"Alvarez. Ashford. Just the students I was hoping to see." Miss Riva's voice cut through the low hum of the hallway as she spotted them just outside the department office. Her tone, as always, was firm-but not unkind.
Amara and Casey straightened instinctively, offering her polite smiles as they stepped closer.
"Good morning, miss," they said in unison.
Miss Riva gave a short nod, clutching a folder tightly to her chest. She regarded them for a moment, eyes sharp behind her glasses, as though calculating the odds of something only she understood.
"Are either of you available around…let's say, three this afternoon?" she asked, her tone even but unmistakably expectant. Amara exchanged a glance with Casey before answering,
"Yes, miss. We're free then. Is there something you need us to do?" Miss Riva's lips tugged into the faintest curve-barely a smile, more like acknowledgment.
"I'll be assisting your juniors-the third-year students their biochemistry with their laboratory assessments today. You know how…lively some of them can get during experiments. I'd appreciate it if the two of you could lend a hand in helping facilitate and maintain order during the session." She didn't phrase it as a request-but she also didn't need to. Casey grinned and nodded.
"We'd be happy to help, miss"
"Good," Miss Riva said briskly.
"Report to the Lab Room at maybe around two thirty. Also bring your ID's or an identification card, they'll need to sign you in, for the ahem extra points I'd be willing to give" and just like that, she turned and disappeared into the office, leaving a faint trail of almost a smile and authority in her wake.
"What the hell was that? Did you see that?!" Casey blurted out, eyes wide in exaggerated disbelief. Still stunned, Amara could only gape, her mouth opening and closing like a confused goldfish.
"I mean, Miss Riva -Miss RIVA- offering extra points?" Casey continued, throwing her unoccupied hand in the air.
"Who knew the world was ending this early?!" Amara just shook her head, lips curling into a small smile as she nudged Casey back to focus.
"Come on, we have to pass this before noon. It's already 11:30" she lifted the folder they'd both been painstakingly working on, the final piece of their requirement-neatly printed, signed, stapled. A symbol of sleepless nights and borderline caffeine poisoning, well, for Casey case that is.
"You're right, lesgo!" Casey grinned, clasping her stack papers tighter.
"After this, we eat. I'm starving. Like, eat-an-entire-silog-meal-and-dessert starving." They moved quickly down the hall, their laughter light and relieved, the burden of academic stress momentarily eased by the promise of food and a short break.
But as they passed by the glass door of the psychology department, the background noise of the hallway began to shift.
Coughs
At first, just one or two. Harmless, even expected. It was finals week, after all-stress, exhaustion, too much time in air-conditioned rooms.
But then came the murmurs.
"Hey, you okay?"
"You sound really off, man."
"Your eyes look… weird."
Amara paused for a fraction of a second, catching the sound of a harsh, wet cough echoing somewhere outside the faculty. She turned slightly - just a bit to identify which and where the sound came from - but Casey tugged her forward.
"Don't worry," Casey said casually, not even noticing the teeny tiny bit noticing the sudden shift.
"It's probably just stress or flu season. You know how it is." and just like that, the moment passed. But something lingered in the air - something not quite right.
Something was brewing - and whatever it was, it was closing in fast.
A sudden gust of wind rushed through the corridor, unnaturally cold for a midday breeze, cutting through fabric and skin like a quiet warning. It wasn't just the chill that raised the hairs on the back of Amara's neck - it was the weight behind it.
Something unseen. Something . . . waiting.
The air felt heavier now, like the pressure before a storm. There was a stillness settling in, subtle yet deafening, as if the world had inhaled - and hadn't exhaled since. Something was lingering. Watching. Crawling just beneath the surface of reality, ready to tear through the seams at any given moment.
But what it was, no one knew. Not yet.
And by the time they did . . . it might already be too late.