Elara woke up in the soft light of morning, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she slowly took in the familiar scene in the kitchen. Her family was gathered around the table, hastily finishing breakfast before everyone headed off, her father to work, her mother to her daily routines, and her siblings off to school.
"You're late, sister,"
her brother teased, a warm smile tugging at his lips despite the rush.
Her small sister, Eva, looked up at her with bright, innocent eyes.
"You'll take me with you, right?" she asked, her voice filled with childlike excitement.
Elara returned Eva's smile with a comfortable, relieved one.
"I'm happy, really… just thinking too much, I guess. I need to shake off all this stress,"
she murmured, nodding gently to her sister as if sharing a secret promise of normalcy.
After breakfast, Elara walked with Eva toward the school bus stop. Eva skipped ahead, singing her favorite song, a cheerful tune that seemed to fill the morning with light. For a moment, Elara felt a genuine sense of relief as she watched her sister, the steady melody pushing back the remnants of her fears.
Then, as they walked, a sudden break in Eva's song caught Elara's attention. The tune stuttered at the mention of
"THE LIBRARY."
Elara's heart skipped a beat, and she glanced down at Eva's hand, which was still tightly holding hers.
"Eva?"
Elara whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and confusion.
Eva looked up, her smile unwavering and calm.
"Yes?"
she replied in a sing-song tone, as if nothing were amiss.
"Continue my song,"
she added lightly when Elara hesitated, her words laced with an almost eerie insistence.
"Did you just say something?"
Elara pressed, her eyes searching Eva's innocent face for any sign of the ominous tone from last night.
In that fleeting moment, Elara thought she saw the same unsettling, eerie smile on Eva's lips, a smile reminiscent of the one that had haunted dinner last night. It flashed quickly, and before she could process it fully, Eva simply squeezed her hand and resumed singing as if nothing had happened.
Startled, Elara slowly withdrew her hand, her gaze fixed on her sister's face, trying to reconcile the familiar warmth with the creeping, inexplicable dread that now fluttered at the edges of her mind.
Eva's gentle, unchanging smile continued as she sang, her voice carrying on the morning breeze, leaving Elara torn between the comforting normalcy of routine and the chilling memory of the previous night.
And as they moved forward toward the school, the word "the library" echoed silently in Elara's thoughts, a whisper of something deeply wrong, a reminder that not everything was as it seemed.
Elara entered her classroom, her heart still unsettled from the morning's strange encounter with Eva. She glanced around, searching for anything, any sign that the world had truly shifted beneath her feet, but everything seemed normal.
The usual chatter of students filled the air, laughter and casual conversations blending into the familiar rhythm of the day.
Then, the door opened.
Damien and Raven strode in, their usual charismatic smiles effortlessly charming the class. Their presence alone seemed to brighten the atmosphere, their friendly energy making them impossible to dislike. They moved through the rows of desks, greeting people with an ease that masked anything darker beneath.
Damien's gaze settled on her, his smile warm but probing.
"Hey... you okay now?"
His voice was casual, but something in his tone made Elara uneasy.
Raven stood beside him, watching her closely, his expression unreadable yet carrying the same undertone.
Elara met their eyes for a brief second before looking away, her lips pressed into a tight line. She said nothing. Instead, she silently walked past them, heading toward her seat, her movements stiff as though every step required effort.
As she settled into her chair, she absently reached for her notebook, her mind still tangled in unanswered questions. That's when her gaze unintentionally met Jian's.
He was already looking at her. But the moment their eyes locked, he immediately turned away, his posture rigid as he faced the front of the class.
The teacher entered, starting the lesson, but Elara barely registered the words. Her thoughts spun relentlessly, about Damien and Raven, about Jian's strange behavior, about Eva's unsettling words that morning.
And then, as if on cue, her own voice echoed in her head once more, trembling and uncertain.
"The library "
Elara tried to focus, but the words on the board blurred as her mind kept replaying everything, Eva's voice, the eerie smile, Jian's avoidance, and Damien and Raven's question that didn't feel as innocent as it sounded.
The lesson went on, but she could feel eyes on her. Not just Jian's, but others. A strange, prickling awareness crawled up her spine. It felt as if the entire class was subtly, almost imperceptibly, aware of something she wasn't.
Then, the lights flickered.
Just for a second.
A brief, almost dismissible disturbance, yet the air in the room shifted. The teacher paused for only a moment before continuing as if nothing happened.
But Elara saw it, the way some students barely reacted, as if they expected it. Damien and Raven exchanged a glance, a small, knowing smirk playing on Raven's lips before he turned his attention back to the teacher.
Elara swallowed, gripping the edge of her desk.
Then, her phone vibrated.
A single message. From an unknown number.
"The library. Now."
Her breath caught.
She hesitated, staring at the words as dread curled in her stomach. Then, almost immediately, her phone screen glitched, static lines distorting the message before the screen went completely black.
She looked up, her heartbeat hammering in her ears.
And that's when she noticed, Jian was gone.
She hadn't even seen him leave. His seat was empty, as if he had never been there at all. The teacher continued speaking, the class carried on, but the uneasy feeling wrapped around her like a vice.
Damien and Raven sat back, relaxed, as if they hadn't noticed.
But she knew they had.
She didn't want to go. Every instinct screamed for her to stay seated, to pretend nothing was happening. But as if her body wasn't fully her own, she slowly stood up, muttering something about the restroom, and made her way to the door.
No one stopped her.
No one even looked at her.
And that was the most unsettling part.
The hallway outside was empty, eerily silent.She forced her legs to move, step by step, toward the library.And then, just as she reached the doors, The fire alarm suddenly blared, deafening and urgent.
Elara flinched, heart racing, expecting students to come rushing out of classrooms in confusion. But the hallways remained empty.
Then, a hand clamped over her mouth from behind.
And everything went dark.