The single pane of stained glass does nothing to keep the chill out, and the thick stone walls seem to trap the cold like a secret. I may as well be sleeping outside. I’ve layered myself in my long pyjamas and a worn blue knit jumper, something I’d never wear to bed back home this time of year.
And yet, despite the miserable grey skies and the ever-present bite in the air, I find it... charming. Almost beautiful in its own bleak, haunting way.
I close my eyes, willing sleep to take me. I have an early class, and Icannotafford to drift off like I nearly did in Mr. Chapman’s lecture on my second day. That first night at Marrowton, I slept like the dead, heavy and undisturbed. But since then, something has changed.
I can’t settle.
Every hallway I walk down, I feel it…eyes. Watching.
In class, it prickles across the back of my neck.
In the dining hall, it crawls over my skin, even as I pretend to focus on my food.
Even here, in my room, wrapped in layers and darkness, I am not alone.
I feel them now.
Watching.
Always watching.
But this isn’t likehisgaze. Not like Asher’s.
Asher’s stare is heat, searing and relentless. Like it wants to strip me bare and study the bones beneath. Like he could burn me awaycompletely if I let him. And part of me wants to. Desperately. Whatever it is he sees when he looks at me, I don’t think it’s something he plans to keep safe. But I don’t hate it.
This gaze, though, this one is different.
This one iscold.
Ice sharp and cruel, like the chill of winter breathing down my neck.
It doesn’t want to consume. It wants to dissect.
And I don’t know which is worse.
A scream pulls me from my thoughts.
I sit up, heart hammering, and freeze.
I listen.
Nothing.
Only silence.
Did I imagine that?
I stay frozen in bed, breath shallow, as the quiet stretches on. Minutes, or maybe seconds, drag past. My jaw aches clenched so tight it’s beginning to throb. My body is locked, tense with the weight of something I can’t name.
Eventually, I shift. Slowly, carefully, I rise and pad across the freezing floor to the door. My fingers hover on the handle. I take a grounding breath before pushing it down and cracking the door open just enough to peek out into the stairwell beyond.
Darkness greets me. Stillness.
But Ifeltit, that scream. Not only in my ears, but in mybones.Like it rattled something deep in me.
I shake my head, trying to dispel the creeping paranoia. I haven’t slept properly in two nights. This is exhaustion turning shadows into ghosts.
Turning away, I begin to retreat to bed, but something stops me mid-step, a flicker. Light. Outside.
