That Day World Flashed Before My Eyes

Afternoon light filtered through the trees in the college courtyard.

Hana walked ahead with her usual calm, elegant steps, blonde twin tails swaying. She was chatting lightly with a friend, completely unaware of the eyes that usually followed her.

Nearby, half-hidden behind a pillar, Maoh crouched low. In her small hands she held a crudely made voodoo doll, its head wrapped with a strand of hair. Her cute face was twisted in concentration as she whispered under her breath, fingers pressing and twisting the doll in slow, almost intimate motions.

“Stop looking at her… stop chasing her… forget that feeling…”

A faint, strange heat seemed to pass through the air.

A short distance away, Richie suddenly paused. He scratched the back of his head in a completely casual gesture, blinked once, and then simply turned and walked off in another direction — no lingering glance, no hesitant step, nothing.

Maoh’s eyes widened. A victorious, slightly unhinged smile spread across her face. She hugged the doll to her chest for a second, shoulders shaking with quiet excitement, then quickly slipped away between the buildings before anyone could notice her.

In the courtyard, Hana continued walking as if nothing had happened. The relentless presence that had followed her for so long was simply gone.

The campus beauty kept her cool expression, while somewhere in the shadows a small, bob-haired girl celebrated a victory only she understood.

What do you do?