POV: Maya (as Alex) / Killer
Maya suspected her time was running out, and by the next morning, her instincts proved more accurate than she could have imagined.
Whispers rippled through Pacific Elite Academy like a virus spreading between classes. Rumors of someone spotted near the main gates in the pre-dawn hours—stranger, drifter, maybe nothing, maybe something worth worrying about. The stories shifted with each telling: homeless person looking for shelter, lost tourist asking for directions, suspicious figure casing the campus for reasons no one wanted to speculate about too loudly.
Why are people talking about strangers? This place is supposed to be secure.
Security patrols doubled overnight, guards appearing in locations Maya had never seen them before. Faculty moved through hallways with forced calm, their eyes sweeping every corridor twice instead of once, lingering on students who looked out of place or acted differently than usual.
