LOGINThe night settled softly, like it wasn’t ready to make demands.Lola sat cross legged on the bed, laptop open but untouched, the glow of the screen reflecting thoughts she wasn’t ready to face. Outside, laughter drifted up from the quad college life in motion, unaware of the quiet gravity in her roo
Morning didn’t rush them.Sunlight slipped in gently, catching dust in the air and painting the room in soft gold. Lola woke with a strange, unfamiliar feeling peace. The kind that didn’t disappear the moment she opened her eyes.She was still in the middle.Jake lay on his back to her left, arm ben
The lights were off, but no one was asleep.Lola lay on her side, facing the wall, listening to the soft rhythm of breathing behind her. The room felt different in the dark smaller, warmer, more honest. There was no tension pressing down anymore, no threat humming under the surface.Just awareness.
Night arrived quietly.Not like before no alarms in Lola’s chest, no edge in the air. Just the soft hum of the dorm settling down, doors closing, laughter fading into low conversations and music drifting through walls.Lola stood at the window, arms folded loosely, watching the lights outside blink
The afternoon stretched out in a way that felt unfamiliar.Not tense.Not hurried.Just… open.Lola walked across campus with Jake and Damon flanking her not guarding, not hovering, simply there. The whispers still existed, but they were background noise now, like traffic she no longer needed to loo
Morning light slipped through the blinds in thin, pale lines.Lola woke slowly, awareness returning in layers. Warmth first. Then weight. Then the quiet certainty that she wasn’t alone.Jake was half-reclined against the headboard, one arm relaxed behind her shoulders, his breathing slow and even. D
The air outside vibrated with menace. From behind the glass, Lola pressed her trembling fingers to the cool surface, straining to see through the dark. Shapes shifted between the trees tall, fluid, too deliberate to be deer or stray animals. Her breath fogged the window. Not people. Hunters. Damie
He reached for her bag before she could protest further, slinging it over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. Then, with the same ease, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist not rough, not soft either. Just… unbreakable. As he pulled her through the hallway, Lola glanced over her shoulder. A sh
She hesitated. His hoodie smelled like him dark, woodsy, faintly of smoke. Pulling it over her head felt like surrendering, like stepping into his territory. But the memory of the message the unseen eyes on her, the threat made her fingers move anyway. The fabric swallowed her, heavy and warm, and
The stairwell door slammed below, echoing like a gunshot through the silence that followed. Lola gripped the railing so tight her knuckles whitened, her chest rising and falling in sharp, uneven bursts. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe not with that last message still burning on her phone screen







