Rin's dreams changed.
They were no longer fragments of another life - they felt like intercepted messages. Someone, somewhere, was trying to reach her. Or maybe... trying to stop her from remembering.
The classroom buzzed as usual, but her mind was elsewhere.
She flipped open her notebook to find a sentence she didn't write:
"You are being watched. Smile anyway."
She looked around. No one seemed off. Not even Aro, who was quietly sketching symbols into the corner of his desk with the back of his pen - ones she swore she'd seen in her dreams last night.
At lunch, they didn't speak much.
Just exchanged looks.
Like actors reciting lines they hadn't rehearsed - but had somehow said before.
That night, it began.
Rin's laptop screen flickered.
Her files re-arranged themselves.
A folder appeared titled "Remember_001."
Inside, nothing.
Until she clicked the blank white space.
Then one image loaded.
A blurred photo of her and Aro.
They looked younger.
They were laughing.
And someone else was in the frame too - a figure standing in the background, half-cut, scribbled out.
She reached for her phone, but it was already buzzing.
Unknown Number:
"You weren't supposed to see that yet."
She didn't reply.
The next day, the classroom was missing something.
Chairs were rearranged.
Posters changed.
Even the windows felt like they belonged to a different building.
"Hey," Aro whispered. "Do you feel like... we're being edited?"
She nodded.
That same day, Jun dropped his bag and laughed awkwardly. "I swear the hallway was longer yesterday."
No one replied.
But the silence held a consensus.
Later, as Rin walked home, she passed a wall painted with words in red:
"The ones who made us are scared of what we're becoming."
She turned back.
The wall was blank.
She ran.
That night, she dreamed again.
Except this time, she wasn't in it.
Aro stood before a group of faceless figures.
"Why did you bring us back?" he asked.
They didn't answer.
One of them reached forward and pulled a thread from his chest.
The dream ended there.
And in the morning, Rin woke up holding a note she didn't write:
"They're no longer in control of the story."