Arcanum

25

Iphi did not look okay when she came back. She looked pale again, her eyes were opened wide and she seemed to shiver a little. She was staring straight ahead, as she was making her way along the dark corridors. She almost looked like a ghost, the way she was quietly walking with feather light steps.

I slowly got up from where I was sitting, following Allen, Ruben and Faye. They went through the door, out into the hallway, calling after Iphi. I felt numb. To me it was almost as if all of this was happening far, far away and I was only there watching, packed in cotton. As if I wasn't really there.

Iphi finally turned around and I could see that there were tears on her cheeks. She didn't seem to be crying anymore, but she definitely had been crying. Her hands were shaking a lot and she was careful to stay in the dark for some reason. Whatever had happened in that office, I just knew that it was bad. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know anymore. Maybe it would be better if we all just forgot about all of it. If we did what Ruben had suggested and just lived our lives without caring about something that had happened 20 years ago at this university.

"Iphi! Will you wait up and talk to us?" Faye said. I could see Iphi just shaking her head and looking at all of us in shock.

"What are you even doing here? Are you insane, following me around like this? You should go, now, before anyone sees you around here." she urged us. It was only then that I seemed to be back in the present and I really realised what was going on. Iphi was alive. She wasn't in a good state, but she was alive.

"Why shouldn't anyone see us around here?" Ruben asked. Iphi's face dropped for just a second and she looked desperate and lost. But she soon put up her cold and distant facade again.

"Just... It doesn't matter, just go back to where you came from and leave me alone, alright?" she replied. She was acting weird. I hated how weird she was acting - something was wrong, something had happened in that office and it hadn't been good and I wanted to know. I wanted to know whether there was something - anything - I could do to help Iphi deal with everything.

I loved her after all, didn't I? I was definitely in love with her. Or that's what I thought at least. She was gorgeous, she was smart and she had such a presence at times, but at other times she just managed to blend in with the background. She seemed perfect to me, but I was suddenly not sure anymore whether I loved her, or whether I was in love with her, or whether I was just obsessed with her. I couldn't tell anymore and that was almost more devastating than seeing her like this.

"You're acting weird, Iphi. What's wrong? What happened in there?" Allen wanted to know. None of us made any sort of move to actually head back home. We all wanted to know what she had found out.

"You'll find out soon enough. I'm exhausted and I need time. Okay? So can you please just... just let me be for a little while? I'll tell you in the morning, if there's time." she said with a sigh.

"Just... just tell us if he did it or not." Faye begged. Iphi rolled her eyes and looked at all of us.

"Will you leave me alone if I tell you?" she wanted to know. We all nodded - all except for me. I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I hadn't realised she was asking a question until it was too late.

"Fine. He did it. It was an accident, but he was the one that pushed her and he was the one that suggested to leave her in the cave. That's the short version. Now get back home and maybe we'll be able to talk in the morning." she said. There were some whispers and some mumbling and everyone else was starting to turn around and make their way back to their homes.

I didn't really realise what was going on and once I noticed that everyone was actually leaving, my feet didn't want to obey me. I just kept standing there, my eyes on some dark stain on Iphi's forehead. I wondered what that was. Had it been there all this time? The closer I looked the more I could see. What the hell were those stains? And it looked like her neck was bruised, too...