I didn't sleep that night. I’m used to not sleeping, I’ve had lots of nights where paranoia hit me like a train, where I thought someone might come and hurt me. Instead, I asked Shira when I passed her in the hallway to bring me a notebook and a pen. She did, and now I am sitting on the floor, writing down each of the seven names on their own page, putting down everything I know. I think better when I get to write it down. I think in another life I might have been a poet or a writer, but fortune escaped me as soon as I was born into the world.

    I mostly fill in the page for Erika, Morrigan, and Aiden. I definitely don't know nearly enough about the two deaths four years ago to start making accusations, but if I listen to the empty room around me and the beating heart inside me, I know who is hiding something. Erika and Aiden. Maybe Morrigan, who is practiced in covering up impurities in front of the mirror, also knows how to hide a lie, but Erika and Aiden don't. They might speak it out and fool the others, but I have survival instincts. I needed to know who would be on my side when I was alone, so I taught myself to stop listening and start looking. A slight tilt in the head, avoiding eye contact, fidgeting. Erika and Aiden are open books, their lies almost trying to break loose of their skin and crawl out into the world like maggots.

    So for Erika, I write this: Kind, liar, her backstory needs to be checked on.

    And for Aiden, I write this: Lonely, hiding himself, not liked by Morrigan.

    I cross the last part.

    Morrigan thinks he did it.

    Morrigan’s page is mainly detailing why she doesn't like me and Aiden, with a few notes about Lynn. She referred to him as her son, but Lynn said he wasn’t. They don't look alike. Lynn’s skin tone and hair are darker than Morrigan’s. I suppose it’s impossible to be anything but darker than Morrigan. She is like a snow sculpture of a woman, not a real one. Even the ice queen was supposed to have shadows.

    At some point during the night, I hear a pair of footsteps outside my door, walking on the long hallway that connects all the rooms. I get up quickly and place my ear against the door. The person continues walking, and soon I hear the sound of the elevator doors opening. I open my door as quietly as I can and look to see the doors closing around the dark frame of Zeph, his hair standing out brightly in the dark, framing him in an iconic way none of the other inhabitants could. I jump in my own skin as I notice someone peeking out from the door opposite me. Lynn closes the door slowly, his tired eyes looking deep into mine. I close my door too and get back to my notebook.

    I flip to the page with Zeph’s name on it. I write down that he went out, then erase it. It can't be important. I don't even know if it’s technically night, not this far down under the surface. Perhaps he is just an early riser, perhaps hours have passed.

    Then I hear a door open, it must be a room close to mine. Another pair of feet walk over to the elevator, it opens. I don't bother checking. I don't care. I can't let myself care about every single little thing that happens around me, I think that would simply destroy me.

    I try to sleep, finally. Try being a keyword. I think there is something wrong with me. I can't help turning around, trying to find an angle that doesn't make my heart race with anxiety.

    Someone knocks on my door and I groan, getting up.

    “Having trouble sleeping?” Erika asks me. Her hair is tied up in a silk scarf, her face groggy from sleep.

    “I have now,” I snap, “Why did you come to ask me that? You aren't watching me, are you?”

    “I feel it,” She confesses, “Your worry. I feel all of it, all of what the others are feeling. I thought you would be considerate of that by now. I came to give you this.”

    She opens her palm. In it lies a tiny, perfectly white pill.

    The world tilts around me.

    “Oh,” Erika notes, looking intently at my face, she puts the pill away, “Bad idea.”

    “I don't take medicine,” I say simply. I don't think I could make my tongue form any more words than that.

    “I figured,” Erika sighs, shaking her head, “Your worry, your background. You knew people who used, didn't you?”

    “I wish you’d shut up,” I admit, closing the door.

    Erika jams her foot between herself and my freedom, “I’ll leave you alone in a minute, Camilla. But you have to know, you have to figure yourself out if you ever want to get stronger.”

    “You sound worried,” I comment, almost teasingly if it wasn't for my fatigue.

    “Times are changing,” Erika warns me, “I just want you to be able to watch out for yourself, in case anything happens here.”

    “What is that supposed to mean?” I ask her seriously.

    “It’s late,” Erika smiles and brushes my shoulder lightly, “You should get some sleep. I can help you magically if you don't want to take medicine.”

    “No thanks,” I sigh, closing the door.