Authorized Oversight
1175 Words
EVE POV
By the time I got back to my apartment, the sky outside had already darkened.
The entire building felt strangely hollow.
No music through the walls.
No footsteps in the corridor.
Nothing.
I locked the door behind me immediately.
Then checked it again.
Just to be sure.
I hate that I am doing that now.
I dropped my bag onto the kitchen counter and opened my laptop before I could think too much.
Because I needed something normal.
Assignments.
Registration.
Deadlines.
Anything that still belonged to reality.
The university portal loaded slowly.
Student ID.
Password.
Login successfully.
I exhaled quietly.
Good.
Normal.
I opened my registration dashboard.
And froze.
At first, I thought the screen glitched.
Because my name was still there.
But underneath it—
Another line had appeared.
AUTHORIZED ACADEMIC OVERSIGHT:
CALEB KINGSLEY.
My heartbeat slowed instead of speeding up.
That scared me more.
I refreshed the page immediately.
Once.
Twice.
Still there.
“No,” I whispered.
Because there was no possible reason another student should have access to my registration profile.
Unless he wasn’t registered as a student anymore.
My fingers moved shakily toward the activity log.
Then stopped.
LAST ACCOUNT ACCESS:
CALEB KINGSLEY.
12:14 PM.
Today.
I stared at the timestamp.
Because I remembered exactly where Caleb was at 12:14 PM.
Standing at the edge of the lecture hall.
Watching me like he was waiting for something to update.
And suddenly—
The apartment didn’t feel empty anymore.
I pushed away from the table too quickly.
The chair scraped hard against the floor, the sound cutting through the apartment like broken glass.
My breathing turned uneven.
No.
No, this had to be fake.
Some stupid system error.
Some corrupted faculty setting.
Because Caleb Kingsley was a student.
He had to be.
Right?
I grabbed my phone instantly and opened the university student directory.
Search:
Caleb Kingsley.
Loading...
No results were found.
I stared at the screen.
Then searched again.
Slower this time.
Careful.
Still nothing.
My stomach tightened painfully.
That made no sense.
I had seen him in lectures.
People spoke to him.
Professors acknowledged him.
So how could he not exist inside the system?
A cold sensation crawled slowly up my arms.
I clicked back into the portal again.
The page refreshed automatically.
And this time—
Another notification appeared.
ACCOUNT MONITORING ENABLED.
I stopped breathing.
Because I never enabled that.
My hands moved toward the keyboard immediately.
Disable settings.
Error.
Try again.
Error.
My chest tightened harder.
Then—
A small sound came from somewhere inside the apartment.
Click.
I froze instantly.
The sound wasn’t loud.
But in the silence, it felt enormous.
Like a switch.
Or a door latch.
Every muscle in my body locked.
I looked slowly toward the hallway leading deeper into the apartment.
Dark.
Empty.
Still.
I told myself to move.
But my body refused.
Because suddenly I remembered something I hadn’t noticed earlier.
When I entered—
The kitchen light had already been on.
Another notification appeared on the laptop screen.
NEW ADMIN MESSAGE RECEIVED.
My fingers felt numb as I clicked it open.
Only one sentence appeared.
Response delay increasing.
Adjustment may be required.
I stared at the message.
Then slowly looked toward the dark hallway again.
And for the first time—
I genuinely considered the possibility that Caleb Kingsley had been inside my apartment before I arrived.
I stood up so fast the chair nearly tipped over behind me.
Every instinct screamed at me to leave.
Now.
Grab my phone.
Grab my keys.
Run.
But fear did something strange to the body.
Instead of making me move—
it made me listen.
The apartment felt impossibly silent.
No traffic outside.
No neighbors.
No humming appliances.
Nothing.
Like the entire building was holding its breath with me.
My eyes stayed fixed on the hallway.
Dark.
Narrow.
Empty.
I reached for my phone carefully without looking away.
The screen lit instantly in my hand.
9:47 PM.
No missed calls.
No messages.
Except—
One new notification.
Unknown Number.
My stomach dropped before I even opened it.
Because somehow—
I already knew.
The message contained no greeting.
No explanation.
Just coordinates.
Numbers.
Followed by:
You should not stay there tonight.
My pulse slammed hard against my ribs.
I backed away from the counter slowly.
Then another message arrived before I could think.
He is escalating faster than projected.
He.
Not they.
Not the observer.
He.
A sharp chill moved through me.
Because that meant there were sides now.
Different people.
Different intentions.
And somehow—
I was already in the middle of them.
I typed quickly.
Who is this?
Seen immediately.
No reply.
Then—
Another sound.
This time closer.
Not a click.
A footstep.
Soft.
Controlled.
From somewhere near my bedroom.
Every part of me went cold.
I grabbed the nearest thing beside me without thinking—
a kitchen knife.
My hand shook violently around the handle.
The apartment suddenly felt unfamiliar.
Like the walls had shifted while I wasn’t paying attention.
Another message appeared.
Don’t go to the bedroom.
Too late.
Because the bedroom door was already slowly opening by itself.
Not fast.
Not dramatic.
Just enough.
A thin line of darkness widening inch by inch.
My heartbeat became painfully loud.
Then the movement stopped completely.
The door remained partially open.
Waiting.
I couldn’t breathe properly anymore.
And then—
From inside the dark room—
A phone notification sound echoed softly.
Not mine.
Someone else’s.
Inside my bedroom.
The sound came again.
A vibration.
Muted.
Inside the bedroom.
My grip tightened painfully around the knife.
Every survival instinct told me to run.
Instead—
I stepped forward.
One slow step.
Then another.
The wooden floor felt freezing beneath my feet.
The bedroom door remained half open.
Like someone wanted me to enter willingly.
My breathing sounded too loud now.
I pushed the door wider carefully.
Darkness.
At first, I saw nothing.
Then—
a small glow.
Phone light.
Near the floor.
My eyes adjusted slowly.
And that was when my entire body went numb.
Someone was sitting beside my bed.
Not moving.
Not speaking.
Just sitting there in the dark.
I nearly screamed before the person lifted their face slightly.
Nadia.
Relief hit first.
Immediate.
Violent.
Until I noticed her expression.
She looked terrified.
Not of me.
Of something else.
“Lock the door,” she whispered immediately.
My heartbeat stumbled hard.
“What?”
“Eve,” she said sharply this time, eyes darting toward the apartment entrance, “lock the door right now.”
Something in her voice destroyed my hesitation instantly.
I turned and locked it.
Every lock.
Top.
Bottom.
Chain.
When I faced her again, Nadia was already standing now.
Shaking slightly.
“You shouldn’t have stayed here,” she said.
The knife in my hand lowered slowly.
“What is happening?”
Nadia looked toward the dark hallway like she was listening for movement.
Then finally looked back at me.
And quietly said:
“You were never supposed to notice Caleb.”
- Writer
