I was running. My heart was jumping and resisting me. I needed a break but, a gray skinned dummy pursued me at breakneck speed. I never stopped running until I face planted when tripping over a root. I got up and continued to run. I ran for my life. My breathes grew heavy and raggedy, my lungs burning. My body gave out after miles of running, my entire body hurting. I fell, possibly breaking something. Even though it was a dream, I felt the impact of the fall damage me.

I cried, as I could tell the dummy was getting so close. I closed my eyes and breathed, fear and dread heavy in my being. I willed myself to wake up. I knew this had to be a dream. But I didn't. After a while, there were no footsteps at all. I looked up and around me. Lavish velvet on the walls and plush black carpet. It looked like an overly-done version of our bedroom. There was a canopy with dark drapes over the bed, as usual. I lie in the middle of the floor, slowly getting up. I was clean and free of dirt.

I was also no longer sore and tired. I pushed my hair back and looked around. Gems and overly saturated fruit stacked on the dresser and along the vanity. Those fruits scared me, which really made me feel dumb. I pulled back the curtain to our bed. My eyes stung with tears. Another girl lie on her back while Anthony was face deep sucking her. She moaned sweetly and begged for him. In our bed.

She finally seemed to notice me and when she did, sighed lewdly and gave me a daring look. I wanted to throw up. Most of all, she looked old. Like, over 50, but her face and body flickered back and forth from young to old and back again. Her last switch was when I woke up in a cold sweat. I quickly checked my phone. 11:27. I sat up and quickly got out of bed. Wait. 11:27? Holy- I quickly shook Anthony awake. He sat up and looked at me tiredly." What time is it? " he yawned.

" It's 11:28. Anthony, you're late for work." In under 5 seconds he was fully awake. He got out of bed and quickly kissed my cheek. My face reddened quickly. " Thank you. Also, don't worry about breakfast, just do your coursework, 'Kay?" I nodded and ran to my desk. He ran downstairs and started some food. I logged on to my class hurriedly, inputting the wrong password twice before I could enter. It looked like my Art professor was in the middle of a lesson.

She looked back at the screen quickly " Zoe, it"s nice of you to join us. You're very late." I turned my mic on. " I know Nessa, I'm sorry. I promise this won't happen again." She shook her head in empathy. " It's okay, Zoe. Now-" she moved to the chalkboard in the center of her room and continued to critique my classmate's work. I made sure my mic was off and video, as I wasn't comfortable with myself on camera. My professor had a dyed fluffy white bob with large circular glasses. Today she was wearing her new denim overalls with a plain white shirt underneath. Her eyes were single-lidded and round- doe like eyes.

She was the youngest professor at the college which said a lot. She was also one of the few female professors, which sounded strange to me. But what was stranger was she was the only Asian female professor. It wasn't much for her to bear elsewhere, but since the majority of professors where males, students have overheard the overly-sexualized comments she got and things other professors have tried to do to her. Her treatment brought a bitter taste to my mouth. But she was an overall nice teacher. Strict, but nice.

Some of my classmates were more artistically inclined than others. There were also different types of art that some of them did. Lisa drew more comics and creative characters. Jasper liked to draw lots of anime-influenced art. Some of my other classmates like Devon and Mina drew more realistic art or my best friend Chancy who drew Meaningful art. She drew a picture of a Naked woman with thick and textured hair with a more curvaceous and full body type that resembled a lot of darker or African-American women. She had her arms covering her breasts and had her legs on the floor, kneeling. At the edges of the drawing there were many hands and cameras being pointed, some mocking and others preying on her.

Chancy had later shown me the original piece, which was of our teacher. She had given it to her after our first month and Nessa looked as if she was going to cry. She didn't accept it. She loved the picture but we assumed it just may have hit too close to home for her. I preferred photography, but my drawing was somewhat decent. I looked at the chat. Chancy had sent me a private message.

" You good? You sound super ill."

I typed quickly " Nah, I'm okay. " I looked over at the messy bed. I should probably make it up soon. I squinted back at the chat

" La Coronavirus!" I almost cackled, hearing her scream the words in her thick Dominican accent in my head. I doubt I had it anyways. A knock came through the other side of the door. " Come in." I said quickly. Anthony came in and set a plate of Belgian waffles with sausage and an omelette. He kissed my lips and ran off, closing the door. A blush lingered on my face afterward. I ate my breakfast while chatting with Chancy. She and I hadn't caught up for a while since I moved. I missed her bubbly laughter and wild new hair colors. Her always complaining that all the underwear in Victoria secret would suffocate her butt. And quite honestly, same, as I steered clear of them as well. She identified herself as extremely homosexual and an extreme believer in jade rollers. Why couldn't it be anything else besides jade rollers?

" GIVE ME MORE AFFECTION!" Nessa looked at the comments and blinked a moment before addressing us. " Umm... I'm going to assume that that was supposed to be sent to someone else...?" I looked at the chat.

" Yes. Yes it was indeed." A moment later the professor laughed at it " It's alright, just remember to send it to the intended recipient, okay?"

"Yeah." She shook her head and started to close out class. Overall, Jasper's drawing of a girl falling off of a table had won and he got an A. I got a B+, which was fine by me as I wasn't the best artist. I logged off and waited for the next class to begin.

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I stepped outside of the bedroom and quickly tiptoed into the basement. Whatever the fuck possessed me to go back down there after what happened a couple of days ago was beyond me. This was dangerous. Risky even. I was less afraid and more curious of what he was doing downstairs. I wasn't sure where he was but he wasn't here, so I was safe. I moved to the corner that had clear view of the door. I didn't think I would go in, because the door itself was so mysterious, mirroring it's owner almost perfectly. I stared at the door, that taunting burgundy door. Maybe if I went in I could reason with the little girl, who some how had me in my room passed out in bed. I approached the door, my wits together and all. I heard movement from the other side and backed away slowly. The door swung open and I broke into a run. I loss total control of myself and my fragile body made hard contact with the wall closest to the steps. I crashed down into the stairs. Nothing but my own blood clouded my vision, and I was slowly going unconscious.

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I ran to her, regretting it. There was blood spattered, smudged and dropping everywhere she had fallen. I hated how careless I'd been. I lifted her body up the right way and examined her upper body as I know she got hit the hardest there. There was blood dripping from her skull and her skin was already starting to bruise along one side of her body from where she was flung at the wall. The tears kept coming despite how hard I tried to hold them. I was so stupid to not realize it was her, just curious about my work. I concealed my work well but, clearly not well enough and now I fucked up royally again. And this time, it could've been at the expense of her very life.

I brought her into my lab and gently cleaned and bandaged her. Her arm was probably broken but she still had external cuts that needed cleaning. I could handle that, but her internal bleeding was the most intimidating . I slipped my hand in my pocket and called one of my friends. She would help with her internal problems. It would be negative to call her a witch, but there was no other way of addressing it. She practiced healing and grew herbs. She didn't cast spells if she didn't have to or only for self-defense situations. She was naturally gifted and didn't do too much talking when it really came down to it. Her line picked up.

" What's up, lover boy?" She murmured casually. She was probably drinking some tea at this time, as that was just what she did." I need your help." She set her cup of tea down " I'll be there in 10." She hung up. We never talked confidential stuff over the phone. It was just too risky.I turned around. My assistant sat idle next to the snake I'd been keeping. She was adorable, but stronger than most witches her age. Or ever. She gave me a bright smile and jumped off the table, getting close." Hey, Keith?" I nodded, waiting for her to go. She looked concerned, so I listened carefully." Do you remember when I told you there was an intruder?" I nodded.

" It was her." She whispered. " I zapped her out just before you came. I knew she was just curious and I didn't want her to get in trouble because she looked confused. I'm sorry." I took a deep calming breath and rubbed my temples with my fingertips. " You really should have told me sooner." I whispered, walking into the other side of the lab. I texted her quickly " Bring your cousin Naehyun as well." My assistant started making elixirs to distract herself. She added base and stirred. I sighed and stepped to her left, placing my hand on her shoulder. " I'm not mad at you, Alice. I just want you to tell me of things like that. And also, stop adding so much of the cyanamide, you could make a poison instead of an elixir." She nodded and added less.

It took the two 15 minutes to come. " Lover boy, who's blood is- " Vanessa gasped. She paled at the sight of Zoe. Naehyun looked at me strangely. Most times, she was flirty, but today she looked into my eyes, searching.

" Something's gone terribly wrong, hasn't it?" She asked quietly.