(Layra)

  I wake up to the sound of the school bell. I didn't have any dreams last night; I just replayed real nightmares. I hate myself. How can I have witnessed the decay of a person with my own eyes and still have fallen asleep? What kind of creature am I?

  When I sit on my bed, still weighed down by the exhaustion and horror of my nightmares, I feel like everyone is staring at me. I don't know why.

  I walk with Nora toward the dining hall. My body is trembling. My hands are sweaty. I can't eat anything—I'm not a monster.

  When we reach the breakfast tables, we realize we're really late. There's only one spot left, right in the middle of the hall. We go and sit there. My eyes fall on the food, and I feel like throwing up. I quickly spot the bread and orange juice. It's better to just have that.

  Nora reaches for her meal. I don't want to be friends with a cannibal.

  "Heyyy!" I shout involuntarily.

  The kids at the tables on the left and right turn to look. Nora says angrily, "Whoa, kid, are your crazy-ties kicking in? You've been walking around like a zombie all morning, and now this?"

  Suddenly, my face turns red. What should I say? Tell her she's been eating people instead of food until now? Tell her I saw how Emma decayed and did nothing?

  I say, "I can't tell you."

  She lets out a loud laugh. "Are you sure your head's on straight?"

  I turn red again. What do I say? I just stammer. Then I remember my old method for convincing close friends.

  "I swear!" I don't know why I thought it would work on her.

  I quickly add, "In... in the library... I'll tell you."

  Nora smiles. "Why are you swearing so much?"

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  My heart beats more calmly. I take a deep breath. "Please, just eat that bread and the orange juice."

  She looks at me impatiently, then picks up the bread and eats it. Under her breath, she mutters something.

  While drinking the juice, the sound from the next table distracts me. A blond boy, very thin with shy, sorrowful eyes, looks at the person across from him and says, "You've already gotten ninety-eight demerits seven times! Aren't you tired of the punishments? Do you want to get expelled?"

  The other one answers indifferently. "They forced me to come here; I'm getting back at them by not studying. Punishments don't matter to me; they're no worse than my dad's. Besides, if I get expelled, it's over. I'll go back to my normal life."

  I want to scream, You fool!!! But I say nothing. My heart doesn't ache for him; I get angry at him. Some people are just too stupid.

  After classes end, we go to the library. I have my math notebook with me. Inside, I wrote about the nightmare. I hid a person's death among my numbers. I hand the notebook to Nora. I whisper in her ear, "Open to the page where the binding is loose. Until—" I can't finish my sentence.

  The librarian calls my name. He is one of them, too. Part of the monsters, though on the surface, unlike the others, he appears as a kind, likable man in his fifties. He calls out, "Hey, hey Layra, you haven't returned the books you borrowed!"

  I say, "Can you give me a little time? I have a—"

  But he cuts me off, unconcerned. "You have to bring them today, or you'll get a financial penalty!"

  A financial penalty. The school's new rule. I can't take that risk. My parents barely send money for my food; I can't ask them to pay for my foolishness, too. Reluctantly, I say, "Okay, I'll bring them now."

  I go to my dorm and hurriedly grab the books. I have to get back to Nora and convince her. When I return to the library, Nora is staring at me with a bewildered look. I can't tell if she's scared or making fun of me.

  I quickly hand the books to the librarian. It takes him long, tedious minutes to find my name on the list. I get frustrated. Finally, he crosses my name out.

  I rush back toward Nora. She says in a mocking tone, "I think you've lost your mind! You took up our break and mealtime to say this nonsense?"

  Suddenly, from the stress, I can't hear anything. The math notebook isn't in her hand. I stare at her, bewildered. I want to punch her in the stomach for two reasons: one, because she doesn't believe me, and two, because she left my math notebook on one of the tables.

  But my body is trembling. With a stunned face, I ask, "Wh... what did you do with my notebook?"

  She answers with her usual nerve-grating indifference, "It's over th—" and stops, her voice filled with sudden shock.

  The notebook isn't there.

  My body shakes. What if the supervisors find it? But they haven't come here yet...

  Suddenly, a voice from behind me makes me jump.

  That traitor, two-faced, cannibal is standing in front of me. In my mind, I spit every one of those words in his face.

  He is Elai.

  He holds up my notebook with an eerie calm and asks, "Looking for this?"