The next morning, Raven woke up with a heavy feeling in her chest. The dreams that had been plaguing her felt more and more real, as if the line between dream and reality was starting to fade.
However, that morning she was determined to go about her day as an ordinary college student, without the shadows of the past demanding more and more answers and making her head hurt more and more as she tried to remember everything.
After showering and getting dressed, she walked out of her room with slightly hesitant steps. Meredith, her cheerful roommate, was already waiting for her outside shaking a lunchbox in her hand.
"Good morning, sleepyhead!" greeted Meredith in a cheerful tone. "I even had time to get this for your breakfast before you woke up. I know, you must have overslept again, right?"
Raven smiled embarrassedly, then accepted the lunchbox full of toast and fruit. "Thanks, Mer. You always know when I need a saviour."
"Yeah, yeah. I know that." Meredith replied with an artificially cocky tone that made Raven laugh out loud at her friend's silly behaviour.
Raven quickly ate her very late breakfast and hurried to change her clothes, then went outside to wait for Meredith who was still in the bathroom.
"You're so slow, Mer. Snails are faster than you," Raven said in a mocking tone.
"You're always late too!" Meredith chuckled. The two of them walked together towards the lecture hall, along the campus hallway that was crowded with hurrying students.
The two of them were still mocking each other until they arrived at the second floor where their class today would be held and then they fell silent.
In front of the class, a middle-aged lecturer who was often called Professor Lorry waited with a flat face, while folding his hands and tapping the floor with his foot.
Once she saw Raven and Meredith enter a few minutes late, the expression on her face turned stern.
"Miss Blaise and Miss Greenwood, late again?" scolded Professor Lorry in a cold tone.
Several students who happened to pass by the place immediately looked down. No one dared to look at the three people.
"We, ehm... we just need a little more time to, er... have breakfast," Raven replied awkwardly, glancing at Meredith who was already looking down.
"Yeah, yeah, classic excuse," she said sarcastically. "You can sit in the back-and don't disrupt class."
After saying that, the professor who almost never smiled except at the Dean walked in without paying any attention to Raven and Meredith.
Raven and Meredith elbowed each other and glanced at each other while holding back a small laugh. Not wanting to get an additional reprimand, they hurriedly walked to the back seat.
In their seats, the two were still elbowing each other. Raven was just about to interrupt Meredith when suddenly her forehead felt sore and swollen.
"You two in the back row. Stop what you're doing, lest we ruin our lecture this morning. Or, perhaps you two want to go out again? If that's what you want, I would like to ask Miss Blaise and Miss Greenwood to leave this class."
Professor Lorry's tone sounded very stern and frightening. It made Raven and Meredith instantly look down and lose their sense of humour.
Raven and Meredith immediately took out their notebooks, but after only a few minutes of class, Meredith slipped a piece of paper to Raven.
"Lunchtime, are you coming? There's a rumour about a new cafeteria opening around the corner! They say the food is delicious and cheap!"
Raven read the writing and replied with a small writing, "Okay, I'm coming. The important thing is that there's food. After a night of mystery, I need some fun stuff!"
Meredith wrote back with a cartoon smiley face and a thumbs up.
When lunchtime came, Raven and Meredith ran to the new cafeteria they had been talking about. Sure enough, the place was crowded with students curious about the new menus.
They queued up and ended up ordering several types of food-from warm soup to big, appetising-looking burgers.
Halfway through the meal, one of their classmates, Lucas, joined the table with a mischievous smile. "I heard from the kids that you guys got sprayed again by Professor Lorry. I almost laughed, I swear!" he said with a laugh.
"Hey, it's not our fault! That professor is always quicker to arrive than us," Meredith complained while excitedly chopping noodles.
Lucas chuckled and looked at Raven. "What about you, Raven? Are you familiar with this place?"
Raven smiled and nodded. "Quite familiar with many of the rooms... even, yes, including the classroom with the grumpy lecturer."
The three of them laughed and continued eating. It was a normal day, full of laughter and fun stories from friends who were busy with assignments or jokes about lecturers who liked to overwhelm them.
In that simple togetherness, Raven could momentarily forget the nightmare that kept haunting her.
However, in the midst of their boisterous chatter, Raven suddenly felt something lurking in the distance.
He tried to ignore it, but the feeling wouldn't go away. Raben looked around and felt a little disturbed.
"Hey, Raven, are you okay?" asked Meredith with a worried face.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. It's just... I have a weird feeling," Raven replied quickly, trying to return her smile.
They continued their conversation until the afternoon class was almost here. Before they parted ways for their respective classes, Meredith hugged Raven tightly, "Whatever happens, if you need me, I'm there for you, okay?"
Raven felt warm with the support from her best friend. "Thank you, Mer. I'll always be there for you too."
That day, Raven promised in her heart to continue protecting her quiet life as best she could.
However, in the corner of her mind, Raven knew that the approaching reality would soon test the limits of her resolve.
Underneath the joy she was living, Raven realised that the following nights might change everything - and that was a secret she had to keep.