I looked at the pair of girls who seemed very concerned about me. When I thought about Helena’s expression just now, I grew hesitant once more.
For some reason, I chose not to tell Sybille what happened to me today. Usually, I would tell her anything I had on my mind.
Due to my condition, I did not want to stress about it any longer. After taking a shower, I went back to my bed and prepared to settle in for the night.
I ended up tossing and turning in bed. When I grabbed my phone to text Job, I noticed I received a bank transfer to my account.
Sybille had just transferred five hundred dollars to me, even though she only had a thousand and two hundred dollars for her monthly allowance.
I texted her about it and received an instant reply.
[My mom wanted me to remind you to make sure you eat. If you need any help, they have your back. They are your godparents, after all.]
It was then I remembered her mother had a chronic disease, which she needed long-term physical therapy to recover from.
Since she could not work, her father was the only breadwinner in the family, despite only being a common salaried worker.
Five hundred dollars was a significant sum for their family.
I suddenly felt a sharp sting run up my nose and had the urge to cry. I told her everything that happened today, paying careful attention to omit the part where I spoke to Job.
Sybille typed a reply for several minutes before she finally clicked sent.
[Listen, Geneva. I’m not trying to badmouth Helena intentionally, but I have heard some things.]
[Anette told me that a few times when you were away and she was doing revision in the dormitory, Helena would go through your things and mix something in your skincare products. Then, she would go and threaten Anette to keep her mouth shut. Anette told me about this privately and wanted me to relay this to you.]
So, Helena was the reason my skin was breaking out.
She had also hammered nails into my shoes.
I was skeptical. [I did suspect her, but her reaction back there made me second-guess myself.]
[Don't forget that she was part of the theater club. She could have been acting back there.]
[Do you think there’s a chance she deliberately used that as a convenient excuse to distract you so you wouldn’t suspect her?]
However, I found the entire thing difficult to believe. My head started to ache from all the thinking, and it felt like a cloud of fog had nested deep in my skull.
I decided there was no point thinking about it in this state. I would worry about it after I got some rest.
With that, I closed my eyes.
...
I’m not sure how long I slept, but the sound of a rooster crowing awakened me.
I woke up in a dazed state to realize I could not move my body.
The bed in the dormitory was small, with hardly any room to stretch. I would always have episodes of what was known as sleep paralysis.
However, what was happening now felt completely different.
It was as if someone was sitting on top of my chest, pinning me with their whole weight so I could not breathe.
I opened my eyes, only to be greeted by complete darkness. The whole world was void.
This was not my first time experiencing sleep paralysis. I forced myself to calm down and focused on regaining control. Then I started by trying to twitch my finger.
No matter what, my body would not obey my mind. I grew anxious and started to sweat profusely.
While I was still panicking, I seemed to hear the muffled voices of my dorm mates filtering through the curtain. I could not catch what they were saying, but I prayed desperately that one of them would come and wake me up.
After some time passed, I noticed a sliver of light spilling through the cracks of the curtains. It was certainly not nighttime anymore.
In that case, why couldn’t I see anything just now?
Completely thrown off by this, I looked around and glanced above me.
That was when I noticed a rotten face with its grotesque skin peeling off hovering right above me. Its coarse and mottled hair draped right over my eyelids like curtains.
I closed my eyes and screamed, horrified.
Suddenly, I snapped out of my state and shot straight out of bed.
I parted the privacy curtain and recognized Sybille sitting by herself on a chair opposite me. She had turned the reading light on and was in the middle of a book.
I immediately sprang out of bed and told her about the nightmare I just had all in one exhaustive breath.
She regarded me with a vacant expression before murmuring, “You mean this face?”
I blinked a few times before noticing that Helena and Anette had poked their heads out of their bed. Both of their faces were rotten and had skin peeling off like the chipped face of the bark of a tree.
I snapped awake again. This time, I was truly awake.
I found Helena standing below my bunk bed with an annoyed expression.
“Do you have cancer or some mental illness? Quit screaming in your sleep, it’s annoying!”
I took a moment to gather my breath before turning to her. “Why are you by my bed?”
