"I'm quite confused too," Dana murmured in a daze, her eyes glazed over as if staring through reality itself. Her mind felt like a storm, chaotic, jumbled, unrelenting. Questions bounced around her brain, each one more impossible than the last: Gabriella? June? Gwen? How could that have been June or Gabriella? They don't look anything like June now… they were… twins?
"Are you all right?" Vanessa asked gently, her voice threaded with concern. This was the first time she had ever seen Dana like this lost, fragile, as though the world had shifted under her feet.
Dana didn't answer. She turned abruptly, her movements sharp and hurried, and strode back toward the dorm. Her long strides ate up the distance quickly, her hair bouncing wildly with each step, almost as if it had a life of its own. Vanessa exhaled a soft sigh, then hurried after her, matching her pace, though she wondered silently: What exactly had Dana seen? And why does it feel like I shouldn't know yet?
Dana reached her dorm and slammed the door open, so violently that it nearly struck Vanessa, who had to step back just in time. Vanessa's heart skipped a beat, but she followed Dana inside anyway.
"What is it?" Vanessa asked again, this time her tone firm, leaving no room for silence.
Dana collapsed onto her bed with the weight of exhaustion pressing her down. "June's name… has to be in the ledger," she murmured, voice trembling, "but it isn't." She ran her hands through her hair, almost tearing at it, as though trying to pry loose the truth. Her eyes, wide and haunted, seemed to search for something invisible.
"But it isn't…" she whispered, disbelief lining every word. And then, without warning, a hysterical laugh escaped her a high, wild sound that made Vanessa sigh also It bubbled up from deep within, uncontainable, raw.
Vanessa stayed quiet, letting Dana have her moment. She understood that this wasn't the time for questions or answers Dana needed space to untangle the chaos inside her. After a moment, she spoke softly, almost to herself, "Let's meet at the library this evening."
Dana didn't respond, but Vanessa knew she had heard.
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Vanessa sat at a table in the library, flipping pages halfheartedly. Her attention was elsewhere, her mind occupied by anticipation and curiosity. The library was quiet eerily so. Not even the librarian was present. Evening shadows stretched across the rows of bookshelves, the dim light casting strange, shifting shapes.
A soft click sounded behind her. "Good evening, Dana," Vanessa greeted, her voice carrying through the empty space.
Dana's mood was immediately noticeable tense, coiled like a spring ready to snap. "I was almost convinced that you wouldn't come and I would have had to come to your room" Vanessa added a playful edge in her voice.
"Well, good thing I'm here," she said, her words clipped.
Vanessa leaned forward. "Anyways… are you ready to share?" she asked. Her eyes searched Dana's face, trying to gauge whether this was the right moment to delve into the storm of visions.
Dana exhaled slowly, staring at the closed book in front of Vanessa, as if summoning the courage to speak. Then she looked up, meeting Vanessa's gaze directly. She began recounting the vision in painstaking detail, each memory a jagged piece of a puzzle too complicated to fit neatly together. Vanessa frowned, disbelief knitting her brows.
"So?" Vanessa finally asked, her voice sharp.
"Gabriella and June… they are twins," Dana said, her hand slicing the air to emphasize her point. "Gabriella was Gwen's former roommate… before she passed away. Gwen's current roommate is June. It's no coincidence,vI'm certain of it." Her eyes locked with Vanessa's, unwavering, demanding understanding.
Dana paused, and the tension in the room thickened. "In the vision… Gwen was dragging Gabriella's body." She shivered at the memory. "She… she was still alive."
"…Barely," Vanessa whispered, feeling the weight of the revelation.
"Still alive," Dana repeated, the words tasting bitter on her tongue.
Vanessa's mind raced. "Then how… how was Gabriella's body found on the other side of the dorm, if Gwen took her out of there?"
Dana's lips pressed together. "Let's say she eventually died," she continued slowly, "there's no way Gwen would take her back to the place where she was almost killed by a psychotic twin."
Vanessa's voice dropped, trembling with shock. "So… the body found… wasn't Gabriella's. It was June's."
Dana nodded slightly. The silence that followed was heavy, the kind that presses on your chest, making it hard to breathe.
"My guess," Vanessa said after a moment, "is Gwen walked in on the scene… killed June… and then took Gabriella out of there. Only one death was recorded, Gabriella's, but it was actually June who died." A strange smile curled at the corners of her lips. "Which means… Gabriella might still be alive. Somewhere."
Dana's eyes narrowed. "Gwen's current roommate… bears the name of the dead twin 'June'. That's not a coincidence."
"The June in the memory didn't even have the same face as Gwen's current roommate," Dana added, leaning forward, intensity in her voice. "There's a missing piece. Something isn't right."
Vanessa tilted her head. "So… how do you plan to get to the bottom of this?"
Dana's hands clenched the edge of the table. "Before the vision faded," she said slowly, "Gwen was dragging Gabriella's body somewhere. I remember a clock tower… the environment looked like Herbert Wilbur."
Vanessa blinked, skeptical. "There's no clock tower around here. I've never seen one."
"I'm certain it exists," Dana insisted. "Somewhere in this school. And we're going to find it."
Vanessa leaned back in her chair, exhaustion making her movements heavy. "Sure… but not tonight. I'm too tired."
Dana studied her, the tension in her posture unrelenting. "You know the break ends tomorrow," she said quietly, "and the school will be full. Moving around won't be as easy as it has been."
"Then so be it," Vanessa replied. She rose from her chair, gathering her book. "You need rest… and so do I."
Vanessa left, her footsteps echoing softly through the vast, shadowed library. Dana remained, alone, surrounded by towering shelves and creeping darkness, the evening settling like a cloak around her shoulders.
Gwen was hiding something monumental. And Dana, determined, relentless, would unravel it.
"Gwen, better be ready".