The First Time

But it didn't.

I don't know how long I laid there.

Time didn't matter anymore.

Not when the world was inside me.

But something changed.

Somewhere in the chaos, I found it.

A sound.

Soft. Gentle. Familiar.

My breath.

My own.

I latched onto it.

Focused on it.

Inhale. Exhale.

Deep. Slow.

The noise didn't disappear.

But I made it quieter.

The bacteria on my hands? Still there.

The filth in the water? Still there.

But I pushed it away.

Filtered it.

Dulled the edges.

I wasn't drowning anymore.

I was floating.

And for the first time since waking up—

I could breathe.

———

I woke up to the sound of silence.

Real silence.

Not the overwhelming, suffocating kind from yesterday.

Just... normal.

I let out a slow breath.

And then I saw my phone.

17 missed calls.

I sat up so fast my vision blurred.

My mother had called me. Three times.

A few from my classmate.

One from my friend.

And a number I didn't recognize.

I swiped through the notifications, my heart pounding. I had a dozen texts too. Some asking where I was, others just reminders about deadlines.

Nothing urgent.

Nothing... weird.

Like yesterday never happened.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

I forced myself out of bed. I still felt off, but at least I wasn't falling apart. A shower. That's what I needed. To feel normal.

The steam clung to my skin as I wiped the fog from the mirror.

And then I just... stared.

At myself.

At my own reflection.

I looked the same.

Same brown eyes, same slightly uneven eyebrows, same damp hair sticking to my shoulders.

Same plain, forgettable face.

But I wasn't the same.

I didn't feel real.

Like the person staring back at me wasn't actually me.

I gripped the counter. Breathed in. Out.

I just needed to shake this feeling.

Then—

A voice.

Muffled, just outside the door.

Someone was in the dorm.

My heart stuttered. I turned my head, listening.

At first, it was just noise.

And then…

I focused.

And I understood.

"God, I hope she's okay. She hasn't answered me all day."

I stiffened.

That wasn't a conversation.

It was a thought.

Not mine.

Someone else's.

My breath hitched. I reached for my phone on instinct, my hands shaking.

Another voice.

"Ugh, I forgot my password again. What was it... Oh, right—5-7-2-3—"

A number appeared in my mind before they even finished the thought.

And I knew what it was.

Her Reddit passcode.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

No way.

No freaking way.

I looked at my phone. At the app.

My fingers hovered over the screen.

This was crazy.

Insane.

And yet…

I typed in her username, which I somehow just knew, and the passcode.

5-7-2-3-6-8-1-0.

I pressed Enter.

And the account logged in.

I stared.

A chill crept up my spine.

What the hell?

I shouldn't have been able to do that.

I didn't even know whose account this was. But now... I had access.

I swallowed hard.

My eyes flicked up.

My own reflection stared back at me.

Unblinking.

A thought crept into my mind.

What else could I access?

I held my phone tighter.

And then, I picked a name at random.

A student. Someone I barely knew.

I closed my eyes. Focused. Searched.

And then…

There it was.

Their password.

Like a whispered secret, curling into my brain.

My stomach flipped, but my fingers moved anyway.

I logged in. It worked.

A strange, cold thrill shot through me.

I felt like I was holding a loaded gun.

Shaking, I locked the phone.

This wasn't real. It couldn't be.

But what if it was?

And what if I took it further?

The idea hit me so fast, I barely had time to consider it.

A trader.

Someone rich.

Someone I had no business knowing.

I thought of his name.

And immediately, I knew.

His password.

His account details.

His crypto wallet.

And exactly how much was inside.

I sucked in a breath.

Then, before I could stop myself, I opened the wallet.

And I saw it.

The number.

Six. Freaking. Figures.

My fingers trembled over the screen.

I could take some of it.

Not all. Just a little.

Just to see if I could.

I hesitated.

What if they catch me?

And then, just as always…

I knew the answer.

They wouldn't.

I knew exactly how to do this. How to erase my tracks. How to slip away unnoticed.

I bit my lip.

Then…

I did it.

A few thousand at first. Just enough to test.

I transferred it, cleared my trail, and closed the app.

My heart pounded.

It was done.

I checked the new balance.

There. In my own hidden account.

Mine.

A slow, thrilled smile curled on my lips.

Maybe...

Maybe this wasn't a curse after all.

Maybe this was…

But then, just as the thought settled, I felt it.

Something.

A wrongness.

Like a shift in the air.

Like I had tipped something off-balance.

I knew something was about to go wrong.

I didn't know what.

But I knew it was coming.

And I wasn't ready for it.