Lying down on my couch, staring at the ceiling of my room, I was just completely at a loss for words. The first ray of light from the hot scorching ball of fire brought the dawn of a new day, a day that would certainly invite new challenges. The way things played out yesterday, and still, the question about how I ended up back here? All of it was quite ambiguous at best. Plus, how did this person X not devour on me, and choose to not leave me on the streets but bring me back here, and speaking of that, it raised another question. How did this person X know where I stayed? All of this was quite confusing.
But if I had to point out something rather bizarre, the fact that there were people disappearing on a staggering amount and yet there were no reports of missing persons was what baffled me. Either what I had seen yesterday was an illusion or, there's something strange happening in this small town.
I ruled out the possibility of Marcus being the one to bring me back to my room since I never told him where I stayed, even though he was the one and only person who knew a lot about me than I've known about myself. But there are some things that even he doesn't know about me, and I think I'd like things to remain like that. Sometimes, it's the secrets that we keep within us that bring us closer to people who would be hurt the most if they were to ever reveal themselves.
The only thing I knew was staying locked up in my flat wouldn't get me anywhere. I know that I am a target. So either way, I'll have to face this predicament sooner or later. Hence, I deduced that I had to be on the offensive. If that was a given outcome irrespective of whatever tricks I tried to pull, then I had nothing to lose.
I just decided to call it quits, picked up my stuff, and started to head towards the campus. On my way, I decided to take a quick detour and headed towards the dark alleyway from the other day. Normally, this would have been a foolish idea but since it was daybreak, I decided to take my chances. Even though the gothic relics described that the vampire lineage can't stand the sun, there were always a few exceptions and it's better to be safe than sorry.
I didn't expect much to be there if anything to be honest. If I were to put myself in their shoes, I would make sure to not leave any evidence whatsoever, since it would be a hindrance in the long run and I'd have to eliminate any possible threats to conceal my identity, till the point I have a possibility of luring my target. I reached the site and as I expected, it was perfectly normal, like any alleyway. What surprised me was that it was as it had been any other day that I had to double-check to see if what I'd been through the previous night wasn't a hallucination of a grand order.
I slowly retraced my footsteps and went towards the trash can I bumped into the other day, and there seemed like a small dent supposedly at the place I smacked it at. So that assured me that I wasn't dreaming. Phew!
"What're you doing there? I didn't think you were leading the life of a stray cat Axel!"; an energetic Marcus headed my way. Just when I had to do some digging, he always had to show up at the wrong time.
"Tch! It's rare to see you so early in the morning. I was sure you hit off with another girl."; This was a routine for Marcus. He didn't invest much time in a serious relationship as much as he did in flirting with other girls.
"Likewise, I could say the same to you. The man who always shows up to the campus at the very last moment is way ahead of his schedule that I'm starting to wonder have I just woken up in a parallel universe or some sort and besides that, could you not refer to me like I'm some playboy? Even I have feelings too."; I wish that were the case though.
Spending time here with Marcus would have been fruitless. I decided to go ahead without checking out the hidden alleyway. What a bummer!
We entered our campus and headed out to our respective departments. While Marcus belonged to the History department, I belonged to the Psychology department, and each one was at its own designated building. My classroom was something of a typical college classroom. Because of the elevating height, it was pretty clear that the professor could keep an eye on us and I couldn't snooze off if I wanted to. Since I had the privilege of being the most hated student on this campus, my seat was at the far and no one would be around that vicinity. Maybe hated would be a little too far-fetched. I don't think that everyone in the university would give me the time of their day to harbor resentment towards me at all times and be aware of my existence in their conscience irrespective of my presence. Yeah, I'll settle with the term disliked.
I noticed that there was an envelope on my desk. I looked around and not one person made eye contact with me. Guess it wasn't them. I didn't have any high hopes for this letter. It read;
1 PM,
BLOCK-H,
ROOFTOP!
There was no information about the sender, and this looked like it was written with the help of a typewriter. It wasn't uncommon to have a typewriter here. I didn't heed any attention to it but I decided to go ahead.
It was 12:57 PM! I was near the entrance of the rooftop. There was no sign of any human activity here. I decided to wait till the very end while keeping an eye out for anything peculiar so that it doesn't turn out to be a prank of some sort.
It was 1 PM. I made sure to check the stairs and then opened the door. When I stepped my foot out towards the balcony, I felt a sudden change around the surroundings. In a split second;
A PUNCTUAL GUY, I LIKE IT!
A sudden voice spoke, and I noticed a shadow behind me. I quickly moved away.
WE MEET AGAIN, ESPER!