Now, to begin with, Amani did not particularly like Aurora. She didn’t like her fake smile, the way she walked or how childish she seemed to be to Amani. But when she disappeared, Amani began to miss her. Okay, well, let’s not go that far. It wasn’t really a thing of missing, it was more of fear.
Yes, Amani was scared sh*tlessly. A week before Aurora’s disappearance, Amani felt herself growing..she didn’t like this word, in fact she found herself particularly disgusted by it, but…weaker Her weight had dropped, the snake that was bonded to her slowly eating through her. Aurora’s disappearance only made it worst due to the fact she realized this: if the fcking daughter of the headmaster was missing, whose to say any of them was safe? Why wasn’t the headmaster doing much? If he wasn’t going to protect his daughter, why would he protect the rest of them? Whatever it was, Amani did not feel like leaving her dorm for a while.
She was ‘sick’ so she was given permission from the professors to not attend lessons, and she simply studied in her room or at least she was supposed to, but she couldn’t get herself to move, to to do anything beyond existing.
Her body felt like a borrowed thing, something she wore wrong. The sheets tangled around her legs as if even fabric wanted to keep her still. Every time she tried to sit up, a sharp nausea bloomed beneath her ribs, a reminder—quiet but insistent—that the snake was still there, patient, consuming. Hunger came in strange waves. Not the kind that asked to be fed, but the kind that hollowed her out and laughed when she tried.
Amani slept at odd hours. Not real sleep, not the kind that stitched you back together. More like slipping under dark water and resurfacing just long enough to gasp. When she was awake, she stared at the ceiling and counted cracks she’d never noticed before, traced them with her eyes until they began to look like symbols, warnings, prophecies she refused to interpret. She’s had dreams too, a woman calling her name, who the tf was that woman and why did her parents look at her with such anger?
As thoughts swirled her mind, she heard a knock at her door. Usually, she would have the door through her shadows, but her powers felt weaker than usual and Amani did not want to risk it, in addition, she knew it already it was Tae, because only he was allowed into her room. No one really has seen her full dorm but him and the headmaster. So, there was no reason to panic, so instead she said, “Come in.” He entered, closing the door, and Amani opened her lips as she said: “…you’re late," ” she murmured, voice thin, fraying at the edges despite the attempt at bite.
It wasn’t an accusation so much as a fact, dropped gently between them like glass that might cut if mishandled.
Amani pushed herself up on her elbows, then thought better of it and sank back into the pillows. The motion alone made her head swim. She hated that he could probably see it—the way her shoulders didn’t quite square anymore, the way her breathing hitched like her body was negotiating with itself. She hated even more that Tae noticed things. Always had.
Her eyes flicked to him, lingering longer than she intended. He looked the same. Of course he did. Solid. Real. Anchored to the world in a way she currently was not.
“I’m not sick, don’t worry. You don’t have to tell my parents the situation.” ,” Amani said finally, gaze drifting to the far wall instead of his face. “But Tae,” She began suddenly, then as if something holding her, she stopped.