But they always came back.
Writing them now eased a nervous tic inside me. A strange comfort, like going home. An unhappy home but still familiar.
I will atone for my sins.
I wrote it again.
I will atone for my sins.
I will atone for my sins.
I will atone for my sins.
My pen flew across the page.
A clock ticked loudly in the background, but the chatter around me faded as I wrote, slipping back into my old world.
Nelson’s nasally voice disappeared. Even the guy sitting beside me vanished from my thoughts.
“Boo!”
I jerked upright. The pen fell from my fingers and rolled across the desk. My teeth sank into the inside of my cheek as I slowly lifted my head.
Enzo stood in front of me. He invaded my space, blocking my view of the lecture hall. I curled my shoulders forward and glared at him.
While he wasn’t wearing his neon mask, he still wore one. Only a different kind.
One that concealed how truly demented he was behind a cruelly beautiful face.
His knuckles were split open, and when he lifted his hand, I noticed dried blood on it.Our blood.
I couldn’t stop myself from glancing at my own. My skin was raw and tender from scrubbing it last night.
My eyes returned to Enzo.
His black shirt stretched across his broad chest, the red stitching along the collar resembling blood. The top buttons were undone, revealing a sliver of tanned skin.
He reached down and plucked the notebook off my desk.
“No!” I lunged for it, the edge of the desk jamming painfully into my stomach.
He ignored me, flipping through the pages, wetting his finger before each one. His neck flushed as he read the same sentence repeated hundreds of times.
I will atone for my sins.
Over and over and over.
How stupid of me. I’d set myself up for that.
Sleep deprivation was a hell of a drug.
At the front of the room, Professor Nelson stopped mid-sentence.
Enzo ripped page after page from my notebook, letting them fall to the floor.
“That’s my seat,” he said between a tear. “Move.”
I crossed my arms, forcing my spine as straight as it’d go. “This class doesn’t have assigned seating.”
