Event #3 - A Moment to Breathe

[Naya Zafar]

This classroom would do, Naya decided. It was the closest place she could find that would allow her to be completely alone. Her head was pounding as she made her way over to a desk, sitting down on the chair and burying her head in her hands. Now she was alone, she let herself cry for what felt like the billionth time today. In all honesty, she was surprised she had any tears left. Why did this happen to her? Why did she have to mess up all the time?

When she was younger, she'd been a loud and clever kid. Maybe too loud and clever, which was possibly why she was targeted by bullies. They'd beaten her down until she barely spoke at all in class. They'd stripped her of all her confidence. Nothing she did seemed to be right. She'd spent many an evening alone, listening to any soundtrack she could get her hands on. High School Musical, Wicked, Les Mis... 

Until she met Emery. Emery was different, Emery didn't make fun of her, and Emery liked musicals like she did. She forced her to come out of her shell, encouraged her, gave her enough confidence to join the drama club. There, she'd been happy.

There, she'd met Lewis.

He'd only been a casual attendee, but she was smitten from the moment she met him. Of course, the little part of her that was still the beaten down, nervous Naya told her that he wouldn't like her back, but he did, and they'd been inseparable for three perfect years. Even when she was diagnosed with anxiety two years in, he'd been supportive, if a little worried.

And then he dumped her. She'd messed up again, she'd been too insecure, she'd grilled him too much about whether he still found her attractive, and she'd driven him away. He quit the drama club, and got a new girlfriend. A better girlfriend, one who didn't mess up all the time. 

Naya was well acquainted with feeling like a failure. She'd felt like one since the moment Lewis had said he didn't want to be with her. Really, since the moment someone had said "Shut up Naya! God, you're so annoying!" to her for the first time. But now her stupidity, her naivety, her overwhelming panic had a "body count". She was hurting other people, not just herself. Ryan, Misha, Peyton, Tristan, Philip, Jamie... What a fucking idiot. 

At least now she was alone. She was better off alone.

[Something]

Naya's phone buzzed with a new text message. It said:

Hello.

And that's it.

[Naya Zafar]

Naya’s phone beeped, startling her a little. Was it the creep? She was alone; what could they possibly want?

Hello

That was it. Just hello. She debated not replying, but knew that something bad would happen if she didn’t, if it was who she thought it was. Besides, it was just a hello. Not a “grope someone” or “let someone die”. What could a hello do?

She hesitated for a moment before typing her reply.

“Hi?”

[Something]

Her phone buzzed again. This time with a few messages, one by one, they appeared on her title screen.

Can I ask you for a favor?

As a friend?

Na̕ya.

[Naya Zafar]

As three more messages flashed up on Naya’s screen in quick succession, she began to feel nervous.

Can I ask you for a favour?

As a friend?

Naya.

Friend? Were they friends? She couldn’t help but mentally reject the idea outright. No, they’d hurt Misha, and Andrei, and Jamie, and probably everyone else too. She could never be friends with someone so cruel. Still, if they believed she was on their side... well, what could she do? She wasn’t cunning. Someone like Misha or Thalia or even Alex could use that sort of position to their advantage. Naya? She’d never manipulated anyone in her life. Especially not a supernatural entity, which she couldn’t help but suspect the mystery texter was. She had no idea what they’d do to her if they found out, either. But if they considered her a friend... maybe she could convince them to leave her friends alone! Surely that would be a fair bargain in exchange for whatever they wanted?

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. Part of her wanted to go full-Misha and give them a piece of her mind, but co-operating was the only real solution she could think of that would hopefully not result in anyone being hurt, including her.

Finally, she typed her reply.

“It depends, what’s the favour?”

[Something]

I want your body.

A gnawing sensation grabbed at Naya's gut. Her thoughts turned into a mush, hands shaking from an unknown force. The messages and menus on the screen mixed in a picture of a face, looking at her, with a bemused expression until the girl blacked out and lost consciousness.

When Naya finally woke up, she didn't remember anything about the chat she had with a stranger. The girl took a look at her blinking, broken phone which was now clearly out of use. Besides that, nothing seemed out of order.

[Naya Zafar]

I want your body.

Naya froze. Holy fuck. Was she about to be raped? Would she see the face of the person who was hurting her friends? Or what if it wasn’t a person, was she going to be assaulted by a demon? She’d only been with one person, and they definitely weren’t a demon... what the fuck was going to happen to her?

She leapt up and ran to the door. Someone could help, Jamie or Philip or Tristan... Somebody could stop this...

Suddenly, she felt a gnawing sensation in her gut. She gasped from the pain, falling to her knees, her whole body shaking. A face stared back at her from her phone screen, a face that wasn’t her own.

“Who...?” She couldn’t get the words out before she blacked out, her head hitting the floor.

...

Waking up in an unfamiliar place was to be the norm for Naya, it seemed. At least she remembered going into the room, that was a start. She must’ve been so hungry she passed out. Typical.

Her phone lay next to her, the screen broken and blinking. That was strange, she didn’t remember breaking it. Must’ve been the impact of the fall. At least you couldn’t get any texts from that mysterious person, not that she’d had one since they asked her to violate Misha. Silver linings, she supposed.

She needed food, she decided. Rubbing her head, she made her way to the cafeteria.