Lost Between Light andShadow

In the second semester of university, Lin Li remained the quiet and excellent student he had always been. On the surface, his life was orderly: attending classes during the day, spending nights in the library or his dorm. However, as time passed, his dreams began to feel more real, to the point where he sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between dreams and reality, even while awake.

One evening, Lin Li was sitting alone in his usual corner of the library. It was nearing closing time, and the other students were gradually leaving, making the place feel increasingly empty. He was absentmindedly flipping through a thick book, but his mind was filled with those familiar whispers. Since starting university, these voices had never truly left him. Sometimes they were faint, other times clearer, like shadows hiding in the darkness, always waiting for the right moment to surface.

"Are you here alone?" A voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

Lin Li looked up to see a classmate, Xiao Ye, standing before him. Xiao Ye was an outgoing, lively girl. Although they didn't have much interaction in class, she seemed to have taken a particular interest in Lin Li. This attention made him feel slightly uneasy, but he couldn't ignore the curiosity and probing in her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm not done yet," Lin Li managed a weak smile.

"Isn't it late? Aren't you tired?" Xiao Ye pulled out a chair and sat down across from him, resting her chin on her hands, gazing at him with curiosity. "Don't you get bored reading all the time?"

"Sometimes. It's just a habit." Lin Li didn't want to get into his personal life and responded dismissively.

Xiao Ye nodded, not seeming the least bit bothered by his indifference. Instead, she continued chatting, "I always feel like you're different from everyone else, like you've got something on your mind." Her voice was soft, but there was an undercurrent of inquiry.

Lin Li tensed. He was always cautious, good at hiding his emotions, never revealing the shadows lurking in his heart to others. Yet, Xiao Ye's words struck a nerve, touching a place in him he had long kept locked away.

"Nothing special, I've just gotten used to being alone," Lin Li replied quietly, trying to steer the conversation away.

But Xiao Ye didn't let him off so easily. She smiled, seemingly offhandedly, and said, "If you ever need to talk, you can come to me. We all have our secrets, don't we?"

Her words were like a key, lightly unlocking the door to Lin Li's long-hidden inner world. Lin Li looked into her eyes—those clear eyes seemed to hold a deeper meaning. He suddenly realized that perhaps she wasn't as simple or harmless as she appeared. Everyone wore masks, and behind Xiao Ye's curiosity, there might be secrets of her own that she wasn't revealing.

This made Lin Li think of the strange dreams, those blurry yet terrifying figures. Maybe Xiao Ye had hit the nail on the head by accident, but something about the way she said it made him feel an inexplicable sense of danger. The subtle tension between them felt as if it could snap at any moment.

"Thanks, maybe someday," Lin Li said flatly, still weighing her motives.

The library lights began to flicker, breaking the brief silence between them. The library at night always felt eerie—the dim lights and sparse crowd made the space seem oppressive. The lights flickered as if something unseen was interfering with them, sometimes buzzing with a sharp electrical noise.

"Looks like it's closing time," Xiao Ye stood up, smiling. "Let's go."

Lin Li nodded, packed his bag, and walked out of the library with Xiao Ye. However, as soon as they stepped outside, he sensed a strange atmosphere in the air. The night breeze brought a chill that sent shivers down his spine.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Ye noticed Lin Li's unease and asked.

"Nothing." Lin Li shook his head, but the feeling of dread lingered.

They walked side by side along the campus path, with only the dim glow of the streetlights illuminating the way. The light seemed feeble, overwhelmed by the surrounding darkness. With every step, Lin Li felt as though something was watching them from behind, something lurking in the shadows between the lights, observing their every move.

When they reached a fork in the road, Xiao Ye suddenly stopped and turned to face Lin Li. "Do you know," she began, "something terrible happened at this intersection a few years ago."

Lin Li furrowed his brow and looked at her cautiously. "What happened?"

"A few years back, a girl committed suicide here after a breakup. They say her shadow still lingers around this place," Xiao Ye's voice dropped to a murmur, a strange smile playing on her lips, as if she enjoyed telling the chilling story.

Lin Li instinctively glanced around. Even though he knew Xiao Ye was probably joking, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this story. In the darkness, the tree shadows swayed as if something really was hiding, waiting for them to approach.

"Don't scare yourself," Lin Li muttered, though his heart was racing.

Xiao Ye chuckled softly and waved her hand. "Just kidding. But, you know, I've heard so many stories like this that sometimes I wonder if there really are things we can't see, lurking around us."

Lin Li was silent for a moment, not knowing how to respond. Xiao Ye's smile seemed to grow deeper, making it hard for him to tell if she was merely teasing or trying to probe something darker. He suddenly felt an inexplicable chill, as though the Xiao Ye standing before him wasn't the girl he knew, but something more complex and dangerous.

Just then, Xiao Ye stepped closer and spoke in a low voice, "Lin Li, you feel it too, don't you? Those things… sometimes, you can sense them."

Her words carried an uncanny weight, striking at the core of Lin Li's deepest fears. His eyes widened, and his breath quickened. How did Xiao Ye know this? Or how much did she know? The shadows from his dreams, the whispers that never left him—could it be that they weren't just his imagination?

"What are you talking about?" Lin Li's voice trembled, but he tried to maintain his composure.

Xiao Ye didn't answer. She simply smiled again, then turned and walked down a different path. Her figure slowly disappeared into the night, as though she had never been there at all.

Lin Li stood frozen in place, his mind swirling with questions and unease. Between the shifting light and shadow, it felt as if deeper secrets were being hidden from him, waiting to be uncovered.