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 brightness of the room felt wrong too sharp, too sudden, too normal for what had just happened. Lola blinked against the light, her vision adjusting as if she’d been pulled from underwater. Liam was still holding her hand, staring at the faint mark on her palm like it might vanish if he looked
The darkness didn’t lift. If anything, it thickened like the walls had dissolved and the small dorm room had stretched into something vast and endless. Lola felt it pressing around them, aware, breathing, listening. Liam didn’t move. His arm stayed locked around her, his body shielding hers, every
The room plunged into darkness thick, immediate, swallowing every outline and shadow. Lola’s breath hitched, and Liam’s grip tightened around her like instinct, like protection wired into muscle. “Stay with me,” he murmured, his voice the only steady thing in the pitch-black room. “I’m not going a
Liam didn’t let go of Lola’s hands not even when her breathing steadied, not even when the trembling faded. He held her like he was afraid that if he loosened his grip even slightly, she’d slip away again… into that invisible space he couldn’t see but could feel tugging at her. Minutes passed. Mayb







