It started with a shadow. Not the kind that moves with you in the sunlight. No, thisshadow twisted. Shifted. Lurked just out of the corner of myvision. And it wasn't alone. By mid-morning, the cafeteria felt wrong. The fluorescent lightsflickered. The chatter around me seemed hollow, like echoes ofvoices I couldn't quite hear. I squinted, trying to focus. Then I saw it. A girl from my math class, sitting two tables over.
Her hair fellin waves over her shoulders, but something was. off. A blackmist clung to her like smoke from a fire. I froze. My stomachdropped. I blinked. Nothing. I blinked again. The mist was still there. And I could see it now: whispers curlingfrom her ears like smoke, moving toward her mind. Lies. Doubts. Fear. I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth. Nia, sitting across fromme, leaned over.
It started with a shadow. Not the kind that moves with you in the sunlight. No, thisshadow twisted. Shifted. Lurked just out of the corner of myvision. And it wasn't alone. By mid-morning, the cafeteria felt wrong. The fluorescent lightsflickered. The chatter around me seemed hollow, like echoes ofvoices I couldn't quite hear. I squinted, trying to focus. Then I saw it. A girl from my math class, sitting two tables over.
Her hair fellin waves over her shoulders, but something was. off. A blackmist clung to her like smoke from a fire. I froze. My stomachdropped. I blinked. Nothing. I blinked again. The mist was still there. And I could see it now: whispers curlingfrom her ears like smoke, moving toward her mind. Lies. Doubts. Fear. I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth. Nia, sitting across fromme, leaned over.