Paranormal Psychology, Part 8

His face followed the motion of the coin. That string of words details the bare physical details of what happened, but I cannot do justice to the feeling of sheer dread I felt when I saw this. I had hidden the coin from sight the entire time I had been back to the dorm. He had no way of knowing what was under the cup, and no way to know how much this would freak me out. There was no way Peter was just joking.

"If you're pulling a prank on me, Peter, I swear to all that exists..." I said, inching closer to the cup. Surreptitiously I slipped the coin into my right hand while my left arm obscured what I was doing. His face still followed it, the dead stare continuing with my hand as I moved it slowly behind my back. Facing him, I began to edge around him. He followed me. Backing away from him, I felt for the door handle, and as I did so almost tripped over the chair sitting in front of the TV in my dorm room. Grimacing from my newly stubbed toe, I kept my eyes on Peter, who kept dully staring at me. My hand clasped the door handle and began turning it slowly, opening the door without a sound. Peter began to move after me, his footsteps drawing him closer so that he was only a few feet away.

As he began to move, I went into action, grabbing the chair that I had almost tripped over and pulling it with me to keep a barrier between me and my zombified roommate. I threw the door open, moved swiftly around it, and turned. I broke out in a cold sweat when I saw what was before me; the entirety of the dorm, all seemingly awake, stood out in the hall, staring blankly at me as I had emerged. Behind me I heard a thump and then the soft raking sound of Peter's hands numbly pawing at the door. My hands trembling, I dropped the coin into my pocket, and suddenly went through the incredibly awkward experience of watching as the entire zombified population of one's dorm lowered their gaze to one's groin. I know it sounds corny, but I most definitely heard the familiar sound of sepulchral laughing in the distance.

What can I say? I bolted.

***

I kept running until I could see the looming shape of the Fjord building in the distance, and even then only slowed to catch my breath. Out of shape as I was, I wasn't about to let much distance close between me and the horde of shadowy figures that had swarmed around me as soon as I came out of my dorm. This was around the point that I actually turned to look back and began feeling extremely silly. Whatever had caused this massive bout of somnambulism had not bestowed any sense of urgency to its victims, apparently, as I was out of sight of anything that had been following me. Sucking each breath in, I began to laugh between gasps, at myself, at the world, at the coin.. Of course, then I saw the surging wave of figures in the distance crest the hill between the Fjord building and the dorms.

Needless to say, I sprinted the distance to the library in record time. I found the makeshift classroom-library darkened and empty, which, while expected, served only to make me more paranoid.

"Hello? Anyone in here?" I said, feeling terribly cliche as I groped around for the light switch. I found it, and to my dismay flicking it up did nothing to the lights themselves. I took out my cellphone, using it as a makeshift flashlight, and subsequently felt terribly spooked out by the outlines of the classroom's desks against the ground. I made my way to the middle of the room, and then suddenly remembered something I noticed the professor had done earlier. Moving towards the right side of the board, I stepped on the bookshelf's lowest shelf, and it depressed gently. The lights flickered on, and I let a self-satisfied smile grace my face.

Looking through the dusty tomes as I walked down the bookshelf's aisle toward the back, where Abode had said his office was, my eyes flitted from book to book. I began to realize something off; the books were beginning to give way to little figurines and statues, along with bas reliefs and fractured tablets that seemed like the kind you might find in a museum. I shrugged, assuming it was just a collection the professor had accumulated for the class.

However, one set of figurines in particular caught my eye. Each one looked oddly familiar and rather recent acquisitions, despite the dust that seemed to have gathered around them. They looked almost like modern action figures, attired as if they were from around the present. I held one in my hand, which seemed to be in the image of a dark-haired young man wearing sunglasses. My eyes widened with shock when I realized that I had seen that young man earlier today in class. The entire set of figurines consisted of every single student that had signed the course syllabus in the class... except for me. I couldn't help but let loose a small yelp of surprise, and suddenly I sensed motion behind me.

I whirled around. Suddenly I found myself eye-to-eye with the dark-clothed woman from earlier, Alyx. You can imagine that I was at a loss for words.

"Hullo, squire. Follow me, if you would." She said, her smile wide and showing rather alarmingly pointed teeth. Don't get me wrong when you hear that. I'm not saying she had some piddling sharpened canines. I'm saying she had a mouth that Jaws would have been proud of. Alyx sprung into motion, bounding down the aisle. Hearing the sound of plodding feet down the way I had come, I less-than-eagerly followed, trying to keep up with her swift strides. This proved less than easy.

"Excuse me, but where are you taking me?" I said, with little hope for a good answer.