Chapter Text
The room had been silent for what felt like hours.
Not the comforting kind of silence, either.
It was the kind of silence that felt alive. Heavy. Suffocating. Like it had settled into the walls of Ghostie’s dorm and decided it belonged there. Every small sound felt amplified—the ticking of the clock, the faint movement of the curtains against the window, even Aj’s own breathing.
She hated it.
But at the same time, she needed it.
Ghostie’s dorm had always been one of the few places that felt safe. It was filled with little reminders of her personality: random decorations scattered across shelves, old books stacked unevenly, little things collected from places nobody else would understand. It felt warm.
It felt like Ghostie.
But tonight, it felt completely different.
Tonight, it felt like a hiding place.
A place to disappear.
Aj sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor beneath her. She had lost track of how long she’d been there. Minutes? Hours? Maybe longer.
Time didn’t feel real anymore.
The blankets beneath her were twisted from the countless times she had moved around, trying to find a position that didn’t make her body ache. Sitting hurt. Lying down hurt. Staying still somehow hurt the most.
The bandages wrapped around her arms were the worst part.
They felt too tight.
Or maybe they felt too loose.
She couldn’t tell.
Her fingers slowly traced over the fabric, careful not to press too hard. She didn’t want to look underneath. She already knew something was wrong.
She didn’t need proof.
The room smelled faintly like lavender perfume, old books, and rain. Normally, she would’ve found it comforting. The scent reminded her of Ghostie, of normal days, of moments where things weren’t falling apart.
But now?
Now it only reminded her of somewhere else.
A field.
Lavender stretching endlessly beneath a gray sky.
The sound of flowers moving in the wind.
Footsteps.
A voice.
Aj immediately looked away.
No.
She couldn’t think about it.
She couldn’t remember.
Every time she tried, pieces of that night came rushing back.
Not the whole memory.
Just pieces.
The feeling of fear.
The confusion.
The voice.
The voice of someone who needed help.
The voice of someone who was hunting.
The voice of prey.
The voice of a predator.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Stop…”
The word barely left her mouth.
She didn’t know if she was telling the memory to stop.
Or herself.
She took a shaky breath and forced her eyes open.
The room was still there.
Ghostie’s room.
Safe.
Normal.
Nothing was happening.
At least, that’s what she wanted to believe.
Then—
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Aj froze.
The sound echoed through the dorm.
Every muscle in her body locked instantly.
Her eyes slowly moved toward the door.
Nobody should know she was here.
Nobody.
She stayed completely still, hoping whoever was outside would leave.
Maybe they had the wrong room.
Maybe they would assume nobody was inside.
Maybe—
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
This time, the knocks were louder.
More certain.
Aj’s heartbeat picked up.
Her first instinct was to hide.
Her second instinct was to run.
But neither happened.
Her body refused.
She remained sitting there, staring at the door as if it was the only thing in the room.
Then a voice came from the other side.
“Hello? Is anyone home?”
Aj’s breathing stopped.
She knew that voice.
Not because she heard it every day.
Not because she trusted it.
Because she remembered it.
The sound pulled something from the back of her mind.
Something she had buried.
The lavender fields.
The cold air.
The panic.
The night she wished she could erase.
The voice of the prey.
The voice of the predator.
Her head started to ache.
The memory disappeared before she could fully grasp it.
Silence followed.
Then—
“Hello! I will open this door if no one answers!”
Aj’s eyes widened slightly.
No.
Don’t.
She wanted to say something.
Anything.
But her throat refused to work.
She wanted to warn them.
She wanted to stop them.
Instead, she stayed frozen.
The doorknob slowly turned.
Click.
The door opened.
For a moment, Aj hoped it would be someone else.
Maybe Ghostie.
Maybe someone who wouldn’t notice.
Maybe someone who wouldn’t ask questions.
But it wasn’t Ghostie.
Of course it wasn’t.
Ghostie would have walked straight inside.
She wouldn’t have knocked.
It wasn’t Drift either.
Drift would never announce herself.
The person standing in the doorway was someone else entirely.
Scott.
The hallway light framed him as he stood there, his usual calm and cold expression immediately changing when he saw her.
Confusion crossed his face first.
Then disbelief.
Then something Aj rarely saw from him.
Concern.
“…Aj?”
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Scott looked like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“What are you doing in Ghostie’s dorm?”
Aj didn’t answer.
Her eyes stayed lowered.
Scott stepped inside slowly, closing the door behind him.
“Do you understand that everyone has been looking for you?”
His voice was controlled, but there was worry underneath it.
“You and Drift disappeared. Nobody knew where either of you went.”
Aj heard him.
She knew she did.
But it felt distant.
Like his voice was coming from somewhere far away.
“Do you understand—”
The sentence never finished.
Because suddenly—
Everything went quiet.
Not normal quiet.
Wrong quiet.
A sharp ringing filled Aj’s ears.
Loud.
Constant.
Overwhelming.
Scott’s voice vanished beneath it.
The room shifted.
The walls blurred.
The lights seemed too bright.
Aj blinked rapidly, trying to focus.
But everything was slipping away.
Scott’s face became unclear.
His mouth moved.
He was saying something.
She couldn’t hear it.
She couldn’t understand it.
All she could hear was the ringing.
And all she could see was the room slowly disappearing around her.
The ringing only grew louder.
Aj tried to force herself to focus.
She tried to listen.
Tried to understand what Scott was saying.
But his words were nothing more than distant sounds lost beneath the noise. His voice faded in and out, like a radio struggling to find a signal.
“Aj?”
She saw his mouth move.
She saw the concern on his face.
But she couldn’t hear him.
Everything around her felt wrong.
The room that had once felt familiar suddenly looked unfamiliar. The corners stretched strangely. The shadows seemed longer than they should have been. Everything felt like it was covered in a layer of fog she couldn’t wipe away.
She blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Nothing changed.
Her breathing became uneven.
She looked away from Scott, searching for something—anything—that could prove she was still here.
The bookshelf.
Blurred.
The window.
Blurred.
The pictures sitting on Ghostie’s desk.
Nothing but colors and shapes.
Her vision refused to stay still.
Her hands tightened around the edge of the blanket.
Something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
“Aj.”
Scott’s voice broke through for half a second.
Just enough for her to hear her name.
Then the ringing swallowed it again.
She looked down.
At first, everything seemed normal.
Her hands looked like her hands.
Pale skin.
Shaking fingers.
Bandages wrapped around her arms.
Then she noticed it.
The darkness.
Aj stopped breathing.
Her fingers looked different.
Not injured.
Not dirty.
Different.
The color beneath her skin seemed darker than it should have been. Like shadows had found their way underneath and decided to stay.
The darkness stretched from her fingertips toward her wrists, disappearing beneath the white bandages.
Her stomach dropped.
No.
No, no, no.
She quickly pulled her sleeves down, trying to cover it.
Trying to pretend she hadn’t seen it.
Trying to pretend nothing was happening.
But she knew.
Scott knew too.
His expression changed.
The calm, collected look he usually carried disappeared completely.
“Aj…”
His voice was quieter now.
More careful.
She looked up.
Scott was staring at her arms.
Not with fear.
Not with disgust.
With confusion.
And worry.
“What happened to your hands?”
Aj didn’t answer.
She couldn’t.
Her throat felt like it had closed.
Scott took a step closer.
“Aj, are you alright?”
The question should’ve been simple.
A normal question.
But it felt impossible to answer.
Was she alright?
She didn’t know anymore.
She looked down at the bandages covering her arms.
They weren’t supposed to matter.
They were supposed to hide everything.
The injuries.
The marks.
The evidence that something was wrong.
But now they felt useless.
Scott noticed them too.
“Why do you have bandages everywhere?”
His voice became more serious.
“Aj, what happened?”
The ringing became louder.
She covered her ears.
It didn’t help.
The sound wasn’t coming from outside.
It was coming from somewhere deeper.
Inside her.
Every heartbeat made it worse.
Every second passed slower than the last.
Scott kept talking.
She knew he was.
She could see it.
But his words were broken apart.
Fragments.
Pieces.
Nothing that made sense.
“…Drift…”
The name barely reached her.
But it was enough.
Aj froze.
Drift.
The room shifted.
For a moment, she forgot about Scott.
Forgot about the ringing.
Forgot about everything except that name.
Drift.
Her chest tightened.
Because that was when she realized something.
Something she should have noticed sooner.
The farther away she was from Drift…
The worse everything became.
The ringing.
The darkness.
The confusion.
The memories.
All of it.
It wasn’t random.
It was connected.
Scott noticed the change in her expression.
“Aj?”
She didn’t respond.
She couldn’t.
Because suddenly she wasn’t standing in Ghostie’s dorm anymore.
Not completely.
The room faded.
The smell of rain disappeared.
The walls vanished.
And she was back there.
The lavender field.
The endless purple flowers moving beneath the wind.
The sky above her.
The feeling of something being terribly wrong.
She could hear voices again.
One frightened.
One cold.
One desperate.
Her hands trembled.
“Stop…”
This time, the word came out louder.
Scott immediately reacted.
“Aj?”
She backed away.
Her vision flickered.
For a second, she saw Drift.
Not clearly.
Just a glimpse.
A memory.
A reminder.
Then it disappeared.
Aj stumbled, catching herself against Ghostie’s desk.
Scott moved instantly.
“Aj!”
He reached out, trying to steady her.
But the moment his hand moved toward her, she flinched away.
Not because she thought Scott would hurt her.
Because something inside her told her not to let anyone get close.
Not right now.
Not while she was like this.
Scott stopped.
He didn’t force it.
He just watched.
And for the first time, Aj saw something she never expected to see from him.
Fear.
Not fear of her.
Fear for her.
“Aj…”
His voice was softer than before.
“What happened to you?”
She wanted to answer.
She wanted to explain.
She wanted to tell him everything.
About the lavender fields.
About the voices.
About Drift.
About the feeling that something was following her even when she was alone.
But the words wouldn’t come.
Because deep down, she already knew.
Whatever was happening to her wasn’t something that started tonight.
Tonight was just when it finally became impossible to ignore.
The darkness beneath her bandages continued spreading.
The ringing continued filling her mind.
And the distance between her and Drift felt heavier than ever.
Because Aj wasn’t just missing Drift.
Something inside her was searching for her.
And whatever it was…
It was getting desperate.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
The silence between Aj and Scott felt different from before.
Before, the silence had been empty.
Now, it was filled with questions.
Scott stood a few feet away from her, careful not to move too quickly. He had always been someone who relied on logic. Someone who looked at a problem, studied it, and found a solution.
But this?
This wasn’t something he understood.
Aj was standing in front of him, but she looked like she was somewhere else entirely.
Like a part of her was still trapped in a memory she couldn’t escape.
“Aj.”
Her eyes slowly moved toward him.
For a second, Scott thought she hadn’t heard him.
Then she blinked.
“What happened?”
The question was simple.
But Aj looked like it was the hardest question anyone could ask.
Her mouth opened slightly.
Nothing came out.
Scott looked away for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts.
He wasn’t used to seeing Aj like this.
Aj was usually stubborn.
Loud when she wanted to be.
Determined even when everything was against her.
But this version of her?
This version was scared.
And that scared him more than anything else.
“Is this because of Drift?”
The moment he said her name, Aj’s expression changed.
Not much.
Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed.
But Scott did.
Her shoulders tensed.
Her eyes shifted away.
That was enough of an answer.
“Aj…”
She swallowed.
“It’s not…”
Her voice was quiet.
Almost impossible to hear.
Scott waited.
He didn’t interrupt.
He knew better than to force answers out of someone who was already struggling.
“It’s not just because I’m away from her.”
The words came out slowly.
“Something’s wrong.”
Scott’s expression softened slightly.
“What do you mean?”
Aj looked down at her hands again.
The darkness beneath her skin seemed impossible to ignore now.
“I don’t know.”
That answer seemed to frustrate her more than it did him.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
Her voice shook.
“I thought it would stop.”
Scott stayed silent.
“I thought if I got away, if I hid, if I waited long enough…”
She looked around the room.
“…that everything would go back to normal.”
A pause.
“But it didn’t.”
The room fell quiet again.
Scott glanced at the door.
Then back at Aj.
“Why did you come here?”
Aj hesitated.
Because the truth sounded ridiculous.
Because even she didn’t fully understand why she had ended up here.
“I don’t know.”
Scott frowned slightly.
“You don’t know?”
Aj shook her head.
“I just… ended up here.”
She looked toward Ghostie’s bed.
“I knew this place was safe.”
Safe.
That word stayed in Scott’s mind.
Because Aj didn’t look safe.
She looked like someone who had been running for too long.
Someone who had finally stopped moving and realized how tired she was.
Scott took a slow breath.
“How long have you been hiding here?”
Aj didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
Scott already knew it had been longer than she wanted to admit.
He looked at the bandages again.
“Who did this?”
Aj immediately looked away.
That reaction told him enough.
Scott’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Aj.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“I didn’t say what I thought.”
She went quiet.
For once, Aj had no argument.
Scott wasn’t angry.
He wasn’t accusing her.
He was worried.
And somehow, that made it worse.
Because anger was easier to handle.
Concern was harder.
“I need to find Drift.”
The words left Aj before she even realized she said them.
Scott looked at her.
“Why?”
Aj froze.
Because she didn’t have a simple answer.
Because saying it out loud made it sound impossible.
“Because…”
She looked at her hands.
“Because when she’s gone, this gets worse.”
Scott stared at her.
“The ringing?”
Aj nodded.
“The memories.”
Another nod.
“The darkness?”
She hesitated.
Then nodded again.
Scott’s expression became serious.
He looked at the room around them, like somehow the answer would be hidden somewhere nearby.
“So being away from Drift is affecting you.”
Aj looked down.
“I think so.”
A long silence followed.
Then Scott walked toward the door.
Aj looked up.
“Where are you going?”
Scott paused.
“To find help.”
Her expression changed.
“No.”
It came out immediately.
Too quickly.
Scott looked back.
“Aj.”
“No.”
Her voice became more desperate.
“You can’t tell everyone.”
“Why?”
Because she didn’t know.
Because she was afraid.
Because once everyone knew, things would change.
People would look at her differently.
People would ask questions she couldn’t answer.
People would see her as something dangerous.
Scott seemed to understand without her explaining.
“You think people are going to see you differently.”
Aj said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Scott sighed.
“Aj, hiding this isn’t making it disappear.”
The words hurt because they were true.
She looked away.
The ringing had finally started to fade.
Not completely.
But enough.
Enough for her to think.
Enough for her to realize how exhausted she was.
Scott opened the door slightly.
“We’re going to find Drift.”
Aj looked up.
“And then?”
Scott paused.
Then he looked back at her.
“Then we figure out what’s happening.”
For once, there was no coldness in his voice.
No distance.
Just certainty.
Aj stared at him.
She didn’t know if he could fix this.
She didn’t know if anyone could.
But for the first time in hours…
She didn’t feel completely alone.
She slowly stood.
Her legs shook beneath her.
The darkness remained.
The memories remained.
The fear remained.
But she moved anyway.
Because somewhere out there was Drift.
And whatever was happening to Aj…
Whatever was pulling her apart piece by piece…
She knew one thing.
She needed to find her.
Before whatever was inside her became something she couldn’t control.
Scott stepped into the hallway.
Aj followed.
The door to Ghostie’s dorm slowly closed behind them.
Leaving the silence.
Leaving the memories.
Leaving the place where she had tried to hide.
But hiding was never going to save her.
Not this time.
Because the farther she was from Drift…
The closer she came to losing herself.