At three in the morning, I was awakened by my two roommates chatting in the bed next to mine. I turned on my bedside lamp and angrily snapped, “Emily, what are you and Jessica talking about in the middle of the night? I’m trying to sleep!” Emily Wilson immediately shot back, “Megan, are you crazy? I was sleeping, not talking. And who’s Jessica? Are you having delusions or something?” Her words instantly jolted me awake. I blinked, only to realize that Jessica Carter, who had been sleeping in the bed next to mine, was gone. Not only had her blanket, shoes, and toothbrush disappeared, but her name had also vanished from the dorm duty roster on the wall. I clutched the ten dollars Jessica had given me earlier that day in my pocket, firmly believing Emily was lying. But Laura Baker, who occupied the other bed, looked at me with confusion and said, “Megan, don’t freak me out. There’s no one named Jessica in our entire school.” Our dorm room was a standard four-person room at the university. Since the first day of college, the four of us had lived together. I clearly remembered that just last Wednesday, the three of us had pooled our money to buy Jessica a birthday cake to celebrate her twentieth birthday. But now Emily and Laura were telling me there was no one named Jessica at our school. That’s impossible. I grabbed Emily’s shirt and said, “Emily, you’re joking, right? You and Jessica were inseparable, together all the time. You can’t possibly forget her.” Emily, annoyed at being woken up, impatiently shook my hand off. “You’re the one who’s joking. I’ve never even heard of Jessica, let alone known her. Are you staying up just to scare us? So childish!” With that, she yanked her blanket over herself. I looked over at Laura. She pointed to the duty roster on the wall and said, “Megan, you must not have slept well and can’t tell dreams from reality. Look at our duty roster—there have only ever been three of us in this room.” I stared into her eyes and couldn’t detect any sign that she was lying. But this couldn’t be right. The memories of attending classes and having meals with Jessica were still vivid in my mind. I couldn’t believe she had just vanished into thin air. I quickly pulled out my phone. “Last week when Jessica had her birthday, we took a group photo. It’s still in my phone. I’ll show you.” I scrolled through the photos in my gallery until I found that group picture. But what I saw shocked me. Jessica, who had been standing between Laura and me wearing a birthday hat, had somehow been replaced by Emily. And searching through my entire photo gallery, I couldn’t find a single picture of Jessica. Laura curiously leaned over. “I told you Jessica doesn’t exist. It was Emily who had a birthday last week. You and I even pooled money to buy that cake. Don’t you remember?” Of course I remembered! But despite all the information we could agree on, Jessica was missing. Yet her existence felt so real to me. I looked again at the increasingly disturbing photo and suddenly realized something strange. In my memory, Emily had taken this group photo of the three of us. I wondered, “If Emily appears in this photo, then who was the person behind the camera?”
“Kelly from the next dorm took that photo for us. If you don’t believe me, you can ask her tomorrow morning.” Laura’s explanation was flawless. If I kept pressing the issue, I was afraid she would really think I was mentally ill. But I just couldn’t believe it. After daybreak, I went to find Kelly Simmons. Kelly glanced at the photo and said, “Yes, I took this picture. I even had some of Emily’s birthday cake. Do you think the photo didn’t turn out well?” Looking at Kelly’s serious face, I was momentarily speechless. When we celebrated Jessica’s birthday, we never invited Kelly. Yet now she was confidently claiming she had attended our birthday party. I felt a chill run down my spine. I gripped her shoulders tightly and said, “Kelly, you’re our class monitor. You can’t lie. The birthday was clearly for Jessica!” “Jessica? There are only three people in your dorm, there’s no Jessica!” She pulled out our class dorm assignment sheet from her backpack. “Look, there’s no one named Jessica on the list,” she said, pointing to the Room 301 section. “Our dorm assignments were allocated based on entrance exam scores. Your group ended up with just three people. You three live in a four-person room. You even said how lucky you were at the time.” Indeed, Jessica’s name wasn’t on the list. But I suspected the list might be fake. Kelly seemed to read my mind and said, “If you don’t believe me, we’ll have to go see the principal.” I immediately agreed. Someone had mysteriously disappeared from my life, and if I didn’t get to the bottom of this, I would truly lose my mind. After hearing our concerns, the principal handed me a class enrollment roster containing everyone’s names and information. I examined it carefully. Everyone in our class was listed, except for Jessica. I thought, “Could my memory really be failing me? But how do I explain the ten dollars in my pocket?” I clearly remembered Jessica borrowing money for lunch and then giving me ten dollars. We even ran into the principal at the school cafeteria that day. Seeing me lost in thought, the principal patted my shoulder and said, “Megan, final exams are coming up soon. You’re under a lot of stress. If you’re not feeling well, you can take the afternoon off and go back to your dorm to rest.” I asked other classmates too. As expected, everyone had forgotten Jessica’s existence. Eventually, I took the principal’s advice and quietly returned to my dorm. The empty room felt frighteningly silent. I opened my computer to browse the internet. Suddenly, a missing person post caught my attention. [Please help me find a girl named Jessica.] My heart raced. I thought, “If Jessica never existed, why would someone be looking for her?” This was very strange. I planned to talk to my roommates again. But when Emily returned to the dorm that evening, she wouldn’t say a word to me. She probably thought I was completely insane. Laura looked at me sympathetically and said, “Emily didn’t sleep well last night, so she’s still upset. Don’t worry though. She’ll be fine tomorrow.” Putting myself in her shoes, I’d be angry too if my roommate woke me up in the middle of the night. It didn’t seem like the right time to discuss Jessica with them. After the lights went out, I lay in bed unable to fall asleep. After a while, as I was drifting off, I was awakened by voices again. The sound was coming from the bed across from mine. I looked over and was terrified. Jessica, who had vanished into thin air during the day, had reappeared!
Jessica was sitting on Emily’s bed wearing pink pajamas. She leaned close to Emily’s ear, whispering something. Emily couldn’t help but laugh. I was shocked after confirming that the two people in front of me were indeed Jessica and Emily. This time, instead of speaking up, I gently tapped Laura’s shoulder, who was sleeping on the same side as me. Half-asleep, Laura looked at me and asked, barely containing her anger: “Megan, what’s going on?” I leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Look at Emily’s bed. Isn’t that Jessica talking quietly with her?” Whether it was my tone or Jessica’s name, Laura’s face turned pale. After making sure I wasn’t joking, she put on her glasses and carefully looked toward the bed across from us. A minute later, she turned back to me in frustration, glaring: “Megan, you’re so annoying! There’s nobody else on Emily’s bed!” I asked in confusion, “You really can’t see her?” “Megan, you seriously need to see a doctor. This is the second time!” Laura looked at me like I was insane. If it had been Emily, she probably would have yelled at me already. Being treated like a mental patient twice in a row made me angry too. But when I turned on the lights, something shocking happened. Jessica on Emily’s bed had vanished. My anger instantly disappeared. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. But I still only saw Emily lying in bed, sleeping. Now even I began to wonder if there was something wrong with my mental state. Just as I was hesitating about how to apologize to Laura, Emily suddenly woke up. Seeing the harsh light, she sat up angrily and said, “What are you two doing now? I’m trying to sleep!” Laura gave me a resentful look and said, “Ask Megan.” I quickly explained, “Emily, yes, I turned on the light because I saw Jessica on your bed…” “Jessica again! We’ve said this many times—this person doesn’t exist! She doesn’t exist!” “Megan, did I offend you somehow? Why do you keep preventing me from sleeping?” “I’ve had enough of you. I’m applying for a room change tomorrow!” After her angry outburst, Emily buried her head under the covers. I looked at Laura. Laura wasn’t speaking to me anymore either. After confirming I was completely awake, I turned off the light and looked at Emily’s bed again. This time, nothing unusual appeared. I closed my eyes and quickly fell into a deep sleep. The next day, I felt disappointed seeing Emily’s empty bed. She must have been really angry to move out so early in the morning. I stopped Laura as she came out of the bathroom and said, “Laura, I’m really sorry about last night. I must be in a bad mental state lately.” “Do you know which dorm Emily moved to? I want to apologize to her.” Laura frowned and said something that sent chills down my spine: “What are you talking about? Who’s Emily?” I froze. Pointing at Emily’s bed, I asked, “Don’t you remember Emily?” Laura looked confused. “Why would I remember her?” I asked, “What about Jessica? Do you remember her?” Laura shook her head again. “Are they students planning to transfer to our dorm?” My heart sank. After forgetting Jessica, she had now forgotten Emily too. I wondered silently, what on earth was going on? “Has our room always had just the two of us living here?” I asked. “Yes, we’re lucky there are only twenty-two girls in our class. Otherwise, this luxury of having a four-person room for just two people wouldn’t have fallen to us!” Laura said proudly as she peeled off her face mask. I took out my phone and looked at the birthday photo again. Sure enough, Emily’s figure had disappeared from the picture. The person wearing the birthday hat had become Laura. Even on the duty roster posted on our dorm door, after Jessica’s name had vanished, Emily’s name had completely disappeared too. Our dorm originally had four people in total, and now two had gone missing. I worried that tonight, either I or Laura would be the next to encounter an accident. With a serious expression, I grabbed Laura’s hand and said, “Laura, why don’t we move out? I don’t think it’s safe with just the two of us in this four-person room.” “We’re on the fifth floor, and there’s a dorm manager downstairs. Boys can’t even get in here. It’s very safe.” Having lost all related memories, Laura had no awareness of the danger lurking around us. I didn’t know how to explain it to her. If I told her the truth, she would definitely think I was joking like yesterday, or that I was having another mental breakdown. Seeing her confused expression, I urgently said, “I’m just scared, okay? Please move out with me, will you?” Laura said very reluctantly, “Megan, I’m sorry. Finals are coming up soon. I don’t want to move out—it might affect my studying.” I knew she wouldn’t listen to me. Perhaps the only thing I could do now was investigate the truth behind all this. I sighed, suddenly remembering the post I saw online yesterday looking for Jessica. I thought perhaps the person who posted it might know some inside information. I opened my computer and found the post again. To my surprise, the post had been deleted, but the user was currently online. I sent them a direct message: [Hello, I saw your previous post looking for a student named Jessica. I just noticed you deleted the post. Have you found Jessica?] The person replied quickly: [Not yet.] [I know Jessica. Can we meet in person?] With all the strange things happening lately, I suggested meeting offline. After hesitating for a few minutes, they agreed to my request. We arranged to meet at the entrance of the university library half an hour later. When I saw their face, I exclaimed in surprise, “You…”
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