Chapter 1: Beginning
The classroom door creaked open on the first day of the Fall semester just as our professor's voice reached a fever pitch in his attempt to rein in our wandering attention. He glanced up to see who the latecomer was, but not a single visible strand of hair poked out from beneath the hoodie shrouding their face.
"Take a seat, please," he instructed, his words more hopeful than persuasive.
In a whisper of cheap polyester, the mystery student claimed a seat directly beside me.
I glanced over, mere inches away from my neighbour, and found myself confronted with an unreadable silhouette amidst the classroom sea of earnest faces. My gaze quickly returned to the screen, the lecture continuing unabashed as I basked in the anonymity of a thousand staring eyes.
As the hours ticked by and the professor's voice grew fainter, I allowed my thoughts to drift. I wondered what brought this stranger to our college, what they whispered to friends, what secrets lay within the folds of their hood.
When the room finally darkened for a video, the unspoken boundary of our personal space disappeared as naturally as the light.
I felt the mystery student's covert gaze on me. I turned; they looked away. A familiar routine, a tantalizing dance. I suppressed a smirk and returned my eyes to the screen, questioning whether they followed me this time or if it was mere coincidence.
Inches away, their hands grasped the desk, knuckles white. The flicker of the video illuminated each one in turn, revealing the slightest tremble.