Page 7 of A Touch of Darkness

“Ha!” Lara exclaims, throwing me a playful grin. “Meanwhile, Sylvie kept me from flunking out of school, like I said. She’s always been the responsible one, making sure we stayon schedule. In high school, if I wanted to skip study hall, she’d march me right back into class like a mother hen.”

Rebecca laughs, clearly enjoying the dynamic. “Sounds like a great balance.”

Nicole taps her fingers against her tray, her gaze darting between us. “Is that why you both decided to room together here at Blackthorne, too? Couldn’t imagine being apart? I’ve always wanted a sister, but I’ve also thought about how sick of her I’d be if I had one.” She giggles mischievously.

Lara and I exchange a quick, amused look. “Pretty much,” she says simply. “We like our space, sure, but being at the same school and sharing a dorm makes this big change less intimidating. We don’t get sick of each other often,” she says. “But when we do, we aren’t shy about letting each other know…”

“Yep. Like when she won’t shut up when I’m trying to fall asleep,” I say in reference to last night, and the girls all laugh. “Growing up, we were inseparable—like we had our own little team within each other. Now, with Blackthorne being so huge and daunting, it’s nice to have someone who knows me better than anyone else.”

Nicole and Rebecca grin in unison. “You guys are seriously so cute,” Nicole says. “Rebecca just has to be my honorary sister since I’ll never have one of my own.” She glances at Rebecca and scrunches up her nose with a smile, and Rebecca nods.

A fresh wave of laughter ripples through our group, and for a moment, I take it all in: the echoes of conversation around us, the glow of the chandeliers illuminating my sister’s smile, and the easy camaraderie that’s forming between the four of us.

For a moment, the table falls quiet as we focus on finishing our meals. I listen to the surrounding clamor: trays clanking, laughter mingling with the hum of conversation, doors opening and closing as more students trickle in. Despite the chaos,there’s a warmth in my chest—a sense of belonging that wasn’t there when I arrived yesterday, nerves twisted in my gut.

Finally, I set my fork aside and lean back. “Thanks for sitting with us and chatting,” I say, looking at Nicole and Rebecca. “It’s nice to have others to share the insanity with.”

“Right back at you,” Rebecca replies, tapping her cup against mine in a light toast. “To surviving our first day—and all the weird mysteries of Blackthorne and those that inhabit it.”

We clink cups, and a small part of me thinks that maybe this place isn’t so overwhelming after all. With Lara by my side and new friends across the table, I’m beginning to see that Blackthorne isn’t just a Gothic fortress of textbooks and extreme professors and late-night studying. It’s a place where we can carve out our own stories while not forgetting our past. And that feels like a really nice contrast.

The second full day of classes is well underway, and it’s weird that we’re in the afternoon already and I haven’t spoken to my sister even once. I messaged her earlier to see if she could meetup for lunch but never got a reply.

When I leave my English class, I glance at my phone as I walk, expecting a return message from Lara.

Nothing.

Weird, but okay. She’s probably been crazy busy just like I’ve been.

When I reach the dorm at the end of the day, her side of the room is untouched—the same as it was this morning when we went our separate ways. The bed is neatly made, as she left it, and a few of her books are stacked on the desk. She probably got held up at one of her last classes or with talking to one of her countless new friends I’m sure she made today, I tell myself. Or maybe she ran into the guy shefell in lovewith. I smile thinking about how quickly she falls for…well, everyone she likes.

As the hours pass and the sun dips lower in the sky, sending shadows unfolding across the floor, my optimism over simple solutions fades.

I know her schedule as well as I know my own. She should have been back by now.

We planned on doing dinner again—a chance to decompress and swap second-day stories. It isn’t like her to not show up or at least send me a message.

I decide to text her again.

Me: Where you at?

No response.

By seven o’ clock, panic has fully set in, my overactive brain going haywire, and I can no longer attribute her absence and lack of texts back to anything other than what it is—terrifying. Lara doesn’t ghost me.

Ever.

If anything, she checks in and worries about me and my spiraling mind more often than she should have to.

Something is very, very wrong.

I decide to go in search of answers, not knowing where the hell I’ll find them, but needing to move in order to stay sane. Staying still seems unbearable. I stumble upon Nicole and Rebecca in the courtyard, which seems to be their place to hang because we all hung out here after dinner last night, too. Their laughter cuts off when they see the look on my face.

“Hey, have you seen Lara today? She hasn’t answered her phone,” I explain, my voice tight.

Nicole shakes her head. “No, sorry. I don’t have any classes with her. What about her schedule? Maybe she met up with a new study group or something?” she offers with a shrug.

“It just isn’t like her to not text me,” I tell them. “We were supposed to meet for dinner again. Actually, we were going to text you guys and see if you wanted to hangout again.” We all exchanged numbers last night and agreed to commiserate again soon.

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