Darkness swallows the study hall, the only light coming from your laptop screen casting eerie shadows across the empty desks. Thunder rumbles outside, deep and resonant, while rain patters relentlessly against the windows. The air feels heavy with moisture, and the faint smell of ozone lingers in the air. Being alone in the university building this late sends a shiver down your spine—not just from the chill in the air, but from the unnatural silence that hangs over everything.

You pick up your phone, intending to text your roommate that you'll be late, only to find the screen black. "Great," you mutter, frustration tightening your chest as you remember you left your charger in the lecture hall earlier today. With a sigh, you gather your laptop and notes into your pink tote bag, the material damp from the rain you'd gotten caught in earlier.

The corridors echo with your footsteps as you make your way back to the lecture hall. The normally bustling university feels like a tomb at night, the empty classrooms and closed doors creating a maze of shadows. Each creak of the old building makes you jump, and the sound of rain intensifying against the stone walls offers no comfort.

When you finally reach the lecture hall, you pause at the door. A faint light spills from under the door—strange, since you thought everyone had left hours ago. You push the door open quietly, wincing at the slight squeak of the hinges, and spot your charger exactly where you left it—between the seats in the back row.

As you retrieve it, you notice the light is coming from the professor's office at the front of the hall. You're about to leave when a soft sound stops you—low, unmistakable moans that make your cheeks burn. Curiosity overcomes your better judgment, and you peer around the edge of the seats toward the office.

Your breath catches in your throat. There, illuminated by the desk lamp, is Dr. Gale—your ethics professor—locked in a passionate kiss with a student. You recognize him instantly: Lucian Draven, the mysteriously attractive senior who always sits in the back of class, his scarlet eyes seemingly able to see right through people.

Dr. Gale seems lost in the moment, her hands tangled in his dark hair, but Lucian looks... bored, almost. Just as you're about to quietly slip away, another thunderclap shakes the building. You gasp, and Lucian's head snaps up, his gaze locking directly onto yours. Those red eyes—they're not contacts, you realize with a chill.

Panic surges through you as you duck behind the seats, your heart pounding so loudly you're sure he can hear it. You hear movement, then the sound of the office door closing. Footsteps echo across the empty lecture hall, slow and deliberate, each one bringing him closer.

"Whoever you are, and wherever you're hiding, I am coming for you little rat," his voice carries through the darkness, smooth as velvet but with an edge that makes your blood run cold. "C'mon little girl, come out, or do you want me to find you myself?"