It wasn’t until the day had finally wound to a close—after lectures, lunches, and lingering silences—that Lena found her window to speak with Angelica. Really speak with her. Not a passing glance. Not a brush-off in the hallway. Not the cold shoulder just before their Ethics class. 

Every attempt Lena had made to apologize for digging into Angelica’s past had been expertly avoided. Dodged with brisk steps, stiff shoulders, and eyes that never met hers.

But Lena had a plan. ‘She can't avoid me forever,’ she thought, arms crossed as she waited in their dorm. ‘She’ll have to brush her teeth before bed, and when she does—boom—conversation trap. Perfect.’

Midnight rolled by. Then 1 a.m. And still no sign of Angelica.

Lena’s confidence wilted with every passing minute, replaced by a tight knot of anxiety that something terrible might have happened. ‘What if she’s hurt? What if she never comes back?’ 

The worst-case scenarios tumbled through her head as she sat hunched on her bed, textbook long forgotten beside her. Her eyes had just started to drift closed when—

Click. The dorm door creaked open. Lena shot up like she’d been electrified, straight as a rod. “Angie!”

Angelica let out a yelp and slammed back into the door with a loud thud, clutching her chest. “Damn it, Lena!” she hissed, stumbling inside and tossing her bag onto the bed. “You scared the hell out of me!”

Lena clicked on her bedside lamp. “Sorry, sorry,” she said quickly, pushing back her messy hair. “But I’ve been waiting for hours. I need to talk to you.”

Angelica groaned, collapsing on her bed, her expression a clear sign that she wasn’t mentally prepared for this conversation. “Now?”

“Yes, now,” Lena insisted, lightly slapping her cheeks to wake herself up. Angelica stared at her with one eyebrow raised. “Did you just smack yourself awake?”

“Focus,” Lena muttered, then exhaled. “Okay. Look, I need to explain why I was… looking into your brother’s case.”

Angelica immediately opened her mouth to interrupt, but Lena raised her voice over her. “And before you say it’s because of you—it’s not!” Angelica narrowed her eyes. “Then why?”

Lena looked down, nervously rubbing her arm. “You might not believe me… but I have this… ability. I don’t fully understand it, but it lets me go back in time. Only for a few minutes, and only to witness things. Like… moments when crimes happened. I saw what happened to your brother that night.”

Silence.

A long, suffocating silence.

Lena didn’t dare look up. ‘She doesn’t believe me. Why would she? I wouldn’t believe me either.’ Her left leg started bouncing, nerves crawling up her spine.

Then she heard the creak of a mattress.

“Wait, what are you—?” Lena blurted as Angelica stood up and swiftly crossed the room toward her. For a split second, Lena braced for a slap.

Instead, Angelica sat beside her and gently took her hand.

“If you look that guilty, it’s kind of hard not to believe you,” she said softly. “But if you really have this power… you know who did it, right? Who took Alan?”

Lena’s eyes brimmed with tears as she nodded. “I do… and I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect him.”

Angelica gave a dry chuckle, then reached out and pinched Lena’s nose. “Hey!” Lena yelped, swatting her hand away.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Angelica said. “Just knowing he’s alive is what matters.”

Lena sniffed and wiped her eyes. “You’re handling this way better than I expected.”

“Trust me, I’ll freak out later,” Angelica said, leaning back onto Lena’s pillow, propping herself up on one elbow. “So anyway. Who do you think did it?”

Lena perked up. “Actually, I can show you.” She reached for her laptop and booted it up, fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. “Here.”

She turned the screen toward Angelica, displaying a Facebook page.

The profile photo showed three kids around a birthday cake that read Happy 13th Birthday, Tyler! One woman—Kim Sullivan—had her arm around a boy with spiked black hair and deep brown eyes. On the other side of the boy stood Oscar, his smile frozen in time.

Angelica’s face paled. “Wait… is it…? No way…”

Her hand shot out and she grabbed the laptop, scrolling wildly. “Where are they? Those bastards, where are they?!”

“I don’t know if they’ve moved since 1996,” Lena said, watching her, “but I know where they took Alan after they abducted him.”

Angelica froze mid-scroll, slowly lifting her gaze. Her eyes shimmered, hopeful and wild.

“Then we’re going,” she said flatly. “I need to look these sons of bitches in the eye. Give them a piece of my mind.”

She slammed the laptop shut and hopped off the bed. Lena blinked, still recovering from the whiplash. “Alright… guess we’re skipping class then.”

She smiled to herself, though. It felt good. Like something long overdue was finally shifting back into place. As Angelica climbed into her own bed and pulled the covers over her, she murmured, “Good night, Lena.”

Lena, still wide-eyed and buzzing with emotion, replied softly as she turned her lamp off, “Good night, Angie.”

And just like that, the room fell into silence once more—but this time, it wasn’t the cold kind.

It was peaceful. The kind that comes just before something big is about to change.

To be continued…