Chapter 67: Confession |
Everly was very shocked by Misha’s thoughts. She had assumed that Misha’s ideas were just a passing whim, or perhaps blind imitation driven by idol worship without much thought.
But after talking more deeply, Everly realized that Misha was a girl with very clear goals.
She was tired of the remote, backward small town and didn’t want to be trapped on the same patch of land like her parents’ generation—living a stable but uneventful life. She loved adventure, was intensely curious, and yearned to explore a broader world. She was even prepared to pay the price to fulfill her wishes.
Even her decision to attend New Osebuch State University had been carefully considered. This university didn’t have overly strict academic requirements, so with effort, Misha could meet the threshold. The university also offered a field survival major, which was a very practical skill for someone from a desert town.
“If it doesn’t work out, I can always go back to the town and guide desert travelers,” Misha said optimistically.
Life belonged to Misha; Everly had no right to interfere. She could only advise the girl to carefully think through the consequences, communicate properly with her parents, and ideally gain their support.
Misha seemed to take Everly’s advice as tacit approval from her idol, and she looked very happy.
For once, she smiled easily, waved goodbye to Everly, and ran home. Whatever happened in between was unknown, but the next day, when Misha came to visit again, she told Everly with a bright smile that she had already spoken with her parents and reached an agreement.
“Katak is one of the top private schools in Micano. With my current grades, I can barely get in, and I still have a long way to go if I want to apply for a scholarship. My dad said that if I can improve my grades during the rest of 9th grade and cover the tuition for private high school myself, he will support me going to New Osebuch State University with you!”
Everly was happy for her friend as well.
Having survived the hardships in the Xinkalan Theater, she realized that sometimes having an extra companion was very necessary. Especially when that companion was a smart and brave girl like Misha, the sense of safety multiplied.
When Everly successfully graduated from 9th grade and enrolled at Katak High School, she immediately discovered another benefit of having a companion—she could stay at Misha’s grandfather’s house.
Katak High School was a private school offering both day and boarding options and was the best private school in Micano City. Everly was lucky: after enrollment, she ended up in the same class as Misha, who had worked hard to secure a spot at Katak.
Originally, Everly, like in middle school, had chosen boarding. After all, her home was too far from the city, and Old John couldn’t drive her back and forth every day.
However, when Everly opened the dorm door and saw the decorations in her roommate’s half of the room, her eyes went wide, and she immediately realized she had met her match.
Everly’s roommate, Jessica, was obsessed with all things supernatural!
The school encouraged students to decorate their living areas according to their preferences, and American law protected citizens’ freedom of religion. So, as long as students didn’t use high-powered electrical devices or other prohibited items in the dorm, the dorm supervisors wouldn’t interfere—even if Jessica turned her side of the room into what looked like a lair for a dark witch.
And so, Everly watched helplessly as her roommate covered most of her wall with black cloth decorated with strange symbols, filled her desk with crystal balls, bizarre sculptures, dead branches, crow specimens, and other ominous-looking items. Every day, Jessica flipped through old “magic books” with black covers, and at night, she would hold a water basin toward the moon, muttering mysterious incantations and performing all sorts of superstitious rituals that danced on the edges of Everly’s fragile nerves…
Horror Movie Survival Rule #5: Don’t get involved with dangerous games.
Horror Movie Survival Rule #13: Don’t casually open ancient boxes, chests, books, or similar objects.
Roughly counting, Jessica had already broken two of Everly’s summarized rules within just three days of moving into the dorm. Everly couldn’t stand it anymore and went to the dorm supervisor, hoping the teacher would rein Jessica in.
But instead, Everly was scolded by Mrs. Kavira, the dorm supervisor.
Mrs. Kavira was a staunch materialist. She believed Jessica’s obsession with witchcraft wasn’t a big deal. Every child goes through a phase of curiosity about the unknown, and Everly was overreacting.
Because Jessica was also a Black girl, Mrs. Kavira even suspected that Everly was picking on her roommate because of her skin color. She had a “heart-to-heart” with Everly, educating her that the U.S. was a free and inclusive country. She advised Everly to understand Jessica’s hobbies, not to pick fights over race, and to get along peacefully with her roommate…
Everly was literally fuming.
At the same time, the teacher’s words reminded her of another horror-movie survival rule that Jessica’s presence had triggered: Rule #21 — Stay away from Black people whenever possible.
It wasn’t that Everly was racist—she secretly prided herself on being more sincere in rejecting racial discrimination than many self-righteous Americans—but the directors in her past life simply didn’t play fair. Look at their horror movies: when the main cast included both Black and White characters, in 98 out of 100 films the Black characters would die, and only in a rare few would they survive to the end.
So having a roommate who combined the “half-baked supernatural enthusiast + likes trying all kinds of occult games + Black” debuffs… well, Everly realized she was living with a high-risk disaster in the making.
Since going to the dorm supervisor was useless, Everly could only rely on herself and try to communicate with her roommate.
Privately, Everly approached Jessica and tried to persuade her to give up these unsafe hobbies—or at least not to practice them in the dorm—because it made her extremely uneasy. Everly believed her tone was perfectly normal and her attitude gentle.
But Jessica reacted as if she had been gravely insulted: first rolling her eyes, then crossing her arms and shrugging, and finally letting out a long “Hmph” through her nose.
Everly: “…”
No, why is this happening?!
Feeling the clear hostility from Jessica, Everly didn’t dare to push any further.
She tried the next best option: changing dorms. But no matter if she applied to the dorm supervisor or the homeroom teacher, the answers were either “No extra dorm rooms available” or “No valid reason; you can’t just switch rooms.”
Just as Everly was about to lose it, Misha came to the rescue.
Misha’s mother had originally lived in the city proper of Micano. After marrying Misha’s father, she moved to Lemot Town. When Misha came to the city to attend school, she stayed at her grandparents’ house in the old district, which had many empty rooms. Adding one more resident—Everly—was no problem.
The old district had experienced the Xinkalan murder incident only a year ago, and was now in a very calm and safe period.
Misha’s parents were deeply grateful to Old John and Everly for their help during the cockroach disaster, and they liked Everly very much. They were eager for their daughter to be friends with the young hero who had saved the town. They had originally planned to let Everly stay and eat at Misha’s grandparents’ house for free, but Old John insisted on giving 5,000 dollars to cover a full school year’s food and lodging for her. Misha’s family absolutely refused any more.
Compared with the school’s boarding fees, which easily ran into the tens of thousands, this arrangement was extremely economical.
Even better, Everly was thrilled to finally escape her unreliable roommate Jessica and gain a relatively safe environment for studying and living.
Everly thought that with her former roommate’s talent for courting disaster, some kind of trouble was bound to happen sooner or later. She was very grateful that she and Jessica weren’t in the same class. After moving out of the dorm, she no longer had any interactions with Jessica; even if Jessica got herself into trouble, Everly expected she wouldn’t be affected—at least, that’s what she hoped.
Unfortunately, things rarely go as planned. Sometimes, even if you don’t seek trouble, trouble will come looking for you.
All of this began with a confession.
Of course, it wasn’t Jessica who was confessing—it was a boy in the same grade, Edward Greenwood. A tall, strong, blonde-haired, blue-eyed handsome boy, with a bright, sunny personality. He had been recruited by the school’s football team as a quarterback as soon as he enrolled. Rumor had it that many girls at school regarded him as a prince charming, a dream boyfriend, and even some of the upperclassmen would gather by the field just to catch a glimpse of him.
In short, he was one of the most popular “school heartthrobs” at Katak High.
Wherever the school heartthrob went, he attracted attention. That day after school, under the blazing gaze of everyone around, he swaggered confidently over to Everly and tapped her locker with two fingers.
Everly looked up and met a very confident smile.
“Hey, Everly, I’m Edward… I wanted to talk to you about something. Would you like to come to the campus café for a bit?”
“?”
Everly was rarely the object of confessions, and Edward didn’t look nervous at all. At first, she didn’t realize the implication of his invitation—of course, this didn’t mean Everly lacked charm. It was just that she treated everyone with a cool detachment, giving her a somewhat untouchable aura, which intimidated many boys before they could even approach her.
Edward, however, was clearly an exception. Ever since elementary school, he had always been the center of attention, the focus of everyone’s eyes, a leader among the students. Full of confidence, he believed he could successfully confess and become the boyfriend of the “ice queen” that everyone admired.
…Yes, Everly’s nickname had traveled with her as she advanced to Katak High.
And then, Edward—the undefeated champion of the dating world—met his Waterloo.
Everly had absolutely no interest in him.
Sure, he was handsome, and his smile was very charming, as if no difficulty in the world could faze him. But to be honest, Edward’s academic performance was a bit poor. He was the most typical kind of “campus king” in America: simple-minded but physically strong, excelling in sports, and irresistible to American girls. But influenced by her memories from her past life, Everly felt that someone who was just strong and good-looking wasn’t enough—he also needed brains. Otherwise, lacking any one of those qualities made it impossible for her to feel ordinary, worldly attraction.
Edward had deliberately chosen a quiet corner in the campus café for his confession. Americans generally valued personal privacy, so people nearby respectfully kept their distance.
Even so, it wasn’t long before the news spread like wildfire: “Edward confesses to the ‘Ice Queen’—rejected!”
That evening, Everly returned home with Misha. As she lay on her bed for her daily meditation, a piercing howl suddenly came from outside the window.
A coyote? But in her experience, coyotes only make short “yip-yip” sounds…
Everly thought she must have misheard. Just as she tried to listen more carefully, the howl stopped. In its place came a sharp “scritch-scratch” sound at the window.
What… could that be?
Unable to continue meditating, Everly snapped her eyes open.
Through the glass, she saw a hand suddenly pull back.
———————————————————————————————————
Author’s Note:
There’s absolutely no racial discrimination or intent to portray people of color negatively [please believe me].
A person’s character can be good or bad—it has nothing to do with skin color. The heroine, Jessica, in this story is inspired by Talk to Me.
Has anyone seen that movie? If you have, you’d know that the Black female lead is really infuriating—she’s seriously good at making people mad [angry].