fern writes

And she's panicking. She can't breathe, star can barely see the words she's typing out.

“I'm really struggling right now”

But she deletes that message. It sounds too formal.

"Hi!”

That gets deleted too.

“I'm going to miss you. I'm sorry.”

But that gets deleted, and she tosses her phone down, giving up.

Her chest is tight and the room is full of static and she can feel every little thing touching its body and voi is hyperaware of the box cutter sitting on the desk and she can't breathe star can't see but xey’re walking towards the desk and he's holding the blade and she doesn't know what they're doing and he hates this feeling but he's relieved but xe think of their friend, and the box cutter gets dropped back on the desk.

And Vega walks to his friend's dorm. They can hear every sound bounce off the walls of the hallway. There's a dull sound of music playing, likely coming from somebody's room. There's the hum of the air conditioning, and slight chatter coming from somewhere. Her footsteps and rapid breathing seem to fill the hallway.