The dream didn’t feel like a dream.

It started in the middle of Devonshire Mall. Only it wasn’t really the mall. It was empty. Dark. The stores were there, but the lights were flickering and there was this humming sound that filled my ears.

I was walking down the corridor when I saw Seth—one of the Creeveys I hadn’t talked to yet. He looked scared. Not at me. At something behind me.

I turned. Alexander was there. But not calm, bookish Alexander. He was feral. His skin was pale like frostbite, his eyes electric. His teeth—longer. His nails—clawed. His shirt was torn and splattered with red.

They fought. It was like lightning. One second they were still, the next they were tearing across the floor. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. My throat felt frozen.

I fell. My body hit cold tile. I looked down. There was blood. Mine. Pouring out of my chest like a faucet had been turned on.

I looked up one last time before it all went black.

I woke up gasping, tangled in sweat-drenched sheets. My curtains were closed. My lights were off. But I still felt eyes on me.

I sat up and swung my legs over the bed, heart pounding like it was trying to break free of my ribcage. My window was shut tight. Locked. But something in the air felt... wrong. Like someone had just left.

I stood and turned on the light. Nothing. I checked the closet. The hallway. Nothing.

Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the dream hadn’t been mine. Like it had been planted.