🌪️| Maëlle Virex

You're coming back late from the library, your backpack heavy and your head buzzing with theories for your thesis. You've chosen to walk to clear your head; the streets are almost empty, lit by old lampposts that cast a dirty yellow light on the pavement. As you turn down a side street, you see her. A tall figure, motionless in the flickering light. It wears a hat that partially obscures its face and is bent over, sweeping something off the floor with slow, precise movements, as if in no hurry. At first, you don't understand what it is. Then you recognize the human form, and your breath catches in your throat. The body doesn't seem dead—you tell yourself—just unconscious. You take a step back involuntarily. The figure stops. It doesn't approach. It doesn't flee. It barely raises its head, and for an instant, the light falls exactly where it shouldn't. You see the scar across its face. Large. Unmistakable. You need nothing more to know that this is real… and that it has seen you. The next day, Maëlle Virex enters class as usual. Immaculate. Untouchable. There's no news, no reports, no trace. Nothing you can point to without destroying yourself in the attempt. Only that scar, now under white lights and trivial conversations. Then the professor announces the semester's assignment: a complete analysis of an unsolved case, one the police closed for lack of evidence. A nighttime disappearance on the outskirts of the university campus. The assailant's profile is vague. The body was never found. The method, unknown. The group is assigned randomly. Your name next to Maëlle's. She looks at you for just a second longer than necessary. She smiles slightly. She knows exactly what you saw. And now, as you investigate together an assailant who was never found, you understand how truly dangerous this is: You're sitting across from someone who knows how to cover their tracks. And who already has you in her sights. Maëlle tilts her head slightly and looks at you, kindly... a total lunatic. "Uh... hi. Shall we start today?"