In Shadows and Starlight

Echoes Of The Door .

Jay sat at the back of the lecture hall ,the glow of the projection reflecting on her glasses .The proffessor droned on about binary trees ,but her focus wasn't on the class .Her pen hovered over her notebook, scribbling the same line of code over and over until it etched through the page .

Her mind was a whirl of fragmented images :the endless limbo ,the ancient door ,and the suffocating energy behind the ancient door she had entered .She felt detached from her body ,a shadow in a room full of tangible beings .

No one noticed her .No one ever did .The whispers and laughter of her classmates washed over her like white noise .A group of girls passed her on the way out ,their conversation buzzing with exitement about weekend plans.Jay lingered behind ,letting the room empty before she slipped away .

At the bookstore ,Jay fell into rythym of organizing shelves and ringing up customers . The mundanity should have grounded her but her mind kept slipping back to the limbo .

A man came to the counter his voice breaking her trance. "miss ? you okay?"

She startled, blinking at him ." Oh , sorry .yes." she fumbled through the transactiom ,her cheeks buring .

Mia ,her coworker ,noticed and shot her a concerned look ." you sure you're okay,Jay ?" 

Jay nodded quickly ,avoiding her gaze ." just tired ."

The afternoon went on slowly it wasn't busy as usual at the bookstore ,after her five hour at the bookstore she changed back to her clothes and left for her convinient store fivehour part time job.

The first three hours at the convient store are always busy as its the time when students and office workers were clocking out and needed to get coffee ,noodles ,cigarettes. the last two hours aint busy its one customer after some minutes . Time flies very fast there she didnt have time too get distracted .

On her way back to her room ,just like a norm she grabbed cup noodles ,some bread and milk as i clocked out .Back in her room ,Jay sat at her desk ,her laptop open half -finished assignment .She stared at the screen ,the blinking cursor mocking her.

Her room felt heavier tonight ,the silence oppressive .she worked on the assignment half heartedly often getting distracted ended up sleeping late .

Tuesday .

Jay arrived late to her lecture ,slipping into a seat at the front .She hoped that the proximity to the proffesor would force her to focus ,but it didn't help. Her notes were a scattered mess of half-formed thoughts and fragmented doodles .

At work Jay shelves books ,ringing up customers mindlessly ,her thoughts swirling .she couldnt shake off the sense that something had followed her back from the limbo . her coworker tried to engage her again but Jay brushed her off ,retreating to the backroom whenever she could .The bustle at the convinient store was the same ,her walking back to her room sluggishly and lying on her bed and thoughts flooded her mind .she didn't even know when she fell asleep .

Wednesday .

Jay skipped her morning lecture ,overwhelmed by the effort it took to simply exixt .She stayed in her room ,attempting to study but finding herself staring blankly at her screen.

She called in sick to work ,lying to her managers and feeling guilty as she spent the afternoon sitting by her window .The street below bustled with life ,but it felt worlds away .

That night she sat in bed, knees drawn to her chest ,whispering,"what is happening to me?" Her reflection in the mirror looked pale ,hollow.

Thursday .

Jay forced herself to attend her morning lecture ,sitting in the back again .No one acknowledged her absence the previous day, and she felt invisible .The professor's words faded into background noise ,her mind replaying the moment she opened the door .

At work the same routine followed as usual , that night she dreamt of the limbo .The endless gray ,the ancient door ,and the faint hum of something vast and unkowable stayed with her long after she woke .

Friday

The week dragged on .Jay's classmates chatted in groups before class ,but no one looked her way .she sat at her desk ,doodling in the margins of her notebook-always doors ,symbols ,and abstract shapes she didn't recognize .

Her shift at the bookstore passed in a blur of customers and stacks of books .Mia tried to make small talk ,but Jay offered one-word responses until mia gave up .The convinience store one always went by quickly .

In her room that night she stared at her ceiling ,her heart heavy with a sense of foreboding she couldn't name. The memory of the limbo was a constant weight on her mind .

Saturday 

On weekends classes weren't mandatory . Jay slept in and when she woke up she cleaned her laundry and her room before going out for work .

At the bookstore on  weekend it is ever busy packed with customers ,this was a great distraction but once in a while she still found herself lost in thought .

At the convinience store it was rather slow .  That night Jay tried to binge watch on her favourite shows but she found herself completely zoned out . 

Sunday 

At the end of the week Jay had fallen into a routine of quiet detachment .She went in for one lecture in the morning ,completed her work shifts and returned to her room ,where the weight of her thoughts felt unbearable .

The week ended with Jay sitting in the dark ,her only company the flickering light of her laptop and the unanswered questions that haunted her .