There was a knock on the door that brought her back from her thoughts.

“Come in” she said as she finished a line on a complicated equation from her work.

It was Jacob, her roommate an athletic art student from northern Sivat clearly blessed by genetics looking closely like the heroes of the northern legends, entering topless as he tends to be wile in the apartment. Jacob was the only one she spoke constantly as even her family ignored her unless they needed something.

“J, have you seen… Dam, it’s frizzing in here, it’s so cold I can see my breath” He spoke while entering and placing his hands around himself to emphasize his point.

“We agreed on the apartment temperature when you moved in, no fires aside from cooking before autumn arrives in full” She replied as she turned the chair to face him, he had let his beard grow but was kept well enough to not look unattended.

“No, only your room is cold; there is like a ten-degree difference at least”

“Really? There should not be a difference from here to the hall, maybe my window’s isolation has something wrong”

“You have to give it a look I’m surprised you haven’t already, anyway I was looking for Frederic have you seen him?”

Frederic was his pet tortoise; no furry pets were allowed in the building due to the allergies of several residents so a reptile was the best choice.

“Is it around here?!” She rose her feet as fast as she could, the tortoise was not friendly towards Joan always biting her when he got the chance.

“Stop calling him IT; he is called Frederic, and I doubt he came in here the door was closed and it is too cold for him”

He made a rude gesture as he closed the door, he was attractive but he was weird. Most art students looked weird to her, especially with the assignments given to them.

Last month Jacob made a painting or female genitalia opening to reveal more female genitalia, not only that but she would have never guessed what it was if not for the title ‘Passio Feminae’ the only art she understood was the realistic portraits this was just wasted paint to her eyes.

Once again, she was alone. Now aware or the temperature she felt cold but that was good, she could now be awake to finish her work.

The night was a long one, no sounds came from the outside of her room, either she was in deep concentration or the city was really quiet.

She was able to finish by four in the morning giving her three hours to sleep, a normal night sleep for an artificer student with not much talent as herself. While others finished all the work in an hour, she needed several and even after this her grades could barely be called average.

The only thing that matters to her was that when she was be able to finish her career that would mean freedom. If she managed to graduate as a full fledge artificer just as her father wanted then she can finally run her own life as she desired.

She was an only child in a family with a name and reputation in the industry, she should be the seventh-generation artificer that would take over the family business from her father. However, since young age her father knew of her low capabilities so he found a capable replacement adopting a boy and placing him as heir to the empire.

The good side of being replaced by her father was that it gave Joan a way out of that life. The only condition her father gave her was to finish the right courses in the University to avoid any more dishonour to her house.

The next morning, she woke up to a wet pillow, even if she fully understood the logic behind his father’s actions, she had endured the mental abuse for years and she never stopped feeling the pain of the abandonment.

With time pain and fear became anger and hatred towards her father, she could not wait to be free from him and never see him again.

Today was Saset meaning she was going to be free by noon to play some games with her companions in her favourite game log in the university, none of them were close to her. Always companions never friends.

However, she had to endure a fluid mechanics laboratory class with Professor Mc Milan a middle age woman that hated everyone; not her particularly but after six divorces and two dead husbands anyone would hate the entire world.

Joan stood up and went to the kitchen to have breakfast. As she opened the door, she saw him; Jacob was doing his morning exercises. Every day without fail he woke up at five thirty and went jogging for an hour before a dance workout and a high protein breakfast.

The first month or so it was really exciting for her watching him dance and sweat, after all he was attractive and barely a year older but with time it became dull and now annoying to see him so obsessed with his figure.

She was the exact opposite, only woke before noon when necessary, the only cardio was walking to her classrooms and eating a big bowl of chocolate oats, two eggs with cheese, a jam sandwich with orange juice and hot cocoa for breakfast every morning.

“Moor…Ning…. J” He greeted her as he jumped from side to side before stopping to grab some water.

“Care to join me today?” He added placing the water bottle on the table.

Joan sighted.

“We’ve been over this before; I don’t dance. Besides it is Saset morning”

“Oooooh professor devil face again?”

“Like every week” She responded as she opened the pantry.

“I know she is annoying to you but you need to eat healthy and exercise or you will die young’’

“Good” Was all she said as she started to cook her eggs.

She went her usual way to class taking the public transport to campus. She decided to live outside because she could not handle the dorms; could not handle crowds of people, specialty her own age.

The university was close to two thousand years old and as such a city had arisen around it. It was the most civilized area in the continent with aqueducts and public carriages to provide transport for a small fee.

The apartment she was now using was her father’s and she had to pay for it each month. Three gold coins a month, reasonable for the area but expensive considering it was family owed. This was the reason she took a roommate; his rent paid hers for the most part, the rest came from selling cakes and other desserts, she was a decent cook.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

As she waited for the carriage, she noticed the temperature had started to decrease, autumn was approaching. Cold weather was good for her, the number of people decreased and no one complained to her for not going out all day. But today was different, she felt a chill, as if something sinister was approaching. She was sceptical about all supernatural or religious events so she ignored it, paid the two iron coins and went to class.

As she expected nothing happened in her way to class, it was the less eventful trip in a while; no strange people, no traffic accidents, almost no traffic at all. Arriving almost half hour before the beginning of the class Joan decided do read some pages of a novel she took from the library; she had no money to actually buy good copies of the more expensive books she loved.

“Miss Collins” said a woman’s voice from the distance.

That was Doctor Mc Milan walking from her office at the other side of the building. She was wearing a grey Zemire with a black Lampshade hat.

“Good morning professor” said Joan, she had to be as polite as possible, she didn’t want any trouble or to upset her in any way.

“Early as always, that is the only quality I appreciate in you miss Collins”

“Uh… I’m sorry ma’am?”

“That was a compliment, you are not even able to accept one properly; it is great that I have only two hours with you each week and just five more classes till finals”

“I think so too” That was but a whisper coming from Joan but Mc Milan stopped reading and turn to her.

“Excuse me?”

Feeling as nervous as humanly possible she answered.

“I… I said I think so too mmm... Uh yes that it is g-good you only have to endure me for two hours a week and I apologize for being such an annoyance to- to you”

“Ok” she said giving her a fake smile as she opened the laboratory.

This was going to be bad.

The fluid mechanics laboratory was one of the biggest, best equipped and most expensive on campus. It was commonly used by teachers and researchers to design, produce and analyse prototypes and models for different projects that included some of the most important projects in the kingdom.

The latest project was the testing of a prototype for the water corridor and gate for a new aqueduct; it consisted of several corridors with different designs all ending in the same kind of door. The tanks used to test it maintain a three-meter level of water in a controlled environment to supply the capital with clean water throughout the year.

A model to scale had been built inside the room covering a large area in the northern wall.

For Dr Mc Millan it was not only a room, it was her life’s work as she was one of the founders of the program and as such, she bended the rules of the lab to her liking, making Joan’s among other students’ academic life a nightmare.

As soon as she entered the room Joan got her work from her bag and showed it to her teacher.

“Are those the problems for this week?”

“Yes, I have some questions on the last one though” She responded while leaving her arm extended with the work on her hand.

“So, you didn’t finish the work miss Collins”

“No… Yes. I did, it’s just that… well I am not sure I did it right”

Facing downward and giving a cold glance over her glasses she responded,

“I never expected you to do it right. Give it to me with the rest of the class” She retorted wile waving her away.

Answering with a nod she placed the work into her notebook and walked towards her usual spot, the fourth chair from the front closest to the window. No matter the room or the class she had to take that place, otherwise she would feel uncomfortable to the point of not entering class if it was taken.

Taking the seat, she waited for the other students while playing a puzzle game she carried with her, she didn’t find it entertaining it was barely a way to consume time.

Finally, after almost quarter hour the class filled, curiously Mc Millan didn’t ask for the work right away, instead she began a new topic, non-classical fluids. Something she apparently felt joyful of teaching. She either forgot about their conversation on the exercise or she didn’t care enough to proceed and answer her doubts.

Thirty-eight minutes passed until she took a break and asked for the exercises, as always no one was totally prepared to give it in, some writing last minute notes and asking for quills and staples, one of them came to Joan.

It took her a moment to react, she was not used to being talked to even to ask for anything.

She felt nervous and dropped the staples as she took them out, managing to catch them before they hit the ground. He used one and returned the rest without a word, as she received them, she dropped them again this time the staples scattered in a three-meter radius.

Of course, he did not help her, on the contrary he ignored her existence and went on to hand in his own work. It took her but a few seconds to pick them up and went towards the front to hand in hers.

“Too late Miss Collis, I will not receive any more assignments for this week” She told her with a grin on her face.

“Wait… What? Why?” Her disbelief visible on her expression.

“You are too late everyone here handed in the exercises and are now sited”

Joan looked around for some assistance but all other students looked away. The man she had helped suddenly found something very interesting about the floor.

“I… I just dropped some things, it’s not like it took me half an hour” She looked at her classmates for support once again but found nothing.

“How can I be certain that you have not been copying another student’s work miss Collinsssss” As Joan heard the stretching of her last name, she felt the anger building up.

This was no simple whim she wanted to make her fail no matter what. Just another reason to hate everyone; she felt way better buried in books and games, at least she was capable and independent in those worlds.

Feeling the tears forming behind her eyes she tried to respond maintaining her composure.

“Y- You can’t do this, I mean I was going to give it to you as soon as I entered but you didn’t accept it, I was the first…” Mc Millan placed the other students work in the table making as much noise as possible.

“Just excuses, you think you deserve special treatment just because you are a Collins? No way in my….”

The rest was lost in the sound of her own thoughts. It was her father’s fault; somehow, he had managed make her life hell just by being her father.

The anger grew inside her, for what seemed like hours she could only focus on the blind hate she felt for her father and to Mc Millan. Before she knew what was happening all came with a single phrase.

“… Are you listening to me? Of course not, you are just an inferior student one that doesn’t even deserv-”

She felt as she lost her focus the only thing she felt, the only thing she was composed of was pure white hatred that consume her very core.

This was not the first she felt it either, she knew she had collapse in her own anger years before but she was not able to identify the moment, the cause or the consequences of such event.

After a few seconds or an eternity, she did not know Joan regain consciousness, there where screams and she felt wet, something was wrong.

Even if she was back into reality it took her a moment to gain focus and understand the situation but she could not believe what had just happened it was too terrifying to be real.

The water tanks on the side of the room had collapse several thousands of gallons of liquid had made it out at once; the water had thrown Joan to the ground, even if she was in full control of her body, she would not have been able to maintain her balance, she was lucky it had only taker her down.

Dr Mc Millan was not so lucky and was her image that would traumatize all in the room and change the direction of Joan’s life for good.

The water had pushed Mc Millan’s desk taking her with it; it moved in such a way that it stumbled placing the upper surface towards the wall and the old woman’s legs; the current was so strong that it took her to the wall crushing her legs and bisecting her.

For some reason be it survival instinct or simple stubbornness the old woman did not pass out from the trauma, on the contrary she maintains her senses and tried to get some help but no one was able to move a muscle to help her.

Mc Millan crawled towards Joan slowly and with fear and agonizing pain visible on her face along with the tears and blood coming made it a face only suitable for demons in the most graphic of horror novels.

“HE… HELP ME” Those were the only words that came out of the professor as she reached to Joan with her bloody hand leaving the mark of tracing fingers on her cheek before collapsing; giving her last breath while resting her head on Joan’s lap.

Still the girl could not take her look down to watch the face of her teacher, she was in shock.

Mc Millan had left a trace of blood and half her insides in the two-meter journey from the wall, not resisting the impulse she vomited, her stomach going crazy over the blood and gore of the event she had just witness.

A black fog started to crawl over her view until she fell backward into darkness.