Exams always left me feeling like I was walking through a fog, as if everything around me was out of reach, distant. Some days, I wished I could just disappear. Vanish into the background where nothing mattered. Where the pressure and expectations didn't hang over me like a dark cloud. But that wasn't an option, was it?

I had been at this school for nearly a year, ever since my father got transferred here. The first few months felt like I was living in someone else's life. I wasn't the type to make a lot of noise, to draw attention to myself. People like me blended in, unnoticed.

This week had worn me down. I barely managed to drag myself home before my mom's voice cut through the silence.

"Anastasia, don't waste time. Tomorrow's your exam. You know the drill, go study after your snack."

I didn't have the energy to respond. I ate my snack, stared blankly at my notes. A part of me believed hard work would get me through, but another part was just tired of trying so hard.

I glanced at the clock. It was already 9 PM. I should've been sleeping, but instead, I forced myself to keep going.

My dad's voice pulled me out of my thoughts when I went to the dinner table.

"How's the prep going, Anastasia?"

"It's good."

"Full marks tomorrow, right?"

I hesitated. My fingers locked together under the table.

 "I'll try my best," I said, offering the faintest smile.

Finally, I went to my room. I wrapped myself in a blanket and slipped into a restless sleep, my mind refusing to shut down.

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The dream came, sudden and silent, like an unwanted guest.

That place was unfamiliar, I tried to look around, everything was covered in darkness. Thick grey mist clung to ground, wrapping around my ankles as if it would swallow me too.

I couldn't see more than a few steps ahead, everything beyond that was blur.

I tried taking few steps, turned left then right hoping to find a way out of this darkness but it all looked the same. Every direction led nowhere.

I kept walking but I was lost, my thoughts scattered. Then I saw someone, a figure in the distance. I reached out, tried to call to him, but he didn't hear me. He was too far away.

He vanished into the fog before I could get closer. I blinked and suddenly found myself sitting on a bench. 

The sky above was grey, like before a storm but it wasn't as dark as earlier. That's when I saw him again, this time walking towards me, wearing a school uniform, just like ours.

He had a bag hung over his shoulder, and swinging from it was a keychain with the letter "A." That detail stayed with me.

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And then I woke up with a start. My heart raced and my mind struggled to piece together the fragments of the dream. 

I couldn't remember his face, just his eyes. His eyes looked strangely sad and full of longing. 

Everything felt so vivid and I couldn't get his eyes out of my mind.

I glanced at the clock it was 6:30 AM. A sudden realisation struck me and snapped me back to reality. I was late. Again.

I scrambled out of bed, barely grabbing a bite before rushing out the door. My school was close, but I needed to be there by 7:45 and it was it was already 7:30.

My mind was full of formulas and dates, half with that dream.

I was running my way to school, just as I turned the corner to school, I crashed into someone. A sharp sting on my arm made me flinch, it was the keychain on his bag that had scratched me. But I barely had time to register it.

"I'm so sorry," I blurted out, barely sparing a glance.

Without waiting for a response, I ran towards my school again. But something tugged at my thoughts, that keychain. It looked familiar, eerily similar to the one I'd seen in my dream, with that boy. I slowed down, glancing back, but he was already gone. I was already late, so I pushed the thought aside and hurried the rest of the way to school.