Chapter 6: Night Walk
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I left the library behind and began my walk to the dorms.
Rosemont was a lonely place at night. It was too soon after the winter thaw for crickets to chirp, so my only company was the occasional whistling of the breeze. Given it was the start of the year, you’d expect there to be some students out late messing around or partying, but this side of campus was desolate.
Every few dozen meters, a lamp post illuminated the stone path. Those lights left small islands of sanctuary from the night. They extended off until the furthest became nothing but will-o-wisps in the distance. Their meager glow could scarcely push back against the encroaching dark threatening to swallow them. Sometimes I could see one wink out only to return a moment later.
Another yawn made my vision blur. The shadows bled together. My eyes were heavy and dry after reading dense print for hours on end. I couldn’t wait to return. I already knew that I’d be out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
It had been awhile since I experienced a late-night study session. I had forgotten how tiring it could be. When I thought about how I’d need to do this every day, I started to second guess whether it was worth the effort. Maybe I’d eventually grow used to constant mental fatigue, but it would be hell for the first few weeks.
It was quiet.
The stillness allowed me to tune into my surroundings more acutely. I kicked a pebble and heard it skid until it reached the grass. Like how being in a sensory deprivation chamber makes even the blood rushing in your ears deafening, I picked out every little sound. Each step I took made a gentle tap. When it echoed in the night, it created the illusion of two pairs of footsteps. Small rustles seemed to come from every bush and tree, perhaps made by animals who had made those places their nests.
My breathing was conspicuous. I slowed the rising and falling of my chest with conscious effort. For some reason, I felt the need to hush myself so as not to disturb the silence.
The path was long and meandering. Wishing to return sooner, I decided to take a shortcut. I stepped off the path and over a flowerbed, then entered a narrow alley between a research lab and some other building I didn’t know the function of. The brick structures towered high with eaves that loomed overhead. Those intricate details that made them so impressive from afar also made it seem like they were leaning over and glaring down at me.
The buildings weren’t quite aligned with each other, making the alley gradually shrink the deeper I went. My steps slowed. Would I have to squeeze to get through? I could see the other side and I was already past the halfway point. No reason to turn back.
The walls inched closer until I became anxious. My shoulder brushed against the rough texture, scratching my skin. When I looked up, I could see only a sliver of the sky. Like being trapped at the bottom of a well, brick boxed me in and rose up towards infinity.
As if sensing my unease, the alley shrank further still. Those walls conspired with one another to squeeze me tighter. They wanted to watch as I suffocated and laugh while the color drained from my face. I turned sideways to make myself narrower. Even though I had been chilly earlier, now I was uncomfortably warm. It felt like someone was breathing down my neck.
I was close to the end. A couple more feet and I would reach the far gap. The alley didn’t wish to allow me freedom so easily. My clothes snagged on something sharp, but I couldn’t turn my head to see what. My steps faltered as my shirt collar became a tether choking me and keeping me leashed. I struggled with more force and eventually broke the grasp of whatever held me back, shaking off the alley’s last attempt to keep me.
That stifling feeling disappeared once I emerged from the other side. The cool night air gave some relief from that feeling of being buried. I could once again expand my chest fully.
When I looked back the way I came, the opening didn’t seem that narrow anymore. Had it just been a trick of the shadows? I could only laugh as I thought of my own nerves getting to me. I’d never been fond of the dark or tight spaces. Add to that the general strangeness of the academy, and I’d been more on edge than I realized.
I brushed the dirt off my clothes. There was a small tear in the corner of my shirt where it caught. I clicked my tongue. These uniforms weren’t cheap. Though, I suppose I wasn’t hurting for money, so it wasn’t a big deal. Just a minor annoyance.
I’d reached the center of campus. The dorms were on the opposite side of the quad. I either needed to cut through or walk all the way around the square. After the claustrophobia of the alley, wide open grass sounded like a nice change of pace.
Neatly trimmed hedges bordered an open field of grass. The quad was like a park in the center of a small city. Here, no buildings obstructed the sky. The moon was a pale orb that shrouded the ground in silver, and the stars glimmered like the eyes of countless predators peering out of a dense forest. The sakura tree stood alone in the emptiness.
Darkness distorted the vibrant colors that caught my eye during the day. Instead of pink, the pedals appeared gray and lifeless. Many had fallen, leaving the branches exposed. Twisted spindly fingers clawing out of the earth. The pedals on the ground deepened the tree’s shadow into a pool of pitch black. I imagined that stepping into the shadow would cause me to sink until it slowly rose over my head, like drowning in tar.
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As I passed under the tree, the subtle scent of flowers hung in the air. I had always heard that sakura smelled like vanilla. It was similar, but a little more stringent and dry, like someone used vanilla to mask over the smell of rust. Not nearly as pleasant as I expected.
My foot caught on a root. I stumbled, nearly dropping to one knee. Perhaps the tree could tell I was thinking ill of it and took a little retribution. So petty. I raised my head towards the branches as if to meet its eyes. A humanoid figure in the tree gazed down at me.
My breath caught in my throat and my blood ran cold. I took an involuntary step backward. No, it wasn’t a person hiding and watching me, it was a body hung by the neck. Long fraying hair fell down over their face and the moonlight reflected off grotesquely pale skin. They wore a filthy, tattered uniform of a student.
image [https://i.imgur.com/PfeEkye.png]
The gentle breeze made them sway and rotate as if turning to face me. The rope groaned or perhaps it was a rasping croak from the corpse's throat. For a moment, I had the illusion that they were calling out to me. But there was no mistaking the limpness of their dangling limbs. Their head listed at an unsightly angle from a broken neck. They were very much dead.
I took off running. My mind, that had been pulled taut like a bowstring, snapped. There was no logic, just an automated flight response.
My thoughts spun rapidly in an attempt to catch up, but my legs didn’t stop. For a second, I nearly halted my steps. I had enough presence of mind to question why I should flee. Shouldn’t I call the police first? That idea vanished a moment later.
Behind me came the sound of a rope splitting and the thud of something heavy hitting the ground. My pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks. Without turning to look back, I worked my legs harder, urging them to carry me faster.
I burst through the bushes on the other side of the grass and rejoined the footpath. Glancing left and right just long enough to get my bearings, I raced in the direction of the dorms. The cold air made my lungs sting. By the time I reached the housing complex and found the correct door, my heart was pounding in my chest.
The handle wouldn’t budge. Locked. I cursed under my breath, before I remembered that I needed to scan my student ID. As I pulled it from my pocket, I almost fumbled and dropped it. Sweat had turned my hands clammy. Hurriedly scanning the damn thing, I yanked the door open the moment I heard a click.
I spun through the threshold and slammed the door closed behind me. Bracing my shoulder against it, I held it that way until the lock relatched. Finally, I stumbled back and exhaled deeply. My shoulders fell against the wall. I closed my eyes and slumped down to sit on the floor, struggling to catch my breath. Only now did I realize how much my hands were shaking from adrenaline.
A relieved laugh slipped from my lips. Now that I wasn’t running for my life, my wits gradually returned to me. What the hell was I so afraid of? There was no reason to flee from someone who was already dead. Did I think the corpse would stand up and chase me? But it was forgivable. Anyone would freak out if they saw a dead person when they weren’t expecting it.
I sat there for a full five minutes and let myself calm down. After sprinting across campus, I was twice as exhausted as before. The fright had sapped the last of my energy. I had to fight the urge to just nap in the hallway, but eventually I summoned the willpower to stand. I’d return to my dorm before contacting the authorities about what I saw.
My dorm was on the third floor, so I called the elevator and waited. When I moved in, I swore I would never use this deathtrap. It was one of those old-fashioned lifts with a manual gate and an analog floor indicator. One glance at the rusted metal and peeling wallpaper, and I turned right for the stairs. Seriously, the school could afford all kinds of hi-tech shit, but couldn’t update this ancient relic? But now I was too tired to care. If I plummeted to my death, so be it.
Rattle, rattle.
A sound came from behind me. It took a moment to register, but then the hairs on the nape of my neck rose. I turned my head slowly towards the door, praying that the sound had been another trick my mind was playing on me.
Rattle, rattle, rattle.
Someone was trying to twist the handle from the other side and found it locked just as I had. I froze, attempting to remain absolutely silent. It was probably just a student coming back late like me… But just in case, I didn’t want them to know I was here. A grating metallic screech from the elevator’s arrival ruined that plan immediately.
The rattling of the handle became more urgent and the person started pounding on the door. Whoever was out there was desperate to come in. If they couldn’t open the door with their ID, then their dorm wasn’t in this building.
I quickly opened the gate and stepped inside the elevator. Keeping my eyes fixed on the door, I pressed the button for my floor. Nothing happened. I pressed the button again. Still nothing. Frustrated and on edge, I smacked the panel, but it refused to respond.
The rattling and pounding stopped. I held my breath. Had the person given up?
… Bang! The entire door shook as something rammed it hard from the other side. What the fuck?! There was a pause before the door shook again with a second impact even more intense than the first. The hinges bent and their screws pried out of the wooden frame.
I frantically started spamming all the elevator buttons, just hoping for it to do something, anything. Finally, I realized that the gate needed to be closed before the lift would operate. This damn safety feature will be the death of me. I slammed it shut and this time the button lit up after I pressed it. A few more agonizing seconds, and the mechanical beast finally sputtered to life and started rising.
The floor indicator slowly spun clockwise crawling towards the three on the dial. I could still hear the banging downstairs but it was growing more distant. Once I reached the third floor, there was a cheerful ding of a bell and the lift lurched to a stop.
As I stepped out, I made sure to hit the button for the top floor and close the gate behind me. My intention was to send the lift away as far as possible so the intruder couldn’t use it or tell which floor I went to.
Hurrying down the corridor until I found my dorm, I unlocked the door and went in. Once I was there, I kept the lights off and started searching for a place to hide. The closet was the only thing I could think of. I closed myself in, crouched low to the floor, and quieted my breathing.
A slat in the door let me peer out into my dorm. The silence had returned. I didn’t know if the intruder would search for me, but even if they did I should be safe. Short of going through every room one by one and waking the whole building, there was no way I could be found.