Chapter 1

A knot formed in my stomach as I turned to Emma Kain and asked, "Why did you switch dorms? I thought we all got along just fine." When Emma heard my voice, her body jolted slightly, and she let out an awkward laugh. "Uh, well... another dorm invited me," she said quickly, avoiding my gaze. She kept her head down, pretending to be busy. When she spoke with others, though, her posture was noticeably more relaxed. A feeling of unease settled in my chest. "Emma," I asked, my voice softer, "Did I do something wrong? Did I make you uncomfortable in the dorm?" Emma immediately looked up, her eyes filled with fear. She shook her head rapidly. "No, no, of course not, Anastasia. Don't overthink it. It has nothing to do with you." That same day, Emma hurriedly packed her things and left. "She wouldn't even sit down for a goodbye meal, let alone talk to us. Don't you think that's odd?" I asked Celeste. "It's like she's afraid of me." Celeste Cox, clearly irritated, replied, "For

Chapter 2

Every time I tried to approach Harmony, she'd immediately pretend to be busy, and her odd behavior made me uneasy. That night, I found myself unable to sleep, my mind restless. Eventually, I fell into a nightmare, waking up drenched in sweat. The dorm was pitch black, the sky still dark, and I couldn't tell what time it was. Suddenly, I felt something at the foot of my bed. I turned and saw Harmony halfway up the ladder to my bed, half of her body crawling under my mosquito net. Her expression was grotesquely exaggerated, filled with fear as she stared at me. I let out a terrified scream and jumped upright from my bed in shock. The following scream came from Harmony, louder than mine, and then there was a crash as she fell off my bed, landing hard on the floor. Celeste and I rushed Harmony to the hospital in the middle of the night. The doctor said it wasn't serious, just a sprained ankle, and she'd be fine after some rest and realignment. But Harmony insisted on having

Chapter 3

It was only then that I realized, the version of me they had seen was actually sleeping in the same bed as I was. She was so close, and yet I had no idea.A wave of panic washed over me, as if, without my knowing, another version of me had quietly slipped into every corner of my life.With fear in my voice, I asked, "What exactly is that... other me?" Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone's body visibly shudder. I remembered, she was the first one to request a room change.I turned to Emma. "Emma, why did you want to switch dorms?" Emma seemed flustered by my probing, her eyes darting nervously around the room. Celeste, seeing this, spoke up to comfort her. "Just tell us. No one will think you're crazy. After all, we all saw it. It's not like we're all crazy, right?"Emma hesitated, her teeth gnawing at her lip as she nervously began, "What I saw... was different from what you all saw." Her words immediately captured our attention.We all stared at Emma, who took a mome

Chapter 4

Celeste didn't respond immediately, and for a moment, we all fell into deep thought. Finally, I broke the silence. "You're right, Celeste. When facing the unknown, the first thing we should do is try to understand it. Only through understanding can we figure out how to deal with it. At least now we know one thing for sure: She's my shadow. And if my shadow isn't here right now, that means whatever I do, she won't know about it, right?" I asked.Celeste's eyes lit up. "Exactly." I then asked, "Do you have Howard's number?" Howard Johnson was the school heartthrob and the person my shadow had been seeing. I asked because I knew Celeste and Howard moved in the same social circles.Sure enough, Celeste puffed up her chest and proudly answered, "Not only do I have Howard's number, but I also have his girlfriend, Helena's number. She's my cousin's best friend, a true lady from an old family." She continued, her voice dripping with gossip, "Although Howard is a playboy, he's totally dev

Chapter 5

I clicked on the message, and to my surprise, it was from myself. The message was just five words long. [Stay right there. Don't move.]As I stood there thinking about what it could mean, a scream broke through the quiet. "Watch out!" Before I could react, someone yanked my arm, pulling me sharply to the side. There was a deafening crash, and a white plaster statue shattered where I had just been standing.If I hadn't been pulled away, it would have crashed right onto my head. We hurried inside the corner building to safety.I realized the statue was likely something an art student would use. We raced to the fifth floor, where we finally found her—my reflection, or my shadow. We looked like twins, identical in every way. We had the same hairstyle and same clothes; even the acne was in the same spots on our faces."Are you enjoying playing with my identity?" I asked, my face expressionless.She smiled at me, but didn't answer. Instead, she declared, "It's too late now. Anastasi

Chapter 6

There had never been a lesson in any book telling me how to check if my shadow was normal. I could only rely on the most clumsy methods to test it myself. I set an alarm, making it go off every hour. When I woke up, I would look at the wall to see if my shadow was still there. Every day, I checked, and slowly, I began to accept the reality that my shadow had returned to normal.Celeste didn't stay with me every day anymore. She decided to go back to her usual weekend trips home. Her family had been urging her to visit for a while. The day she left, she was worried about me and kept reminding me over and over again, "Call me if anything happens, okay?" She repeated herself so much that I was getting annoyed.In the middle of the night, she called again. I almost cursed her out, but then I heard a voice on the other end that I knew all too well. "Anastasia, you're so good at guessing. Why don't you try guessing why Celeste's phone is in my hands?"My mind exploded, and I blurted out,