1.10

Another night in a row is full of disturbing surprises. Hannah can't sleep a wink for hours as she hears whispers in her head asking her to take care of Jin.

— Be there for him because he needs you. Don't make the same mistake, Hannah says.

The girl twists from side to side, losing patience. The whispers, the childhood melody she often hears... these are not symptoms that vex every person. There's something wrong with her head, and she's sure she should ask her mother to send her to see a doctor.

— Give me a break! — she screams into the empty room when she finally can't stand the whispering of the voice that repeats in her ear that she should take care of Jin.

She hides her face in her hands, and tears run down her cheeks. She has had enough. These nights torment her so much that she dreams of returning home.

The dream that this private school was, in reality, turned out to be a nightmare. She wants to escape from there. She would like to forget the sleepless nights, the students who torment her and, above all, the prince of darkness, who is the main reason for all the evil.

All this is happening in my head. I'm just imagining it, she thinks. She closes her eyes and rubs her temples, as if that would help her get rid of the nightmarish voice.

— Hannah, don't leave him. He needs you...

The teenager throws herself on the bed, unable to bear it any longer. She starts crying like a baby, as being in this school leads her to suffer from insomnia. It becomes harder and harder for her to squint as she feels someone's presence. Without fail, someone whispers words in her ear that concern Jin.

There is something wrong with this room and she wants to leave at all costs.

Even though it's two o'clock in the morning, she can't stand it any longer. Being in this place is killing her mentally, so in an act of desperation, she runs out into the hallway in her pajamas. She closes the door behind her and leans her back against it. She closes her eyelids and takes a deep breath to keep from crying.

— Someone, help me, I beg.

She lowers her head and rests her hands on her knees. She is mentally exhausted. At first, she didn't pay much attention to it and thought it was a prank by the older students, who want to welcome her to the haunted room in this way. Now she understands that something much worse is going on and her health is suffering.

She has to leave this place or simply move to another room before she goes completely insane.

Hannah disregards where her feet are leading her. She walks ahead to simply cool off. She needs peace and quiet. This is preferable to lying in bed and listening to whispers that refer to one of the boys.

Is it actually a figment of her imagination, and she just thinks too much about Jin? Or is this perhaps what is causing her to hear whispers asking her to take care of this boy? This is most likely given that she has been dreaming about him frequently lately. Usually, these are intimate scenes; in them, she can see how attached they are to each other, that they share a deeper feeling...

She stops in mid-step when she realizes she has gone down to the first floor. The school is closed, so the corridor is enveloped in darkness. There are shadows on the walls, cast by the light from outside.

She looks over her shoulder when she gets the impression that she senses someone's presence. Someone is moving in the darkness. Although the darkness prevents her from seeing this person, it goes through her mind that perhaps it's a student who further torments her every night. She feels that she is being watched. She can't see a face, but that burning gaze is so intense that she realizes that someone is closely following her every step.

— What do you want from me? Why are you tormenting me? — she asks boldly.

She swallows her saliva harder as the figure steps forward. She sees that this person is wearing black clothes and a red mask over his face.

The girl doesn't get an answer.

At the first moment, her heart goes up in her throat. The mask looks terrifying, as it visually resembles the face of the devil.

— Have I done something wrong to you that you have been tormenting me from the beginning?

Hannah opens her eyes wider when she notices that this person suddenly breaks into a run. It is someone tall. Much taller than her.

Her feet stick to the ground, and she can't move from her spot. As if in slow motion, she watches the perpetrator's hand, which he lifts, then slaps her on the cheek. She wants to make another move, but is hounded by someone's footsteps.

The devil runs away, and she squats on the floor and paws at her burning cheek.

She is devastated.

— Why have I been having nightmares every night lately? It's exhausting. — She recognizes him by his voice. She lifts her face and watches Jin, who shakes his head as if his neck hurts. He heads toward the cafeteria.

— Jin — she says in a brittle voice, to which he stops mid-step and looks in her direction.

— Hannah! — He runs up to the girl and crouches down opposite her. — What happened? — He asks, capturing her face in his hands.

— Someone is tormenting me all the time. I am afraid — she whispers, shedding tears. — I was even hit by this person. If it weren't for you... I don't know what else could have happened.

— Did you see who it was? — he asks in a nervous voice as he helps her to her feet. The girl denies it. — Did you talk to the caregiver about it?

— Yes. After the last incident, I told her about everything. She promised to talk to the director, and today she will tell me what he decided.

The boy puts his hands on her shoulders and leans in to see her face better from a close distance.

— Do you want me to walk you to your room? — She immediately denies it. She shakes her head, repeating that tonight she doesn't want to go back there. — So where do you want to spend the night? You'll be unconscious in the morning.

— I won't sleep a wink anyway. I can be anywhere, but I won't go back there — she declares.

— So if you're going to roam around the school, will you come with me to the cafeteria? I need something to drink — she says, pointing with her hand in the direction of the kitchen.

The teenager nods.

*

The boy pulls out two drinks from the vending machine and hands one to Hannah. The girl is surprised that he chose just her favorite.

— Did you know?

— Of course. Once I asked you why you liked this flavor so much, you answered me that you tried this drink following the example of a certain person, and thus it became your favorite.

— Did you? — The 16-year-old is amazed. — Didn't I tell you who I had in mind?

— I guessed that one of the idols, and you laughed mysteriously in response, which made me jealous — he claims.

Hannah looks at him and laughs quietly.

— There are many idols that I love... — she enumerates on her fingers, and Jin looks at her with laughing eyes...

— You remember your love for idols, and you forgot about me... — In his voice she hears a clear sadness.

— I would like to know what this is all about. This is not normal, Jin says.

They talk to each other for a long time. The boy tells her about his funny childhood situations, but she doesn't hear half of it because he unexpectedly wears her down and falls asleep with her head laid on his shoulder. Jin doesn't want to wake her, so he is stuck in this position until early morning. He is uncomfortable and knows he will feel it all day, but he is unable to wake her.

It's a few minutes past five when the 16-year-old opens her eyes and realizes she's in the cafeteria. She lifts her face and blinks her eyelids, noticing the boy's amused expression. At that moment, she automatically recalls the situation in the bathroom and the sights she saw then.

She jumps away from him as if she were scalded, feeling that in a moment she will burn from embarrassment.

— Sorry. You must have been uncomfortable. You should wake me up — she claims, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

— You've fallen asleep on my shoulder many times, so I'm used to it.

She smiles shyly and pulls her hair away from her left side.

For a fraction of a second, Jin has a chance to see the skin under her ear again, so he feels some anxiety. He gathers himself for quite a long time to ask her a question about the scar, but Hannah doesn't let him get a word in because she says she has to go back to the room.

— Thank you for accompanying me that night. You made me feel safer, and I was finally able to get some sleep.

— If you agree, I can accompany you every night. — He winks his eyes at her.

He smiles when the panicked girl runs out of the cafeteria; however, he gets just as serious quickly when he remembers the skin under her ear. As for the scar... something is wrong. And she needs to find out as soon as possible.

Increasingly, she gets the impression that Hannah is behaving very strangely. Something has changed her. The nightmares confirm this, and he has even already chalked up the possibility of memory loss. He must get close to her and find out what secret she is hiding.

*

Mariah's roommates have already managed to leave for breakfast, and she's the only one left in the room, unable to make out the time. She has slept too long, and the worst part is that nothing seems to work out for her since the morning. She started the day nervously, and this is confirmed by the cracked powder she spills on her uniform. Mariah feels like killing Jimmy for destroying her favorite cosmetic that day.

And just at the wrong moment the boy rushes in, which further agitates her. She feels like grabbing him by his T-shirt and throwing him out of the room on his face, but she sees that he himself looks as if he is planning the murder.

— You should at least knock! I'm not one of those floozies you automatically get into bed with! — she yells angrily, watching his reflection in the mirror. She tries to shake the powder off her skirt, but smears it on the fabric even worse. — Damn it!

— I think you're talking about yourself. I learned from people that you are the floozy who plays with that redheaded faggot in the meadow.

— With the faggot? — she repeats, agitated. — The only faggot is you, and if I recall correctly, I haven't played with you for x years in the meadow.

Jimmy grabs the girl by the shoulders and forcibly turns her back to himself, shooting such sparks from his eyes as if he were about to burn soon. Under the influence of nerves, his grip becomes stronger and begins to cause her pain.

— Let me go, or I'll smash your pretty face — she announces through her teeth, measuring him with a hateful look.

— Have you been so turned around by this scoundrel that you already hated me? — His voice becomes sharper.

— Scoundrel? And I think you're talking about yourself again. — He smiles disdainfully under his breath, wandering his eyes around the interior. She purposely avoids his face. With her behavior, she drives him crazy, so Jimmy grabs her chin and forces her to look him in the eye.

— What's so wonderful about him that you forgot me so easily?

If he knew that she dreams about him every night and cries into her pillow in the evenings because he turned out to be such a bastard. She is not going to admit it and show him how much he hurt her when he chose a friend and not her.

— You ask what's great about him? Everything. — She shrugs her shoulders, looking hard into his eyes. — And what, now that I am interested in someone else, you suddenly become jealous of me?

He's right. He's jealous as hell. Only now he has realized what he has lost, and he can't see himself staying in the company of another guy. It hurts him when she smiles at him and puts her head on his shoulder... What he hates most is that she seems so happy at his side.

— And his kisses? Do you think he's better than I at that, too? — Mariah laughs as she realizes that rumors have already reached Jimmy.

— Well... he's not bad.

The teenager doesn't control himself, he wants to prove that Nick doesn't grow up to be his best. He forcibly kisses the girl. He puts his hand to her cheek and heads for the wall with her. The boy prevents her from escaping and when she would like to push him away, he puts his hand to her chest so she can't move.

The girl turns her face away, and he smiles arrogantly, not taking his eyes off her.

— And what, I'm still better at it, aren't I, darling?

She tightens her lips to keep from crying. She wants to hit the bastard and take out all her anger on him. For everything... For how he treated her and how he's acting now that she hasn't decided to give him a second chance. He is a bastard who doesn't give a damn about her feelings.

— You're good for nothing — she claims, and her voice trembles. Jimmy lets her go, but continues to watch her face carefully. — You have become as nasty and slimy as Joseph.

He doesn't respond. He snorts under his breath and leaves the room, slamming the door in farewell.