The dinner service ended like a breeze in the past hour. It was nothing out of the ordinary, and in fact, it was a decent meal to close his stomach for the day.
Harian headed out ahead to sleep early tonight for tomorrow's work schedule, while Raphael decided to take a brisk, cold shower, heading to the third-floor bathrooms.
A perfect idea to relieve his thoughts and calm his nerves.
The burst of water splashed all over his body, instantly sending him into cold shivers as the droplets touched his skin. The stream of water continued to flow down as it stayed underneath for a certain amount of time, thinking deeply, as if in a meditative state.
The echoes of screams from what he had witnessed recently continued to hammer into his thoughts.
A throbbing pain in his mind.
Something begging to be remembered, but fear stopped it.
He wanted to forget. As much as possible.
After a few minutes or so, Raphael walked out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a thin silken robe. His hair was still damp from his recent shower, while his towel hung loosely around his neck.
The smell of fresh, cool mint lingered around him as he made a little sneeze from the scent of his shampoo, being excessively pungent for his liking.
"Achoo!"
"Gosh. I used too much of it." Raphael sighed.
As he traversed down the hall, the light breeze prickled his skin like a cold touch. It sent shivers underneath, clasping his arms like an embrace and gently rubbing them, as his clothing was barely enough to protect him.
The pounding in his mind came back once again.
Thumping like the throbbing of his heartbeat.
Despite taking a cold shower, the incident remained in his thoughts like a vague memory. He really thought that he could finally forget it, but instead, it haunted him.
His fingers reached out to the knob on his dorm room, twisting it open with a slight creak from the door.
The glow of Harian's fairy lights greeted him first, illuminating the room in soft streaks, not too bright but dim enough to make anyone sleep.
His sight was immediately drawn to the top bunk where Harian was fast asleep, sleeping soundly while buried in the usual pile of fluffy pillows and woolly blanket.
Raphael let out a smile.
He was glad he was asleep, or else he would be worried for him like a while ago.
As he entered, he plopped himself comfortably on a seat in front of his desk, facing a bunch of products and equipment neatly arranged for him to use.
He pulled out the hair dryer and set it on the lowest setting possible, reducing the whirring noise it usually creates. He began to blow-dry his hair, combing each section thoroughly, allowing the warm air to pass through.
Once his hair dried into a decent clump. He shuffled his locks a bit to add texture.
Next, he began applying his skin care routine for tonight. It was nothing more than a couple of dollops of serum, cream, moisturizer, and other stuff.
After completing everything, he was able to relax fully as he heaved a deep breath.
Alone.
Nothing but his thoughts.
The scene replayed in the past hours, stuck like a broken record in his mind for some time. The pain and scream ached in his chest as it felt so real and helpless.
Something else flicked in his memory deep inside the more he thought about the incident.
He remembered it now. A vague memory of him watching Elena's face in anguish, writhing in pain as the hand grasped her tightly.
Everything else was fuzzy or in a blur, but one thing stood out. He remembered watching her from a distance like a bystander, witnessing the horrors like what he had just done recently.
The realization hit as he clutched his chest, breathing deeply in a state of panic.
Is it even real?
Or was he associating this incident out of fear?
He huffed for some time until his nerves eventually calmed down and his breathing returned to normal.
While staring blankly at the floor, his eyes glanced at his bag on the floor beside the desk, a letter peeking through his open bag.
It reminded him once more.
A fan mail?
His fingers reached through its crisp edges and pulled it out into his hands. He flipped it once more, seeing his name written in neat, legible, elegant cursive, like it was well-thought-out and taken care of.
Who could this be?
As he ran his finger tips along the sticker, about to pry it open, he hesitated and paused.
No, not this time.
He was not ready to see it, nor ready enough to accept the feelings inside that.
Instead of reading it as he mentioned before, he decided to stash it in one of the drawers right below his nightstand.
Still undecided.
It was almost ten in the evening in just 5 minutes.
Raphael headed to his bed and lay down in a nice thump, crinkling the sheets underneath him as his arms sprawled out. His gaze glanced above, looking over the faint glowing of the lights.
A conflicted thought crossed his mind.
Sylvia....He didn't see her during that incident. How is she associated with those two?
But he remembered Harian's exact words coming from his lips.
'Sylvia's' Crew.
Does that mean she's behind all of this?
She didn't strike him as dangerous for the first time. Plus, she even helped him during the Calculus quiz and saved him from a group of troublemakers s0-called Predators.
Who is she really?
A sigh escaped from his lips as the more he thought about things, the more complicated it seemed.
Finding a way to relax and maybe forget about things, Raphael grabbed his phone and began to aimlessly scroll through a bunch of shorts on Utube.
Watching trending dances.
Quick cooking recipes.
Binge eating Mukbangs.
He was never fond of watching all this content slop, but he needed to dull his mind for the meantime, hoping to catch himself a break from his thoughts and eventually fall asleep peacefully.
The time passed by like fifteen minutes or so. Raphael still didn't feel tired from his doom scrolling, nor sleepiness creeping up on him.
Everything was boring and a waste of time as he flicked through the next video to another with his thumb.
Out of the sudden, a message popped up from his notification bar.
Ping!
It was from the Diskord app.
An attachment was sent belonging to RedFox, a.k.a Sylvia Macaulay, his only friend.
Out of curiosity, his finger tapped on the notification, which quickly directed him to the app's chatbox.
A selfie image of Sylvia flashed on screen, lying down on the bed underneath a soft light, a distinct resemblance to the fairy lights in his room. Her hair was tousled messily to the side over the pillow, and her face was all bare without her usual heavy make-up, while her expression appeared sleepy but with a mysterious, sly smile from her lips.
The green camisole top hugged tightly around her body, defining her features while one string hung dangerously low on her shoulder, exposing more of her bare skin.
Spoiler
!WARNING NSFW!
!Other version!
[collapse]
A caption was indicated right below.
'This is legit me. Your turn next.' followed by a bunch of random emojis.
"Really now?" he mumbled under his breath.
At first, he hesitated, thinking whether to reply or not. Then, his fingers eventually gave in and typed.
"It's late. I'm too tired."
Just as he quickly sent his message. Another one popped up in an instant.
Spoiler
[collapse]
"Hmm... It's just a little favor, you know. You still owe me one," she replied in a tease.
Raphael couldn't help but sigh. She still remembered that deal, so this is what she wanted in return? He pondered over sending one or just ditching her. It took him a few minutes before he decided.
It's just a picture anyway. Nothing crazy.
He turned on his camera and held the phone above him for a selfie with a bored expression on his face.
Snap!
He took a picture of himself.
Spoiler
!WARNING NSFW!
!Other version!
[collapse]
In a tap, he sent it immediately without bothering to check the image sent. Then, he realized, a sleeve of his robe slipped from his shoulders, mirroring hers.
He blushed at the thought but shook his head afterwards.
Like, does that even matter? She sent him something pretty similar.
Raphael looked back at the chat, waiting.
Three dots kept resurfacing like she was typing something out, but then it completely stopped, like she paused or hesitated.
Raphael's brows just furrowed.
Clearly, she had seen the picture, but what's taking her so long to reply?
Minutes passed, still no message.
His fingers tapped on his phone case, getting more frustrated.
He had been patient for some time, but right now, he could no longer stare at the same screen for another minute. The chat was a dead end, like she just disappeared without notice.
The green dot beside her name still glowed green and ominous.
She was online.
Still no response.
The night grew deeper close to midnight. Finally, Raphael decided to call it a day as he switched off his phone and threw it on the bedside.
His eyes slowly shut, and he eventually drifted into a deep sleep.