Page 4 of Sweet Violence
Rhys: u already haunt me
I stared at that for a second, feeling steadied in the stupidest way possible, then locked my phone and put it away.
Somewhere behind me, the elevator let out a low mechanical hum that immediately had my heartbeat climbing the walls.
Enclosed spaces weren’t happening today.
Hard pass.
I took the stairs two at a time instead, falling into the same steady pace as everyone else around me—the kind of pace that saidI belong here. I do this every day. I’m not actively unraveling in a historic building.
By the third floor, the air changed into something cooler and quieter. It was the kind of silence that pressed against the back of my neck.
The hallway stretched out ahead of me with fewer doors and too much empty space between them. Everything up here felt more important somehow.
I checked the time before I could stop myself.
Too early.
Of course I was early.
Early was what happened when you cared too much and had anxiety severe enough to qualify as a personality trait.
I stopped near the closest window and looked down at the quad below.
Students crossed the pathways in loose groups, laughing, carrying coffee cups, and existing with the kind of ease I kept trying to imitate but never quite managed to replicate naturally.
Meanwhile, my entire future was attempting to exit my body through my ribcage.
You’re fine.
You’re literally fine.
My phone buzzed again.
Rhys: don’t pass out before u meet him
Rhys: fainting is not a personality trait
Me: I’m not fainting.
Rhys: archibald
Rhys: ur the human embodiment of an 18th century illness
I exhaled through my nose, something almost like a smile threatening my cheek before I shut it down and turned back toward the hall.
Focus, Archie.
His door waited at the end of the hallway, his name printed clean and sharp against dark wood.
My fingers found the edge of my sleeve again before I forced my hand back down, adjusting my glasses as I closed the last few steps between us.
HENRY ROTHWELL
PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY / CRIMINOLOGY
Psychology came first.
