.

  I was asleep for only ten minutes, and I saw all of that.

  It’s five thirty in the morning.

  I get up quietly and move toward the door, trying not to make a sound. I just want to get out. I need a shower.

  The corridors are dark. Too dark.

  Silent in a way that feels wrong.

  That silence crawls under my skin.

  Every person I ever ate walked through these halls once.

  I feel it when I walk—my heart pounding, my chest tight, guilt pressing down on me like a weight I can’t lift.

  Layra comes to mind.

  How is she doing right now?

  Probably better than me.

  I spent three years eating people.

  She only did it for a week.

  The shower water runs over me, but my thoughts don’t slow down. I lose track of time completely. When I finally step back into the corridor, the sky outside has already started to brighten.

  Back in the dorm room, I drop onto my bed.

  Noir, sleeping in the bed next to mine, is staring at me like I’m a ghost.

  “What?” I ask.

  He hesitates for a long moment.

  “Man… you were moaning all night. What’s wrong with you?”

  I can’t tell him the truth.

  I can’t tell him that I realized our school turns our friends into food.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  So I lie.

  “I had a bad dream.”

  He doesn’t drop it. His concern feels heavy, uncomfortable.

  “Oh God, Elai,” he says. “After everything you’ve been through, I told you—you should drink rosewater every night…”

  Everything.

  Just hearing the word makes my breathing go shallow. My heart speeds up again. I don’t want to think about those memories. I don’t even want to name them.

  I’m afraid of that time.

  Afraid of the smell of disinfectant.

  Afraid of illness.

  Afraid of that mint-green hospital color.

  I’m afraid of my childhood.

  Noir always tries to help, but somehow it only makes things worse.

  “Elai,” he asks, “did you hear me?”

  I nod.

  “Y-yeah. Thanks.”

  When the wake-up bell rings, I jump to my feet. I put on my gray coat, my clean, polished shoes, and comb my hair back into place. In the mirror, I barely recognize myself.

  I hate what I see.

  Even now, my mind keeps insulting me.

  Three years in this school.

  This prison pretending to be an academy.

  And I never noticed.

  Not once.

  Lost in my thoughts, I walk into the dining hall. I search for Layra and Nora, scanning every table. I don’t see them.

  I head toward an empty seat.

  A warm hand suddenly lands on my shoulder.

  I freeze.

  Layra is standing behind me, her face calm and cold like always. Nora stands beside her. She looks exhausted. Dark circles sit under her eyes.

  “I’m guessing you didn’t sleep well either,” Nora says quietly.

  Layra looks at me and says it flat out.

  “Your eyes are bloodshot. You look awful.”

  Then she turns away.

  “We’re only eating bread and juice. You know why.”

  She says it like it doesn’t matter.

  That’s what gets to me.

  Nora glances at me once and follows her without a word. I get it. I really do.

  When I walk beside them, I notice again that I’m taller than both of them. Nora is the shortest.

  After breakfast, we split up. We saw the same horrible thing, but we still go our separate ways.

  I open the book I borrowed from the library three days ago. Pure mathematics.

  I can’t focus.

  My nightmares won’t let me. My heart has been racing since morning. The fear is back, dragging old memories with it and mixing them with guilt so strong it makes me feel sick.

  I stare at the page.

  I can’t read.

  The equations don’t make sense. I’m so tense I can’t even remember how studying works. My frustration builds until I slam my fist on the table.

  The sound echoes. Students inhale sharply around me.

  I think I scared them.

  I stand up and walk toward the librarian.

  That monster.

  I don’t even know what I’m doing. Maybe this is how going insane starts. Maybe soon it’ll feel normal.

  I place the book on the desk.

  “Can you… um… cross my name out?”

  The librarian frowns and stares at me.

  Then he speaks in a cold, steady voice.

  “It’s hard, isn’t it?”

  My stomach drops.

  “What?”

  He smiles, just a little.

  “Knowing bitter things. Like… certain secrets.”

  My heart slams against my skull. I force my face to stay blank.

  “I—I don’t understand.”

  He says nothing for a few seconds. Then he lowers his head and smiles again.

  “You’re too young to fool me. Either you go inside, or I talk to the headmaster.”

  He leans closer.

  “You wouldn’t want Layra and Nora to be in danger.

  And you wouldn’t want to be eliminated yourself.”

  Sweat breaks out across my body. It feels like I’m burning from the inside.

  He knows.

  This is my fault.

  I did this.

  I endangered the only people who ever felt like real friends.

  The librarian lifts his hand and points toward a hidden door behind the shelves.

  I have to go.

  I have to—

  before anyone else gets hurt.