Not As Everything Seems

Chapter Three

               The sound of alarms woke her up bright and early in the morning. But it wasn't her alarm for classes, nor was it the alarm to take Arrow out and give him breakfast. It was the alarm that had her cursing and jumping out of her bed. Either someone had set off the fire alarm or it was a drill. Nonetheless, she jumped out of her bed and quickly put on her shoes, grabbing Arrow's leash and attaching it to his collar before they both dashed out of the room and down the stairs to outside.

              Once outside, she allowed Arrow to nudge and lean against her as he could sense her anxiety. Her body shook slightly and reached down, patting his head behind his ear as she looked around and tried to figure out what was going on. Come to find out, it was indeed a drill, she sighed softly and rubbed her eyes before checking the time on her watch, sighing again and deciding to take Arrow for his morning walk. Walking down the hill that was in front of her dorm, she allowed Arrow to do his business, her eyes scanning the area before them before focusing on her dog.

               When he was done, she cleaned up the area and threw away the bag before leading him back inside the building, and up to their room. Once inside, she grabbed his bowl and poured a cup of kibble into it as well as some wet food as a snack before making Arrow sit and wait as training before giving him the command to eat. She refilled his water bowl and smiled at him. She knew he didn't have to go out after he ate and if he did, the dog would definitely let her know. With this, she laid back down in her bed, looking at Arrow for a moment before rolling over and grabbing her phone off of the windowsill and checking her notifications before locking her phone again and placing it back down, closing her eyes again. Her bed shifted a bit as Arrow climbed onto it caused her to open her eyes thinking that he had to go out. But the animal laid down beside her on the bed and breathed before closing his eyes. She smiled and scratched behind his ear before closing her own eyes and deciding to catch some more sleep before classes.

               Another alarm woke her up at around nine in the morning. She groaned and rolled over, shutting off the annoying sound from her device as she opened her eyes and groaning again. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, she checked her notifications again then got up. She had class in thirty minutes, and she knew if she had laid in bed any longer, she wouldn't be going to class this morning. She got out of the warmth of her bed, stretching and grabbing some clothes to change into. She got dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt since it was getting colder outside. She brushed her hair and then packed her laptop in her backpack, turning on her wax warmer and tv onto a random YouTube video so that Arrow wasn't totally submerged in quiet. Tying her converse, she slung the backpack over her shoulder and grabbed a can of soda out of her food storage before giving Arrow a kiss on the head before leaving the room after grabbing her keys.

               Her first two classes weren't horrible; however Ivy was having trouble focusing due to the nagging feeling in her gut. She couldn't shake off the encounter that she had the night before. As much as she wanted to ignore it, she couldn't. It stayed in the back of her mind like a plague with the sole purpose of driving her insane. It was so unbearable that she didn't even notice that the class had ended until she saw other classmates packing up and leaving. Quickly grabbing her stuff, she shoved her laptop into her backpack and headed for the door. She kept her head down, staring at the pavement as she walked. Going through her morning classes like a blur as she felt as if she was on autopilot. She thought about doing research on what she might have seen but decided against it, not wanting to get more nightmare fuel while she was in class. The fear of what she might discover had stopped her as well.

               With the morning half of her classes over, Ivy had a break for lunch to which she checked on Arrow and took him out to go to the bathroom before she quickly grabbed lunch with her friends. Pushing the encounter to the farthest corner of her mind, she tried to focus on her friends and stayed in the conversation. It worked to a degree, but it wasn't until she had left her friends for the afternoon classes that she felt the nagging thoughts once more. She was getting annoyed with it but she didn't know how to exactly make it stop. One her way to her class, she overheard a few people talking about a party that was happening this weekend and she figured it would be a perfect time to forget about whatever happened and what she potentially had seen. Now a part of her couldn't wait until the weekend so that she could forget what happened and drown the feeling with alcohol. It seemed like a good plan to her.

               Her afternoon classes pass by in a blur, her thoughts clouded and causing her to daydream more than normal. Luckily, she sat in the back so the professor either hadn't noticed that she wasn't paying the full attention that she should be, or they simply didn't notice. Either way, she was left alone. Once her classes were over, she found herself down at the lake on campus, sitting down on the dock, staring at the water as her knees were to her chest, chin resting on her arms that were wrapped around her knees. She watched the water sway in the soft breeze that wafted through the area. It calmed her, as if the wind was trying to calm her ever growing nerves. Ivy wasn't focused on anything important as she stared out at the water, the sun glistening on top of the liquid. It was then that her thoughts had finally seemed to calm, a peaceful tranquility flowing through her head, causing her shoulders to relax and a breath to be released from her parting lips.

               But that feeling was short lived, as movement from across the lake caught her attention. It was as if the trees had moved to show something that would haunt her dreams that night. She had seen it. The same thing that she had seen the night before. Across the lake, walking along the treeline was a creature-like figure, walking along the forest floor in broad daylight. She saw the height, the stature even though it was hard to do since the lake was vast and put more than enough space between the two of them. Her eyes widened as she saw the skull-like mask that hung over where the face would be on the creature and she prayed that it wouldn't see her. So far so good, as the thing kept walking as if searching for something and nothing at the same time. Figuring this was her time to leave, she slowly got up, keeping her movements calculated in order to not draw attention. Seeming that she had succeeded, she began to walk off the dock and up the path that led back to the main points of campus. Relief flooded her when she saw the familiar academic buildings that told her that she was safe, even if it was a false sense of security. Walking swiftly back to her dorm, she was met with Arrow as happy as always to see her. Smiling, she pets the dog's head before dropping her backpack down on the floor beside her desk and laying down on her bed with a sigh, scratching Arrow's ear as he sat down beside the bed. She sighed again before looking at the dog, "A little nap might do me good huh boy?" she asks him and giggles when he licks her hand in response before laying down on his pillow to chew on a toy. Nuzzling into her pillow, Ivy sighed yet again before making sure that some video was playing on her TV before closing her eyes.