Chapter 3: A New Gorgon
1183 Words
BENJAMIN'S POV
woah woah woah.... It's a new semester and I don't want to be here.
My brother’s ghost walked with me through Nocturna’s courtyard.
Not really.
But sometimes it felt real enough that I almost believed it.
It had been two years, and still every now and then, I caught the faint scent of pine and blood where there shouldn’t be any. My body now reacts before my mind could catch up.
I’d turn slightly, expecting to see him beside me, giving that familiar grin already forming like he already knew something I didn’t.
Sometimes I still waited for his tap on my shoulder but none of it ever came.
The courtyard moved around me , the voices, laughter, the usual noise—but it all felt distant.
Like I was standing just outside of it, watching something I wasn’t part of anymore.
We are just resuming as second year students after Nocturna's two years of hold after our freshman year and for some reason everyone is acting like there was no break at all.
Someone said something beside me.
I didn’t really listen.
Something about the new gorgon girl.
Something about her being strange.
“She hasn’t said a word,” the voice added somewhere to my left. “Not once and I heard she's selectively mute.”
I followed the direction of their gaze.
And then I saw her. She looked strange and carried a heavy aura. she was wearing all black, had gloves on, her hood was up and she wore a black nose mask.
She moved differently.
Not the slow kind of movement neither was it faster. It was off . It was just… controlled.
Like every step was placed exactly where she wanted it to be. Like she was aware of every inch of space around her and refused to let any of it touch her.
Everyone else moved like they belonged.
She didn’t look like she belonged at all.
But she didn’t look lost either.
That was what caught my attention.
I couldn't catch a clear picture of her stature or her face because her hood was up , the scarf and her face mostly hidden due to the mask.
Her eyes stayed forward.
She didn’t look at anyone.
Didn’t react.
Didn’t acknowledge anything happening around her or anyone close to her.
And yet, everything reacted to her.
People shifted away as she passed . Conversations turned to something said slightly.
Attention followed her whether they meant it to or not.
She felt contained and maintained the "stay away from me" vibe but she was not quiet.
There was a difference and that was her control. I was drawn to her like an iron to a magnet and I couldn't control my curiosity.
“She’s probably just stuck up,” someone muttered nearby.
Maybe that's true.
But that wasn’t what I was seeing.
That kind of silence wasn’t arrogance. It was tighter than that.
It felt deliberate, surely intentional.
My curiosity got the best of me and n idea formed before I could stop it.
A cold, reckless and convenient one.
“I’ll bet she’s not,” I said.
The words slipped out easily.
“What?” a voice laughed. “You defending her now?”
“No.”
I smiled, the expression settling into place automatically.
“I’m just making it interesting.
If I turned it into a game, it wouldn’t matter.
That was the trick.
Five hundred credits.
I could get her to talk.
I could get her to fall for me.
Midterms, easy.
Would you agree?"
At least, that’s what I said.
But even as the words left my mouth, I knew they didn’t mean anything.
I wasn’t bored.
That would have been easier.
I was as empty as a big empty barrel in the desert.
And something about her silence , about the way she held it so tightly,felt like it was staring back at mine.
She kept walking, did not slow down nor look back.
Like none of us mattered.
My eyes stayed on her longer than they should have and all they did was to track her.
Studying the way she moved. And there I caught the sight of something.
A slight shift beneath her hood.
This was not the fabric. It was something else. Subtle, hidden and interesting.
I straightened slightly without realizing it. in
“She’s not going to fall for you,” someone said.
“We’ll see,” I replied, already distracted.
She was getting closer to the admin building.
Still no hesitation or reaction.
Just that same steady, controlled movement.
Like she had somewhere to be.
Like she had no intention of being stopped.
I pushed myself off the wall.
For a second, I considered not going after her.
Not testing the reaction and try seeing if I could break that control.
But I couldn't stop myself so I pushed forward and I called out to her " Hey gorgon girl" I said. That sounded like a bomb to the crowd because all I could hear around me were students gasping.
She didn't stop. It was obvious she wasn't intending to so I ran after her and stood before her. She looked up in clear annoyance and our eyes met. Her grey eyes were magnificent and I couldn't stop looking even when I want to. Yhey hold so much stories, so much cold, and so much restraint.
" I heard you don't talk" I said. Them I leaned in closer to her ear and said " I guess you could scream my name".
I could tell she felt absolute disgust because she shoved me off with her shoulders and step on my shoe and walked past me.
Well that was cute. U wanted to go after her again but I stopped myself.
Not yet.
Instead, I watched.
She reached the steps.
Climbed them without slowing.
Pushed the door open.
And disappeared inside.
I didn’t look away immediately.
My gaze stayed fixed on the door long after it closed.
Something about her didn’t sit right.
Not in a bad way.
Just… unfinished.
Like there was more there than what anyone was seeing.
What are you hiding, silent girl?
The question settled in my mind, quiet but persistent.
And for the first time in a long while,
Something held my attention.
I didn’t understand it.
Didn’t need to.
Not yet.
But I knew one thing.
I wasn’t done watching her.
- Writer
