Chapter 8

The scream didn't scare Xuesong too much. Screaming happens occasionally, but nobody other than Xuesong hears it. Hehuan didn't move, except his head slowly turning towards Xuesong, as if he had just realized Xuesong was there. His two other roommates were fast asleep.

Then, another scream. This time, Hehuan looked up, tensing a little. Something hit the ground above them with a dull thump, and Hehuan looked at Xuesong with a concerned expression. The sound was coming from above them, where the girls slept.

"Er... They're probably okay, right?" Hehuan asked. One of the other boys had woken up.

"Dude, did you hear someone screaming?"

"Uhm, sometimes girls do that?" Hehuan replied uncertainly. The screaming was getting louder, accompanied by two other people.

"...That doesn't sound like something people would normally do." The other boy groaned, rubbing his head.

"Imma go check it out," he said, getting down from his bunk.

"Ah, I'll go with you," Hehuan replied, going after him hastily. The light in the lobby flooded the small room briefly, then the door closed, forcing the light out with it. Xuesong stood in silence, in the middle of the room. A loud crash came from above them. There was more banging on the ground. More shouting and screaming.

Xuesong remembered the note Meihua had received. The note. Was the girl screaming Meihua? And the note writer. That was probably Yuxi. Would Yuxi really go so far as to kill Meihua? And, for Hehuan?

It didn't make sense why somebody would kill anybody. It was so surreal.

Perhaps Xuesong was overthinking. It made no sense. Nobody would kill anyone.

Xuesong climbed back up the ladder to his bed, the muffled screams and shouts still very loud above him. Now that he was closer to his ceiling, he could hear them more clearly. "Please! Stop it!" It... didn't really sound like Meihua, which was a relief.

Xuesong was almost disgusted that he was relieved. Why would he be so happy somebody was getting probably brutally beaten up above him? Just because it wasn't somebody he knew? But, he didn't know Meihua very well either. Was he able to turn a blind eye, just because he didn't have anything to do with the situation?

Xuesong closed his eyes, wondering if Hehuan had gotten to the situation yet.

"It's all your fault, you useless brat!" A distant voice said in the back of his head, in a crazed and hoarse tone. The sounds of the girl were still above Xuesong. Other people were there now.

He sat up, his head nearly brushing the ceiling. There was a lot of commotion above him, footsteps beating on the ground. Voices yelling. He heard the sounds of teachers, other students. But they were all muffled and mute, compared to the girl. She cried in gasping breaths, sobbing silently on the ground, right above Xuesong. A thin layer separated them. Xuesong put his hand on the ceiling, the girl right above him.

Xuesong heard somebody else crying. Was it himself? But he wasn't crying. Was it just another delusion he was having?

In the fray of voices, in the background of panicked and rushed chatter, a voice cut all of them out. The sound of a teacher. Most likely the psychology teacher. The crying girl's breath hitched too, silencing along with the others.

Xuesong's hand dropped. He looked down. In the dark, he saw bruises. All over his hand. Both hands. Then, his face. There were bruises on his body too.

It was hard to breath. Xuesong laid down, then rolled over, clutching his head.

"Useless. Die. I hope you die." A face looked at him. Tears hit his cheeks. Not his tears. The tears of the person looking at him. With angry eyes.

There were hands on his neck. Xuesong gasped in pain, clutching those hands, trying to pry them apart. The sound of a woman crying and screaming, while trying to kill him. DIE. DIE. USELESS BRAT.

The door opened with a bang, and Xuesong flinched, gasping. Another yelp came from the other boy, who had slept through the whole thing. Hehuan groaned, then another voice said something so muffled Xuesong couldn't hear. In the light from the corridor, there were no bruises on Xuesong's hands, but there was blood.

There was blood on his neck too. It hurt, but Xuesong just pulled down his covers and tried to ignore it.

Why would he choke himself? Was he a masochist?

Soon, the door closed, and the room was silent again. In his head, Xuesong still heard the sounds of the girl crying. He felt dizzy as if the world was turning upside-down.

He woke up covered in sweat the next morning. He got up, and Hehuan was staring at space again. Xuesong wondered if Hehuan was a robot, right now in "off" mode.

Hehuan blinked, turning back on. Instantly, his eyes widened.

"Xuesong!" What happened to your neck??" Xuesong was confused. He touched his neck, flinching when it hurt.

He looked in the mirror. There were bruises and markings on his neck. His eyes were red. He looked back at Hehuan, who had gone to stand beside him.

"Gee, are you okay? That wasn't there yesterday." He looked genuinely worried. Xuesong brushed it off. It stung a little, but wasn't a huge bother, although he was still curious how he had gotten the wound.

"Anyways, Hehuan. What happened yesterday?"

"Huh? We're just going to brush past your glaring injury?" Xuesong sighed.

"It's not a big deal. Just tell me." Hehuan looked down, not seeming happy about Xuesong easily brushing off the topic.

"Well... only if you get that treated." Xuesong nodded. "Ah, well, then, I guess I'll tell you." Hehuan sighed, sitting back on his bed. "Yuxi... she got into a fight with another girl." Well, Xuesong wasn't too surprised. "It wasn't really a fight... more like a one-sided massacre."

Makes sense.

"Why'd she do it?" Xuesong asked.

"That's the thing. She says she's doing it just for fun."