SILHOUETTE

SHATTERED

The College - A Hallway of Echoes

The day felt suffocatingly ordinary. Addie dragged herself through the college's dimly lit hallways, the air heavy with silence, amplifying every creak of the floor and shuffle of feet. She moved like a shadow, unnoticed, her mind elsewhere. The laughter of students around her grated against her nerves-it was too loud, too normal.

Her best friend, Edrick, called out, "Addie!" His voice was a lifeline she wasn't sure she wanted to grab. He jogged to catch up with her, his usual smirk faltering as he noticed the haunted look in her eyes. "You've been dodging me all week. What's going on?"

Addie hesitated, gripping the strap of her bag tightly. "Nothing, Edrick," she said, her voice cold and distant.

"You can't keep shutting me out. I'm not like the others." His tone softened, but frustration simmered beneath the surface. "Addeline, I'm worried about you. You look like you haven't slept in weeks."

She sighed, leaning against the cracked wall. The old fluorescent lights flickered above, casting eerie shadows across their faces. "Edrick," she began, her voice barely above a whisper, "do you ever feel like... you're being watched? Like something-someone-just out of sight, waiting for you to look away?"

His expression shifted to one of concern and disbelief. "Addie, you need to stop reading those gothic novels. You're freaking yourself out."

But Addie's gaze remained fixed on the far end of the hallway, where the shadows seemed to move unnaturally. She could feel it-something was watching her.

Edrick stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Addeline... you know you can tell me anything, right? You're not alone in this."

Her lips trembled as she whispered, "I wish that were true."

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the hallway. They both turned toward the sound-a classroom door had slammed shut, though no one had entered or left. The atmosphere thickened, the fluorescent lights buzzing like trapped flies.

Edrick chuckled nervously. "Old buildings, right?"

But Addie's face paled, her fingers digging into her palm. "Old buildings don't breathe," she muttered, barely audible.

---
The Library - Whispers in the Stacks

The library was her sanctuary. The musty smell of aged paper and the soft whispers of students always felt comforting. But tonight, the quiet was different-oppressive.

Addie wandered through the labyrinth of bookshelves, her fingers trailing along the spines of ancient volumes. She wasn't searching for anything in particular, just trying to escape the noise in her head. But as she turned a corner, she froze.

A single book lay open on the floor, its pages yellowed with time. The title caught her eye: The Watcher's: Legends of the Veils.

Her heart pounded as she crouched to pick it up, her fingers trembling. The illustrations inside were grotesque-skeletal figures cloaked in shadows, their eyeless faces turned toward the reader.

"You shouldn't read that," came a voice from behind her.

She jumped, clutching the book to her chest. It was Edrick again, his face pale as he glanced at the book. "Where did you even find that?"

"It was just... here," she stammered, her voice shaking.

He grabbed the book from her hands, flipping through the pages. His expression darkened. "This isn't the kind of thing you should be messing with, Addie."

Before she could respond, a chilling breeze swept through the aisle, rustling the pages of every book around them. The lights flickered, casting long, distorted shadows on the walls.