The hallway outside the classrooms felt strangely quiet after the last bell rang. Most students had already left the academy, and only a few remained, lingering near the doors and talking softly. I walked down the corridor alone, my footsteps echoing faintly against the floor. Normally the silence would have felt peaceful, but today it only reminded me of everything that had happened.
The whispers had followed me the entire day, never loud enough to confront directly but never quiet enough to ignore. I had heard my name more times than I could count, always spoken in low voices and always followed by the same accusation. It's because of her. Things got worse after she arrived. If she leaves, everything will go back to normal.
At first I tried to convince myself it was just another rumor that would fade away like all the others. But the way people looked at me today felt different. Their stares lasted longer, their conversations stopped when I passed, and every quiet laugh felt like it was directed at me.
By the time classes ended early that afternoon, the academy felt less like a school and more like a place where I didn't belong.
I kept walking, trying not to think about it too much. The sooner I left the building, the sooner I could escape the tension hanging in the air. My mind was still replaying fragments of the whispers I had heard earlier when sudden footsteps echoed quickly behind me.
Before I could turn around, a hand grabbed my shoulder and shoved me forward.
The force caught me completely off guard. My back slammed hard into the row of metal lockers beside me, the impact sending a loud crash down the hallway. The locker doors rattled violently, their metal clanging against each other as the shock of the collision traveled through them.
Pain shot through my back, and my balance disappeared instantly. My legs gave out beneath me and I fell to the floor, the cold tiles pressing against my hands as I tried to understand what had just happened.
When I looked up, a boy was standing over me.
I recognized him vaguely as one of the senior students. We had never spoken before, but I had seen him around the academy enough times to know he wasn't someone who usually paid attention to me.
His expression wasn't furious or wild.
It was colder than that.
Frustrated.
"You should leave," he said.
His voice was calm, but the words felt sharp.
I stared at him, still sitting on the floor.
"What?"
"You heard me," he replied. "You should leave the academy."
A few classroom doors nearby had opened after the loud crash. Students had stepped into the hallway, and now several of them were standing at a distance watching what was happening.
None of them moved closer.
None of them told him to stop.
They just watched.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, pushing myself up slightly.
"Yes you do," he replied immediately.
He took a small step closer, looking down at me like the answer should have been obvious.
"Everything here has gotten worse," he continued. "More pressure. More work.
Everyone's being pushed harder than before."
"That has nothing to do with me," I said.
"It started when you showed up."
"That doesn't make sense."
"Maybe not," he said. "But people are still paying for it."
The hallway behind him had gone quiet now.
Students were whispering to each other while watching us.
"You could end it," he added.
"How?"
"Leave."
The word hung heavily in the air.
"If you leave, things calm down again," he said. "That's what everyone's saying."
I felt anger rising in my chest.
"I didn't do anything."
"Someone has to be blamed."
Before I could respond, the atmosphere in the hallway suddenly changed.
The whispers stopped.
A new set of footsteps echoed through the corridor—slow, steady, and unhurried.
I didn't even need to look to know who it was.
But I did anyway.
Liam was walking toward us from the end of the hallway.
His hands were in his pockets, his posture relaxed like he had simply been passing by. But the moment the boy noticed him, everything about his body stiffened.
The frustration on his face disappeared almost instantly.
When Liam stopped a few steps away, his gaze moved from the boy to me on the floor.
His expression remained calm.
"That's enough," he said.
He didn't raise his voice.
But the words carried through the hallway clearly.
The boy froze.
For a moment it looked like he might say something back, but when he met Liam's eyes, whatever confidence he had vanished.
He stepped away quickly.
Without another word, he turned and walked down the hallway, leaving as fast as he could.
The students who had been watching began whispering again, though more quietly now.
I slowly pushed myself up, my back still aching from the impact.
Liam looked down at me.
"You should sit," he said calmly.
Anger immediately flared inside me.
"You did this."
His expression didn't change.
"What did I do?"
"You heard what he said," I replied. "According to you, everyone's suffering because of me."
Liam watched me silently.
"That rumor didn't appear out of nowhere," I continued.
"Rumors rarely do," he said.
"He shoved me because of it."
Liam glanced briefly down the hallway where the boy had disappeared.
"And yet," he said quietly, "he left."
"That doesn't change anything," I snapped.
For a moment neither of us spoke.
Then Liam turned slightly.
"You should go home," he said.
Before I could respond, he started walking away.
Just before disappearing around the corner, he glanced back once.
"Be careful, Emma."
Then he was gone.
And as the whispers slowly returned to the hallway around me, one thing became painfully clear.
The rumor had already spread too far.
Because now the entire academy believed something simple.
If I disappeared—
Everything would get better.