Chapter Two

Lilian slowly closed the bathroom door behind her and stood before the mirror, her face reflecting her exhaustion. She turned on the cold tap, cupped water in her hands, and splashed it over her face repeatedly, trying to wash away the lingering warmth of hot breaths and the terrifying memories of a frantic run, as well as the beads of sweat that dampened her forehead. When she finished, she turned off the tap and slowly lifted her head to dry her face, but she froze in place when her eyes met her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was disheveled and strangely messy, and her nightgown was wrinkled, making her appearance in the dim light of the night resemble a terrifying creature. Despite her tension, a sarcastic smile escaped her lips as she muttered to herself, "If that monster had seen me looking like this, he would have been the one running away in fear, not me!" But the smile instantly faded from her lips, and the blood in her veins turned to ice. The utter silence was pierced by a clear, sharp scratching sound... a sound coming from outside, specifically from inside her room, behind the closed bathroom door. Her heartbeats accelerated until she could hear them pounding in her ears. She immediately remembered the reality of her situation; she lived completely alone in this large house, managing her life in desolate solitude since her parents had left this world when she was a small child who had barely turned ten. There was no one here with her. She took a step back, her back pressing against the cold bathroom wall, and whispered in a faint, hopeful voice, "I hope that monster didn't hear my sarcasm just now... and didn't come here." While those conflicting thoughts raged through her mind, the sound suddenly stopped, and silence once again shrouded the place, as if the scratching had never been more than a passing illusion. Lilian slowly moved away from the wall and approached the door, standing directly behind it. She gently turned the doorknob and opened it slightly, then cautiously peeked out to explore the dark room. When she didn't spot any movement or sign of anything strange, she sighed with relief, a sarcastic smile forming on her lips out of sheer panic, and said, feeling ashamed of herself, "It seems my dreams are really starting to affect me, and I'm imagining things that don't exist." She took her first step out of the bathroom, heading toward her room. When she entered, silence reigned for a few moments, and before Lilian could fully catch her breath, the sound returned, this time much louder, accompanied by a sharp scream that seemed to come from directly behind her! The blood drained from her face, and she let out a piercing scream of terror as she spun around with lightning speed to face the source of the danger, but strangely, she found nothing behind her; the room was completely empty. Her brows furrowed in astonishment, and as she looked more closely and listened more intently, her terror turned into a feeling of shame and self-mockery. She began to approach the source of the sound with slow steps, and the more she advanced, the clearer the sound became, and she discovered its truth; that annoying sound all this time was just her mobile phone ringing! She sighed in relief and moved toward her desk, shoving aside a pile of papers and books stacked on top of her phone to pick it up. She looked at the screen to identify the caller, and as soon as she read the name, all her fears vanished, and a warm smile completely filled her face. She pressed the answer button and said with happiness and relief, "Hello, Lily!" But before she could finish her sentence, she pulled the phone away from her ear as she heard Lily screaming. Lily was screaming loudly, "Liliana! Where are you now?!" Liliana replied, realizing the reason for this screaming at this late hour of the night, "I'm at home... what's wrong with you?" Lily replied with a tone full of anger and astonishment, "At home?! You fool, what are you doing at home until now? Didn't we agree that we would meet before our first university lecture starts?!" Liliana furrowed her brows, still thinking it was midnight, and said in a confident tone, "But... it's still twelve o'clock! What university are you talking about?" A mocking laugh erupted from Lily over the phone as she said, "Really?! Look at the clock carefully, you deep sleeper! It's nine in the morning, and your lecture starts at exactly ten!" Liliana's eyes widened in astonishment, and she quickly pulled the phone from her ear to look up at the clock hanging on the wall... and stood frozen in place; the hands clearly pointed to nine in the morning, and the sunlight was already streaming in from behind the curtains! A massive wave of shock and astonishment overwhelmed her, and she felt her head spinning; how did this happen? She was absolutely certain she had only closed her eyes for five minutes, and that horrific nightmare with all its details hadn't taken even a quarter of an hour! How did time pass and the night hours slip away so fleetingly as if they were mere seconds? While Liliana was standing under the influence of shock, she didn't notice that Lily had hung up the call. Lily hung up the phone, sighing in frustration at her friend's foolishness, while she was standing with her friends in the university corridor. The girl standing near Lily turned to her and said with a laugh, "Is she really still asleep? I told you she would be late as usual; this has been her habit since we were in high school, and it hasn't changed!" Another girl standing near them chimed in with a smile, "Yes, that's right... it seems she will never change no matter how old we get." Lily looked at her watch and then addressed the two girls with a firm but playful tone, "Alright then, we'll meet after our first university lecture. Now, everyone go to their lecture halls, we mustn't be late on our first day of school!" The girls dispersed, heading toward their halls, their hearts filled with excitement for the beginning of this new semester. Meanwhile, Lilian snapped out of her shock at the clock hands announcing nine in the morning. All the questions vanished from her head, replaced by real terror at the idea of being late on her first university day, especially since the distance between her home and the university took a long time to cover. She moved like a whirlwind around the room; she quickly opened her closet, her eyes darting between the shelves. There was no time for thought or coordination, so she pulled out a comfortable pair of blue jeans, matched them with a soft white cotton shirt, and a light beige jacket suitable for the morning atmosphere. She put on her clothes in a hurry, then threw herself in front of her dressing table, grabbed her hairbrush, and ran it through her hair in random, quick strokes to fix the messy hair she had mocked just a few moments ago. In her rush, with her gaze fixed entirely on the mirror and the clock, she didn't turn around at all and didn't notice that mysterious black book sitting in the corner of the bed. She grabbed her bag and phone, and within seconds, she was standing at the threshold of the room. She pulled the door behind her and closed it with excessive force, creating an echo throughout the house, and ran down the hall and out of the house with all her might, heading toward the bus station, praying in secret that she would spot a bus coming on the horizon to save her situation and catch her ten o'clock lecture. At that exact moment when the room door closed violently and Lilian's departing footsteps disappeared... an eerie quiet settled in the place. On the bed, the black cover of the book began to glow for a fleeting moment, and before the word written in red ink could dry, the book shrank upon itself and vanished completely from the bed, leaving the room empty as if it had never existed in the first place. Lilian arrived at the bus station panting heavily, looking around in desperation and searching with her eyes in every direction, hoping to find any bus about to depart. But to her bad luck, the station was completely empty of buses at that moment. She sighed in frustration, opened her bag to check her wallet, and then said sorrowfully, comforting herself, "It looks like I'll spend all my allowance today on taxis!" She had no other option to make up for the lost time; she quickly headed toward a taxi parked near the station, opened the door, and said to the driver in a hurry, "To the university, please, and as fast as possible!" The taxi sped off, cutting through the city streets heading toward the university. Lilian sat in the back seat, watching the road from the window, the scenery racing and passing before her eyes in a flash due to the car's insane speed. Despite everything she had experienced that morning—horrific nightmares, fear, and a delay that turned her plans upside down—her heartbeat was different this time; a wave of pure enthusiasm and passion had seeped into her chest. She smiled inwardly as she looked at the university buildings that began to appear on the horizon; this was her first day, and the beginning of a completely new journey in her life. Finally, the taxi stopped in front of the university's main gate. Liliana got out in a hurry after paying the driver and stood for a few seconds admiring the university campus with awe and overwhelming happiness, joy filling her eyes. But as soon as she raised her phone to check the time, the smile froze on her lips; it was quarter to ten! Only fifteen minutes remained before the first lecture began. Liliana sprinted at top speed through the university corridors, her eyes glued to her phone screen, trying desperately to figure out the exact room number and location. Due to her random running and lack of attention to passersby, she collided hard with a girl walking in the corridor, causing the drink in the girl's hand to spill all over her clothes. The girl shouted angrily, "You fool! Don't you watch where you're going?!" But Liliana, in her extreme nervousness and haste, didn't hear the full words, and settled for throwing a quick, fleeting apology while continuing her run without stopping. Finally, she reached her destination. Liliana stood in front of the hall door, panting heavily with ragged breaths, her hand trembling on the doorknob. She closed her eyes, praying in secret that the professor hadn't started explaining yet, to spare herself a reprimand and an embarrassing situation on her first day. She pushed the door open slowly and very carefully, and her gaze slipped inside... and at that moment, indescribable relief and reassurance descended upon her! The professor hadn't arrived yet, and the students were sitting in their seats, exchanging conversations while waiting for his arrival. She sighed in relief and took quick, cheerful steps toward an empty seat to sit down, the smile returning to her face because she had escaped punishment and being late. As soon as Liliana settled into her seat and caught her breath, the door opened and the professor entered right behind her with his dignity and solemnity. He headed toward the podium, placed his papers, then turned to the hall with a cheerful face and began welcoming the new students, congratulating them on the start of their first academic year and wishing them a university journey full of success. The lecture continued in an atmosphere of focus and calm until the professor announced its end, prompting Liliana to start gathering her belongings in preparation for leaving and searching for her friends. Now that the first lecture had ended safely, Lilian walked out of the lecture hall, looking around the crowded corridors, searching for the familiar faces of her friends. Although each of them had entered a different college that suited her passion, the large university campus was their meeting point. A warm smile formed on her lips as she recalled the details of their unique traits in her mind: Lily: That girl she had known since high school, always distinguished by her high sense of responsibility and strong personality that made her a pillar of support for everyone. Nana: The complete opposite of Lily; a mischievous girl, fun to the extreme, who loves social media and passionately follows the world of celebrities and their latest trends. Emily: Completely different from them; a quiet girl filled with a passion for biology since she was little, excelled brilliantly in this field until her ambition led her to enter the Faculty of Science, Biology Department, to continue her journey with her first passion. Liliana was jolted out of her beautiful train of memories by a clear rumbling sound from her stomach, suddenly remembering that amidst the terrifying waking nightmare and the rush to get to the university, she hadn't eaten a single piece of bread since morning. She felt a severe hunger gnawing at her stomach, so she changed the direction of her steps and headed straight to the university cafeteria to get something to satisfy her hunger before meeting the girls. Lilian arrived at the cafeteria and began looking around at the students crowded in the place. Meanwhile, at a nearby seat, the girl Lilian had bumped into in the corridor was sitting, breathing heavily in distress, trying hard to clean her white shirt from the strawberry juice stains. Her friend Sasha turned to her and asked curiously, "What's wrong, Emily? You look very angry!" Emily replied angrily as she dried her shirt, "It was my bad luck today that I tripped over a foolish girl who caused the drink to spill all over me!" Sasha raised her eyebrows in surprise and said, "Oh! And why aren't you getting back at her as you usually do?" Emily puffed her cheeks in frustration and said, "Unfortunately, I couldn't catch up with her; she was running like a crazy person!" While they were talking, Emily's eyes suddenly fell on the cafeteria door and saw Liliana approaching, looking for a place to sit. Emily's eyes widened, and she smiled a wicked smile, then winked at her friend and said, "Sasha... look there, this is the same fool! Watch what I'm going to do to her now." Sasha's eyes sparkled with excitement, and she encouraged her, saying, "Go ahead then, let's have some fun!" Emily sat up straight in her seat and fixed her cold gaze on Liliana as she headed toward her seating place, signs of revenge appearing on her face. Liliana was walking slowly, her eyes sweeping the crowded cafeteria, looking for an empty seat amidst the noise of the students. Out of her preoccupation with searching, she didn't notice the watching eyes on her. Suddenly, she felt something hard obstruct her foot with force, losing her balance in a split second. Her hands couldn't help her manage the situation, causing her to fall hard on the ground, spilling her drink all over her clothes. Silence spread over a wide area of the cafeteria, and eyes turned toward her, while some mocking laughter and whispers rose from the surrounding students. Lilian felt the heat of shame invade her face, and the pain of the fall spread through her body. When she slowly raised her head to see what she had tripped over, her gaze froze; it wasn't an obstacle from the place's furnishings, but a foot extended intentionally, belonging to the same girl she had collided with in the corridor! Emily was standing over her with her hands on her hips, a wide mocking smile and a cold look of triumph on her face, and beside her, Sasha was laughing boldly. Emily looked at Lilian sitting on the ground and said in a challenging tone, "Right now... you taste the same cup, you fool, and I think we're even!" Lilian stood up and approached Emily, sparks of anger flying from her eyes, and said in a sharp tone that silenced everyone's whispers, "Are you a fool?! How dare you do this intentionally in front of everyone?" Emily's features hardened, and she said with provocative sarcasm, "You're the fool, my dear! Who started by not paying attention and spilling drinks in the corridors first?" Before Liliana could find an opportunity to respond or defend herself, she was surprised by "Sasha" stepping forward confidently and putting her hand on Emily's shoulder, then looking at Liliana with a provocative smile and saying in a mocking tone, "What's the matter, my dear? Did Emily bother you? Sorry... Emily only bothers someone if they deserve it!" The laughter of Sasha and Emily rose again. Before Liliana could utter a single word, a strong, loud voice pierced the atmosphere, coming from directly behind Emily and Sasha, making everyone freeze in their places. Emily and Sasha turned in panic to see the owner of the voice, who advanced with firm steps and eyes burning with anger, saying in a sharp tone that shook the area, "Who dares to bother you, Liliana? Are they these two fools?!" Lilian looked at the owner of the voice, feeling shocked, while both Emily and Sasha looked at the owner of the voice with extreme astonishment.