Haunted by My Shadow

Every time I tried to approach Harmony, she'd immediately pretend to be busy, and her odd behavior made me uneasy. That night, I found myself unable to sleep, my mind restless. Eventually, I fell into a nightmare, waking up drenched in sweat.

The dorm was pitch black, the sky still dark, and I couldn't tell what time it was.

Suddenly, I felt something at the foot of my bed. I turned and saw Harmony halfway up the ladder to my bed, half of her body crawling under my mosquito net.

Her expression was grotesquely exaggerated, filled with fear as she stared at me. I let out a terrified scream and jumped upright from my bed in shock.

The following scream came from Harmony, louder than mine, and then there was a crash as she fell off my bed, landing hard on the floor.

Celeste and I rushed Harmony to the hospital in the middle of the night. The doctor said it wasn't serious, just a sprained ankle, and she'd be fine after some rest and realignment. But Harmony insisted on having a CT scan, claiming she wanted to get her brain checked. I asked, "Harmony, why were you sneaking onto my bed in the middle of the night?"

She didn't answer me.

The day we returned from the hospital, Harmony secretly went to Diana Chasey, the counselor, to request a dorm change. Diana asked to speak with Celeste and me and, with a pointed tone, reminded me, "Don't focus too much on your scholarship and ignore your relationships with your roommates. Dorm relationships need to be nurtured too."

"Ms. Chasey, what are you implying?" Celeste asked, sensing something was off in Diana's words. Her tone grew sharp. "Anastasia has been more than considerate. She knows Emma's family situation is difficult, so she let her have the financial aid and worked hard to earn her scholarship. What did she do wrong? If there's a problem, we should be asking Harmony. Why did she climb into Anastasia's bed in the middle of the night?"

Diana shot Celeste a dismissive glance, clearly not wanting to engage with her. She softened her tone and turned to me. "Anastasia, if one person requested a dorm change, it might be because of personal issues. But when multiple people request a change, maybe we should look inward. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Ms. Chasey, can I ask directly—did they change dorms because of me? Did they say that specifically?" I asked.

Diana paused for a moment, then replied, "Well, when they mentioned you, their tone was consistently strange."

"Okay, I understand. I'll think about it," I said.

"What's there to think about?" Celeste said, crossing her arms as we left Diana's office. She was clearly frustrated. "Ms. Chasey always picks on the easy targets."

Lately, a series of events had made me feel the same way.

I wanted to talk to Harmony and Emma, but both of them had blocked me.

The messages I sent were met with the glaring reminder that I had been blocked.

I tried to catch them between classes, but they always acted like they were busy chatting with someone else, ignoring me completely. Their attitudes were cold and dismissive, and after several attempts of trying to approach them, I gave up.

Celeste's house was near the school, and she went home for the weekend every week. When she left, I was left alone in the dorm. By 9:00 PM, I went to bed as usual.

I don't know how long I'd been asleep when the phone rang, waking me up groggily. I fumbled for my phone, saw it was 11:00 PM, and that it was Celeste calling. I quickly answered. "Hello, what's up?"

"You're something, Anastasia," Celeste's excited voice came through the phone. "Girl, I didn't know you were having so much fun behind my back."

I was confused. "What?"

"Still pretending?" Celeste sent me a photo on WhatsApp. I opened it to find a picture of the school heartthrob and me in an intimate embrace, the pose as suggestive as could be. My head spun. I was lying in bed in the dorm right now—how could I be in that photo?

"When was this picture taken?" I immediately asked Celeste.

"Stop pretending. I've seen it with my own eyes," Celeste replied.

"Celeste, I'm in the dorm. That girl in the photo isn't me," I said.

"How is that possible?" Celeste shot back, almost angrily. "It's you! Your looks, your hair, your clothes, shoes, your bag—all of it is exactly the same."

I thought for a moment. "But we're on the phone right now—is she also on the phone?"

Celeste paused, then said, "Oh, she isn't on the phone. Wait, I'm going to check who she really is."

I anxiously waited for Celeste to call back. After a long silence, I decided to call her. The phone rang a few times before she picked up. I asked, "Did you find out anything?"

There was silence on the other end before Celeste hummed with a shaky voice and hung up.

I tried calling back, but she didn't answer. I sent her a WhatsApp message but got no reply.

The next day was Sunday. I hoped Celeste would be back at school, but instead, I received a call from Diana. She was furious, asking, "Did you not take my advice seriously? Didn't I just tell you to put some effort into maintaining dorm relationships?"

I had a bad feeling in my gut.

Sure enough, Diana's next words confirmed it. "Celeste came to my office today. She wants to change dorms too. Weren't you two getting along well? What's going on?"

I rushed to Diana's office, where she scolded me.

While Diana was taking a break to go to the restroom, I secretly used her computer to send WhatsApp messages to Celeste, Harmony, and Emma, telling them they needed to fill out a form to change dorms and to come to the office immediately.

After sending the messages, I deleted the chat history and muted notifications to their chat to avoid Diana catching my little move.

Once I finished, I ran downstairs and intercepted them in the lobby.

I had tried so many times to talk to them, but every time I showed up, they would walk away with other people, completely ignoring me.

Now, I blocked them all in the same place and said, "I just want to know what's going on. Why are you all avoiding me?"

They all turned their faces away, unwilling to answer. I said, "We've been roommates for a long time. If I've done something wrong, can you please tell me? Being isolated like this really hurts."

As I spoke, my eyes started to water. Celeste glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, looking conflicted.

I grabbed her and said, "Everyone says our relationship is the best. I don't understand why you suddenly stopped answering my calls and messages. We were fine just yesterday. Does this have something to do with that other girl?"

When they heard me mention the other girl, their faces changed. Celeste looked torn, her eyebrows furrowed deeply, her lips pressed tight.

"I just want to know what happened." I lowered my voice as much as I could.

Celeste's face softened for a moment, and then she sighed, almost as if resigning herself to something. She asked, "Do you know who I saw that night when I followed you? It was you. You said you were sleeping in the dorm, but you lied to me, making me look like an idiot. You apologized to me and said you were dating him, but you didn't want people to find out. You begged me to keep it a secret. I know you so well; we've been friends forever. I'm sure I was talking to you. But when we were chatting, I got your call. So, who am I talking to now?"

Celeste's hands clenched into fists, her body language tense.

I had hoped that she had simply seen someone who looked a lot like me, but seeing Celeste's reaction, I began to doubt. Celeste was never the type to be easily fooled. Her reaction was too real for me to ignore, and I couldn't help but wonder—was there really someone else out there who looked exactly like me?

At that moment, Harmony, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up. "I thought I was losing my mind," she said. "After Emma moved out, one night, close to the time the dorm doors were locked, I got up to use the bathroom and saw you all dressed, looking like you were heading out. The next morning, I asked you where you had gone, and you said you hadn't gone anywhere. That night, I heard snoring from your bed. I was curious, so I climbed up to check and saw you asleep. But just a minute earlier, I clearly saw you leave the dorm."

I got goose bumps as I listened to Harmony's words.