The sun began to set, covering the sky with shades of reds, oranges, and purples. It had been a long day, everyone was now settling into their rooms until there was nothing more than the occasional car driving by or the new students exploring the small campus. Celestial College was a large campus in the middle of a quiet town. In fact, the town was small enough that everyone knew everybody, even the ones who weren't locals. Althea was supposed to start unpacking but the travel time from her home was an hours' worth. So, an hour of her day had already been taken from her. She decided that the best option would be to walk around the campus to see if anything had changed. This was in fact her third year of college, so it meant that she was halfway done with her degree. She walked across the campus to a bench swing that overlooked the pond. Even though it was only August there was in fact a gentle wind blowing through the air.

That gentle wind blew through her dark brown hair in quiet whispers. The sudden sense of foreboding stole over her, causing the ends of her hair on her arms to stand up. Althea sat down on the bench swing and watched the ducks swimming around. Some of them, mostly the ones with the green heads, were swimming while the light brown ones were sleeping and taking care of their young. The bench swing rocked as if someone sat down automatically next to her. Forcing her from her thoughts. Next to her, her best Abigail sat down, she had aubrey highlights in her brown hair. Her brown eyes twinkled underneath the sun.

"Hey girl!" She exclaimed "You seem lost in thought."

"You are as silent as a Ninja," Althea laughed.

"Thank you, it's a gift," Abigail responded.

"As for what's up, I'm just watching the ducks." Althea said.

"I hear ya," Abigail responded as her brown eyes traveled to the still water. "I know that you're sitting here for another reason, though," she continued. "Whenever you're lost in thought, you go somewhere peaceful and relax."

That was true. Althea couldn't help but think about everything that had happened since they got back from summer break. It was her senior year, and she did not know what to expect. Something about the campus gave her strange vibes. But Althea would never tell her friend about that, since she knew how overprotective Abigail would get.

"I'm only sitting here because there's nothing to do," Althea responded.

"Why don't we walk around campus?" Abigail suggested. "Maybe that will help?"

Althea shrugged and got up. She checked her pockets for her phone and walked toward the street. Cars passed left and right. Once the route cleared, they raced across the street and made it to the other side before any cars could pass. They got on the sidewalk and walked up a long flight of stairs. The campus was in the middle of nowhere, and the nearest store was twenty-two minutes away.

Althea and Abigail didn't care. They were passing the theater when Althea noticed a man by a tree. The man stood under the tree hiding in the shadows as if he was plotting his next move. Althea blinked rapidly as she witnessed the figure flicker. Althea blinked once, and the stranger vanished. Okay, she thought. No more energy drinks.

"Althea?" Abigail said.

"Huh?" Althea responded, turning toward her friend, never letting her eyes leave the spot where the figure once stood before focusing all her attention on Abigail.

"Are you okay?" Althea questioned. "You look like you saw a ghost."

Althea hesitated for a moment and shook her head. She did not know how Abigail would react.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Althea said. "I think I've been watching too many scary movies."

Abigail shrugged as they walked around the campus. Althea turned back to see the stranger. But he had already disappeared. Relief flooded her system as the girls walked back to their dorm. On the way, they began talking about their day and what they did during the summer. She couldn't imagine what life would be like without Abigail. When the girls weren't spending time together, they often kept to themselves mostly because they didn't seem to trust people around them.

"Abigail?" Althea spoke. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"You know you can ask me anything."

"Do you ever see things on this campus that you can't explain?"

Abigail hesitated. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, don't you think this campus is haunted?"

Althea watched a smile appear on her friend's face. Abigail was the only person she could talk to about spirits and hauntings who was kind enough to listen. Althea knew her friend didn't quite believe in that stuff since her parents had told her that ghosts didn't exist and that, most of the time, it was nothing more than a trick of the light or some other logical explanation.

"Doubt it," Abigail said. "But you know how I am. I won't know until I experience it."

"Right, okay," Althea responded and plastered on a smile. It was best to keep her abilities a secret, at least until she knew what was going on. "Well, we should go inside and work on our homework."

They arrived at their dormitory and walked into the building. It was big, with three floors. The girls lived on the first floor. They walked down the hall until they arrived at their room, Room 106, Althea pulled out her key and slid it inside the lock, allowing the door to open. The girls walked inside and sat down on their desks, where they were going to spend most of their evening. It was also the day that her friend had to go to band practice, so Althea went with Abigail to drop her off.

"Hey girl," Althea said. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"What?" Abigail questioned.

"Do you mind if I drop you off at band practice?" Althea clarified.

"Sure, why not," Abigail responded.

A few minutes later, Abigail finished getting ready and grabbed a black bag. Althea pulled on her shoes and walked out of the dormitory. The two friends walked across campus until they arrived at a music building with glass doors and windows. Althea stopped at the front entrance and told her friend to enjoy band. Turning back, Althea made her way toward the dormitories.

Along the way, she ran smack into someone, nearly falling over. But thankfully, the person caught her before she could hit the ground. Althea looked to see who had saved her and saw that it was a young man with brown hair, dressed in black.

"I am so sorry," The young man said while he helped her up. "I didn't see where I was going. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Althea responded. Only when he looked behind the young man could she see a darkened figure standing directly behind him. Nothing but shadow, save for the bright yellow eyes.

Suddenly, her chest started hurting like she was going to have a heart attack. Althea tore her eyes away from the dark aura, she never thought she'd come across something like that during her day-to-day activities. "Who are you? I've never seen you around campus before."

The man pulled away and cleared his throat.

"My name is Peter," he said. "My friends and I transferred from a different school."

"Which is where?" Althea asked.

"Wiley State," Peter responded. "We came here because we needed a new start, you know, a better atmosphere and a smaller campus."

"Well, in that case, welcome to Celestial University," Althea said, her voice trembling. Hardly noticeable. While she wanted to stick around and talk, she needed to get away from him. Because whatever was surrounding him made her weak in the knees. "I would stay and chat, but I should get back to my room. It was great meeting you!"

"Wait, do you mind if I walk you back?" Peter called out.

"Um." Think Althea. Think. He's a stranger and you don't know who he really is or his intentions. "No, I think I can handle it myself. I'll see you later!"

Althea took off back to her dormitory, hoping that Peter wouldn't follow.