Page 10 of Kalix

LAINEY

I close my textbook and set it down on the coffee table before heading into the kitchen, sprinting to turn on the light switches along the way.

The oven clock reads almost two in the morning. Tomorrow shouldn’t be too bad since my anxiety medication made me sleepy not long after I got home, allowing me to take a long nap. I’ll just need an extra shot of expresso in my morning coffee.

My stomach lets out a loud growl. I never realize how hungry I am until I stop studying. I get so consumed with what I’m doing that I forget everything else around me, including eating and, apparently, making sure the lights are on.

I have a lamp beside the couch, but I rarely think about the other lights until it's too late. One thing about me is that I am extremely scared of the dark, and I live alone, so I’m always terrified when night falls.

My stomach growls again .

“Okay, okay. I’m looking for something now. Calm down.” I murmur to my stomach.

I open the fridge and it’s nearly empty. A trip to the store definitely needs to be added to my to-do list. Grabbing a container of sour cream, I open my small pantry door to pull out my half-eaten bag of chips I had with lunch today. This is my all-time favorite late-night snack.

I swiftly make my way to my bedroom, turning off lights as I go, and then shut and lock the door behind me.

Crawling into bed, I search for my remote before finding something to watch to help me fall asleep. The only light in my bedroom comes from the bedside lamp, which turns off and on by touch. Whoever designed this place must’ve been an idiot because who puts a fan in a room without a light attached?

I tap the light off and scroll through the channels until I find a murder mystery. You’d think that being terrified of the dark would deter me from watching scary stuff, but it doesn’t. In fact, scary movies, murder mysteries, and thrillers are my favorites.

I dip my chips and watch in awe as the narrator explains in great detail how a young woman was stalked by a man who was obsessed with her.

She called the police and obtained a restraining order against him.

He ended up getting pissed and snuck into her house while she was sleeping, slit her throat, then raped her dead body before fleeing.

A chill breaks out over my body as the narrator says that this happened over ten years ago, and they still haven’t caught the guy. I can’t imagine how terrified she must’ve felt, constantly looking over her shoulder in fear that someone was following her.

I start to think about how I’ve been feeling lately, as I’ve had the sense that someone has been watching me. However, I quickly push the thought aside. If I dwell on it too much, my mind will spiral, and I’ll never get any sleep.

I set the empty chip bag and sour cream container on my nightstand, deciding to take a quick hit to help me sleep. As soon as I’m done, I lay back down and scroll through my social media apps until my eyes start to feel heavy.

Setting my phone on the nightstand beside my discarded trash, I bury myself under the covers and start to drift off.

Buzz Buzz Buzz

I slap my phone to silence my alarm, then rub my eyes before slowly sitting up. I don’t know what I was thinking, staying up so late when I have to be up early to go to the gym and then Chem Lab.

I take my time stretching my limbs and back, then walk to the bathroom to freshen up .

I walk back into my bedroom, immediately coming to a halt.

The sour cream container and chip bag is missing from last night. I walk over to the trash can by my desk in my room and they are both sitting inside.

I could’ve sworn I left it on the bedside table last night, but I must’ve woken up in the middle of the night and just don’t remember it.

I go to unlock my bedroom door, but it’s already unlocked.

My heart starts to race.

Now I know I locked this door before I went to bed.

I slowly look around the room before opening the door and looking around my living area. Nothing else seems out of place or odd.

I don’t ever remember sleepwalking before.

Get it together, Lainey. You probably just woke up in the middle of the night and forgot to lock the door again.

I decided to get a triple shot of espresso on my way to class from The Dark Roast instead of the double. My workout woke me up some, but not enough to get me through this lab.

I find the classroom, and as soon as I walk through the door, I see that the professor is standing with a glass dish that has a bunch of tiny pieces of paper in it.

“Good morning! Pick a piece of paper out of the bowl, it’ll have a number on it. That number is the table you’ll sit at.” He says.

I nod and reach into the bowl, grabbing a little piece of paper. “Four.” I say out loud.

The professor nods and gestures towards Table Four.

I pick a chair out of the four there and take a seat, then pull out my textbook, pen, and notebook, setting them down in front of me, waiting for the class to fill up.

Three more students fill the chairs around me. We all introduce ourselves before the professor gives instructions.

Kate has bright pink hair and sounds like a mouse when she talks.

Craig is tall with glasses and only gives one and two word answers to anything you say to him.

And the guy that was with his friend in lecture yesterday that made me feel uneasy, Issac, is dressed in all black and looks like he could bite your head off if you’d let him near you.

Good thing he’s sitting on the other side of the table, furthest away from me.

Let’s just hope they all cooperate so this can be an easy semester.

The professor starts talking, so I zone in on him, making sure I understand everything he is telling us that we need to do .

All of a sudden, I get goosebumps again, like I’m being watched.

My heart starts to race as I try to nonchalantly look around the room to see if anyone is staring at me. My gaze lands on my suspect across the room, but he’s looking down at his phone.

I shake my head and tell myself to take a chill pill.

Lainey, you’re going crazy.