On the first day of university, I, Skylar, enthusiastically helped a lost freshman find his way. He turned, a shy smile gracing his lips. “Thanks, senior… no, wait. It should be, ‘my future wife,’ right?” I stared at him, sure I’d just encountered a lunatic. Without a word, I turned and walked away. But the very next day, during club recruitment, that guy waltzed right into the literature club I was in, clutching a tattered ‘love journal’ and dogging my every step. My clubmates teased, saying his gaze clung to me like glue, demanding I take responsibility for his ‘pure, youthful affections.’ I just figured he was some weirdo taking role-play way too seriously, so I brushed it off. Three months later, at a club mixer, we played Truth or Dare. He lost a round and was dared to call the person he most wanted to marry. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, my phone rang. He then pulled out a stack of photos and slapped them onto the table – all pictures of me from years ago, some I’d never even seen! “Sweetheart,” his eyes gleamed with a terrifying intensity, “just admit it. We’re meant to be together.” My crush’s face went from pale to beet red in an instant. He stormed off, and later, I got a three-word text: “Good luck to you.” Eventually, pressured by his ‘evidence’ and everyone around me, I started dating him. The morning we were supposed to get married, he looked at me and said, calmly, word for word: “No matter what happens, you are my wife. You can’t escape my grasp.” The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly collapsed to the ground and never got back up. The autopsy showed nothing unusual. I was a widow overnight, and instantly branded as cursed, a ‘black widow’ who brought death to her husband! When I opened my eyes again, I found myself reborn. Reborn to the first day of university, the exact moment I first encountered him at the crossroads, asking for directions. 1 There he was, Landon, in his gold-rimmed glasses, looking perfectly innocent, yet somehow sinister, standing awkwardly in front of me, clutching a crumpled campus map. “Senior?” His voice was clear, tinged with just the right amount of embarrassment. “Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the Maple Grove dorms? I think I’m lost.” It was that exact same line, not a single word different! I stared hard at him, trying to find a crack in his perfectly harmless facade. He seemed to get a little flustered under my gaze, his ear tips flushed faintly, and he instinctively pushed up his glasses. “Senior?” My roommate, Chloe, nudged me with her elbow. “Skylar, what are you gawking at? The freshman’s asking for directions. Try to act like an upperclassman, okay?” I snapped back to reality. I looked around – the familiar crossroads, the bustling crowd of freshmen and their parents. No. Something was off. I immediately noticed a detail I’d missed in my previous life. There were clearly multiple signs pointing to the dorms; you’d have to be blind to miss them. And with so many upperclassmen volunteers in their vests around, he’d deliberately bypassed everyone, zeroing in precisely on me as I passed by. I took a deep breath, fighting the urge to just slap him. “Senior, is this a bad time?” He lowered his eyes slightly, his voice filled with pitiful disappointment. “‘Oh, come on, Skylar, look how you’ve scared the poor freshman!’ Chloe blabbered on. ‘It’s just giving directions, it’s not like it’ll kill you!’” “Yeah, it’s just a small favor,” a passerby chimed in. I closed my eyes. It was exactly like this last time. My resolve crumbled, and I ended up leading him there. Not this time. Not in this new life. I’d rather die than let that guy get his hooks into me again! I plastered on a fake smile. “Oh, freshman, what terrible luck! I’m in a huge hurry to pick up a package at the campus gate, super urgent! Look over there, so many volunteer seniors. Any one of them knows their way around better than me!” I pointed towards a group of people in red vests not far away. Landon glanced in the direction I pointed, then slowly turned his head back, his eyes terrifyingly stubborn. “But senior, I only want to ask you.” “I really don’t have time!” My voice turned cold, and I started to walk away. But Chloe grabbed my backpack strap. “Skylar, when are you ever busy? It’s his first day here, what’s wrong with helping him out?” Landon took a small step forward, lowering his voice so only I could hear. “Senior, are you avoiding me?” My heart skipped a beat, but I forced myself to stay calm. “Avoiding you? Why would I? I don’t even know you!” “But I feel like…” he murmured softly, “we’ve known each other for a very long time.” With people around us starting to look curiously, and Chloe still fanning the flames, a sudden surge of desperate fury flooded my mind. I clutched my stomach, my face instantly draining of color, and let out a weak groan. “Ow! My stomach! It’s so painful, must be acute gastroenteritis! I can’t, I can’t, I need to get to the campus clinic NOW!” With that, I sagged against Chloe, my acting skills Oscar-worthy. “Quick! Help me! I’m dying, I’m dying!” Chloe gasped, startled, and quickly propped me up. “Holy crap, Skylar, what’s wrong with you? What did you eat this morning?” I subtly pinched her arm, glaring at her to shut up and get moving. Chloe half-carried me, frantically rushing towards the campus clinic. Leaning weakly on Chloe’s shoulder, I turned back to Landon, who was still frozen in place, and managed a guilt-ridden smile. “Sorry, freshman, I’ll definitely help you next time…” Then I urged Chloe to run faster. After running a long way and turning a corner, confirming that he hadn’t followed, I instantly recovered and stood up straight. “Holy crap, Skylar, you just pulled a fast one on me!” Chloe shrieked, startled. “You tricked me?” “Tricked you my ass! That guy’s bad news!” I patted my chest, still shaken. “Stay away from him from now on!” 2 Relieved to have escaped Landon, I let out a long breath, practically sprinted back to my dorm, locked the door, my heart still pounding. No, just hiding wasn’t enough. My experience from my previous life taught me this guy was insidious. This university wasn’t that big; he’d find plenty of ways to corner me. I had to cut him off permanently! I immediately pulled out my phone and frantically logged into the university club portal. First, I quit the Literature Club! That’s where he latched onto me last time! Then, I Snapchatted my best friend, Brooke, who was practically the campus’s resident gossip queen: “Brooke! Emergency intel! There’s a freshman named Landon this year, guy, glasses, white shirt, looks perfectly respectable but is probably insane! Help me spread the word: he has severe delusions, avoid at all costs!” Brooke replied with a string of question marks: “? Skylar, what’s gotten into you? Did you fall for him, or did he harass you?” “Don’t ask! Just do it! Bubble tea’s on me later!” After handling that, I felt a little more at ease. Now, with that major point of contact cut off and his reputation ruined, he surely wouldn’t have a chance to get near me, right? To be safe, I even adjusted my usual classrooms, dining halls, and the floors I frequented in the library, trying to disrupt all my routines. Everything was set. I collapsed onto my bed, feeling reborn. That evening, I nervously checked my social media feed and the class group chat. All quiet. Brooke did send me a message: “I asked around. No one named Landon among the freshmen who reported today. Are you sure about the name? Or maybe he’s from a different faculty?” My heart sank. No such person? How was that possible? Last time, he was in the same faculty but a different department! A cold dread seeped into my heart. But I forced myself to calm down. No trace of him? Even better! Maybe my rebirth had created a butterfly effect. My mood soared, and I even started humming a tune, about to put on a face mask to celebrate. Just then, my phone rang. It was Asher, my childhood sweetheart and long-time crush. A thrill shot through me. I quickly answered, my voice immediately took on a slightly flirty tone. “Hey, Asher?” But Asher’s voice on the other end was ice-cold. “Skylar, what the hell is going on?” I was confused. “Huh? What do you mean?” “That guy, Landon, what about him?” His voice was tight with suppressed fury. “How long has this been going on between you two?” My head started buzzing. “What do you mean, how long? Asher, please explain! I have absolutely nothing to do with him!” “Nothing?” Asher sneered. “Nothing, yet he’s carrying a phone charm exactly like yours, claiming it’s a love token from you? Nothing, yet he knows your home address, your birthday, or even that mole on your butt?!” I felt like I’d been struck by lightning, my entire body turning ice-cold, the phone nearly slipping from my grasp. “He… he’s where right now?!” My voice was trembling. “Right next to me.” Asher’s voice was hard. “He says he wants to compete fairly.” The phone seemed to be handed to someone else on the other end. Then Landon’s voice, that damned, persistent voice, came through the receiver, laced with a smile that sent shivers down my spine: “Sweetheart, is hide-and-seek fun?” “I found you.” 3 “Whose damn wife?! And what the hell is with your stupid love token?! How the hell do you know about the mole on my butt?! You’re a stalker! A sick, twisted pervert!” I was so furious I screamed obscenities into the phone. There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Landon’s soft chuckle. “Sweetheart, don’t be mad. All these things… you’ll tell me eventually, of course.” “Eventually, my ass! There is no eventually! If you harass me or anyone connected to me again, I’m calling the police and pressing charges for sexual harassment, defamation, and stalking!” I was shaking with rage. “Calling the police?” Landon chuckled softly, his tone surprisingly innocent. “But I’m telling the truth. Sweetheart, you just forgot, that’s all.” Forgot, my butt! I slammed the phone down, my fingers trembling. This was too bizarre! That phone charm arrived yesterday, and I’d just put it on today! How could he have an identical one?! My home address? My birthday? He might be able to dig up that information with some effort… But the mole on my butt? How the hell could he know that?! Even my parents might not remember! Unless he’d actually seen it… or… Could what he said about the future be true? No way! He had to be a pervert! A stalker! A voyeur! I immediately dug out the campus security number I had saved and dialed it, incoherently reporting that a freshman was stalking and harassing me. Campus security was surprisingly polite; they took down the information and said they’d investigate. No sooner had I hung up than my SnapChat blew up. First, Asher sent a message: “Skylar, I need an explanation.” After that, no matter how many messages or calls I sent, he didn’t reply, clearly furious. Then Brooke’s video call popped up: “Holy crap, Skylar! Huge news! Some super hot freshman just blocked Asher downstairs at the guys’ dorms and declared war, saying he was going to pursue you! He even had a phone charm just like yours! What’s going on with you? Has your secret relationship been exposed?” Immediately after, several classmates I barely even talked to started sending messages, their tones full of gossip and disbelief. “Skylar, good for you! Didn’t expect you to snag a toy boy!” “That freshman’s bold, calling you ‘sweetheart’ already? Playing a dangerous game.” “When are you buying us dinner?” My scalp crawled as I read the messages. That bastard was doing this on purpose! He wanted to ruin my reputation, to isolate me until I had no one left! I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. Since he knew all this private information, he’d been investigating or stalking me for more than a day or two. Hiding and yelling wouldn’t work. I needed solid evidence. I tapped on Landon’s blank SnapChat profile picture, gritted my teeth, and sent a friend request. It was accepted almost instantly. The next second, a picture was sent over. I clicked on it, and my pupils constricted. It was a photo, the background clearly my old bedroom desk back home! Spread open on it was my high school diary! My name and class were clearly visible! And the angle of the photo… it looked like someone had taken it while standing in my room! But I boarded at school in high school; I only stayed in that room during summer and winter breaks! And our front door was always securely locked! [Sweetheart, remembering anything? ^_^] My fingers were ice cold as I typed my reply: [How the hell did you get into my house?!] [Didn’t you open the door for me? Last summer, around 3 PM on August 17th, you said no one was home and invited me up. You even poured me an iced soda. Sweetheart, did you forget?] Bullshit! Last summer, on August 17th, I was working a summer job in the provincial capital! I wasn’t even back home! My back was instantly drenched in cold sweat. This person… he was terrifying. He wasn’t just spying on my present; he was fabricating my past! Just as I was utterly paralyzed with fear and confusion, a knock suddenly rattled my dorm room door. “Who… who is it?” My voice was trembling. The dorm supervisor’s voice came from outside. “Skylar? Someone’s downstairs looking for you, says he’s your boyfriend, bringing you some late-night snack.” I rushed to the balcony and looked down. Landon was indeed downstairs, holding a plastic bag, looking up at my window. He saw me, smiled, waved, and silently mouthed a few words: “Sweetheart! I’m waiting for you!” 4 I yanked my head back inside, my heart hammering against my ribs, threatening to burst out of my chest. “Auntie! I don’t know him! He’s a perverted stalker! Tell him to leave! Or I’m calling the police!” I shouted through the door to the dorm supervisor, my voice an unrecognizable tremble. The dorm supervisor seemed startled by my outburst, muttering, “What on earth…?” as her footsteps faded. I slumped to the floor, my hands and feet icy cold. No, this couldn’t go on. This maniac would stop at nothing; my life was completely messed up. Call the police? Yes! The police! Campus security might have dismissed it as a student dispute, but now he was harassing me right at the dorm! And it looked like illegal entry into a private residence! My trembling fingers pressed 91
The call connected, and I tried my best to stay calm, clearly stating the situation: I was being stalked and harassed by an unknown male, who knew a disturbing amount of my private information, had allegedly broken into my home, and was currently downstairs at my dorm. The dispatcher took down the information and said they would send officers. The ten-odd minutes waiting for the police felt like an eternity. I didn’t dare look downstairs again. I triple-locked the door and sat behind it, hugging my knees. My phone screen lit up. It was a message from Landon. [Sweetheart, the police will be here soon. Do you need me to help you remember what to tell them?] How could he know that?! [For example, you can tell them we’re just having a lovers’ quarrel, and I’m trying to cheer you up. ^_^] [Or, tell them you have mild delusions and memory impairment, that you often forget our relationship, and even call the police on me.] Do you need me to provide past medical records? I just Photoshopped them; they’re fresh off the press. Attached was an image: a template of an electronic diagnostic report! The patient’s name was mine! Diagnosis: intermittent memory loss and delusional attachment! I felt my vision blacken with fury, my typing hand shaking. [What the hell do you want?!] [It’s simple. Sweetheart, come downstairs, and come home with me.] Home? Which home? What insane nonsense was this lunatic talking about?! Just then, the faint wail of a police siren reached me from downstairs. Like grabbing a lifeline, I scrambled up and rushed to the balcony. A police car had indeed arrived, pulling up to the dorm entrance. Two officers got out and were talking to the dorm supervisor and Landon. Landon had his back to me, so I couldn’t see his expression, but he seemed very cooperative, even offering the late-night snack he was holding to the officers. I held my breath, eagerly anticipating the police arresting this pervert. However, a few minutes later, the officers actually patted Landon’s shoulder, then turned and walked away! They left?! I was dumbfounded. The next second, my phone rang. It was an unknown number. My hand trembled as I answered. “Is this Skylar?” It was the voice of one of the officers. “We’ve looked into the situation. The student downstairs, Landon, he showed us some… um… rather intimate photos of you two, and a gift you allegedly gave him. He says you’re just having a little disagreement…” “That’s fake! It’s all fake! I don’t know him at all! He’s stalking me! Harassing me!” I cried out desperately. The officer’s tone was a little awkward. “Skylar, we can’t really get involved in relationship disputes. And Landon was very cooperative, and he promised he wouldn’t do anything drastic. Look… why don’t you two just talk it out? You’re both college students…” Communicate, my ass! I slammed the phone down, despair instantly engulfing me. Even the police couldn’t do anything about him? Just how thoroughly had he prepared his ‘evidence’?! Downstairs, Landon looked up at my window again. He pulled out his phone. My SnapChat immediately pinged. [Sweetheart, can you come down now?] [Or would you rather I come up to you? I know your dorm room number. ^_^] 5 I stared at the message, frozen solid. He knew my dorm room number? Our university dorms were quite strict; guys weren’t allowed into the girls’ building!
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