Chapter 4

After the meeting with Professor Thompson, Jessica and I walked back to her dorm in silence. My mind was a mess of confusion and hurt.

"I just don't get it," Jessica finally said, breaking the silence as we sat down in her now half-empty room. "What could you have possibly done to make Emily and the others just up and leave? You guys were so close."

I shook my head, staring at the floor. "I have no idea, Jess. I've gone over everything a hundred times. Our last texts were normal. We were excited for the semester to start. There was no fight, no argument. Nothing."

The mystery of my old roommates felt more important than ever. Their disappearance was the start of everything. If I could figure out why they left, maybe I could understand why Lisa and Karen were so scared.

"There's no way to ask them," I said, frustrated. "Their numbers are gone, their socials are deleted. It's like they're ghosts."

"What about Karen?" Jessica suggested. "Maybe I can talk to her. Without you there. Maybe she'll tell me what she's so afraid of."

"It's worth a shot," I sighed. "I'll wait here."

A little while later, Jessica went looking for Karen. I stayed in the room, trying to study, but the words on the page just swam in front of my eyes. After about twenty minutes, my phone buzzed. It was Jessica.

"This is so weird," she said, her voice a hushed whisper. "I'm outside the library. I saw Karen go in, but she hasn't come out. But Sarah... I'm looking at you right now."

My blood ran cold. "What are you talking about, Jess? I'm in your room. I haven't moved."

"No, you're not," she insisted. "You're right here. You're walking across the quad, heading towards your old dorm building. You're wearing that gray hoodie you love."

I looked down at my clothes. I was wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans. "Jess, I am in the room. I'm not wearing a hoodie. You must be seeing things."

"I'm not seeing things!" she hissed. "I'm looking right at you! You just walked past the big oak tree. You're not even looking at me. You're just... walking."

I stood up and walked to the window. My dorm, North Hall, had a clear view of the main quad and the oak tree she was talking about. My old dorm, East Hall, was visible in the distance. I looked out the window, scanning the quad. It was dotted with students, but none of them were me.

"Jess, I'm looking at the quad right now from the window," I said, my voice shaking. "There's no one in a gray hoodie walking toward East Hall. I swear to you, I am in this room."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. I could hear her breathing quicken.

"Wait a second," she whispered. Her voice was filled with a new kind of dread. "That's not possible. If you're in the room... then who am I looking at?"

My heart hammered against my chest. "Jess, where are you exactly?"

"I'm by the west entrance of the library," she said. "The 'you' I see is almost at the entrance to East Hall now."

"Stay on the phone, Jess. Don't hang up."

I watched from the window as a figure that looked exactly like Jessica, down to her red backpack, suddenly came into view near the library entrance. She was staring intently across the quad, her phone pressed to her ear. She looked terrified.

And across the quad, walking with a steady, eerie calm toward the doors of my old dorm, was another figure. A girl wearing my gray hoodie. From this distance, I couldn't see her face, but her build, her hair, her walk... it was me. It was undeniably me.

My vision swam. My head felt light. It was impossible. I was in two places at once.

"Oh my god," Jessica gasped into the phone. "She just went inside. She went into East Hall."

"Jess, listen to me," I said, trying to control the panic in my voice. "The person you are seeing is not me. I am here. In your room."

"I... I don't understand," she stammered. "My eyes must be playing tricks on me. I think I'm seeing things. I need to get out of here."

I could hear the raw fear in her voice. The same fear I'd seen in Lisa and Karen.

"Jess, wait!"

But it was too late. Through the window, I saw her figure turn and run. She ran away from the library, away from East Hall, as if her life depended on it. She was running so fast that her phone slipped from her hand, clattering onto the pavement. She didn't even stop to pick it up. She just kept running until she was out of sight.

The line went dead.

I stood frozen at the window, staring at the empty space where she had been. Then my eyes drifted back to East Hall. The other me was gone, swallowed by the building. The building that was supposed to be empty. The building that held my old room, 304.