My Perfect Eyes, My Dead Classmate

In my past life, a guy from my class who had never spoken to me suddenly started saving a library seat for me. He said the study cubicles were too hard to book, so he got up at 5:00 AM every day and saved one for me while he was at it. I figured a free seat was a free seat, so I sat in that exact spot every single day to study for my MCATs. But ever since I started sitting there, I began getting frequent headaches. My vision deteriorated rapidly, and whenever I tried to read, the words doubled. Three days before the exam, I went completely blind. Immediately after, I suffered a brain hemorrhage and died alone in my rented apartment. Meanwhile, his younger sister, who had been diagnosed with terminal retinoblastoma and was about to have both eyes surgically removed, miraculously made a full recovery. The tumor just vanished. It was only after my death that I realized Ethan had taped a "Soul-Siphoning Sigil" under my chair. Every day I sat there, my life force and the energy from my eyes and brain were being drained and fed directly to his sister. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the very first day he smiled and pointed to that seat in the library. You want to steal my eyes? Then you two can live in the dark forever! "I saved this seat for you." Ethan smiled, pointing at the chair. It was the exact same smile as in my past life. I stared at the chair. In my past life, I would have walked over, said thank you, sat down, and slowly signed my own death warrant day by day. "No thanks, I’ll find my own seat." I walked right past him and headed toward the corner in the very back row. Ethan froze for a second, then quickly followed me. "The light in that row is broken. It flickers constantly and will ruin your eyes. This seat of mine is by the window. The light is perfect. You'll be way more comfortable here." He really had the nerve to talk about ruining my eyes. "I’m fine. I prefer it a bit darker." "Clara." He called me by my first name. We had been in the same class for three years, and we had never spoken a word to each other. Yet, the very first time he approached me, he knew exactly who I was. In my past life, I hadn't paid attention to this detail. In this life, goosebumps broke out all over my skin. "How do you know my name?" "We're in the same class, Clara. It's on the roster." "Okay. Then tell me, what’s the name of the girl with the ponytail in the front row? Or the guy sitting two seats to your left?" He blinked, caught off guard. "Well, I don't really—" "You don't even know the names of the people sitting right next to you, so why do you remember mine?" His fingers twitched slightly, but he quickly forced another smile. "I guess you just stand out. I noticed you." Stand out? I was average-looking, had average grades, and was the kind of person whom professors would take a minute to remember even after looking at the roll sheet. What kind of person would find someone like me "standing out"? Unless he wasn't targeting *me*, but something *on* me. I stopped arguing, sat down in the corner seat, and opened my textbook, pretending to read. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ethan standing by that chair for a few seconds before slowly sitting down in it himself. He sat on it himself. If the Soul-Siphoning Sigil was under it, wasn't he afraid? Two possibilities—the sigil only worked on a specific target, or he hadn't activated it yet today. At noon, when the library cleared out for cleaning, I intentionally lingered until everyone had left, then doubled back. I knelt on the floor, crawled under the desk, and ran my fingers along the underside of the chair. The metal surface was freezing cold. I searched inch by inch. Right in the center, my fingertips brushed against something. It wasn't paper. It wasn't a sticker. It felt like a thin, warm, slightly sticky membrane attached to the metal, with a faint, pulse-like throbbing. It felt alive. My stomach churned violently, and I yanked my hand back. A faint reddish residue was left on my fingertip. In my past life, I only found out it was a Soul-Siphoning Sigil after I died. In this life, I was on my knees, touching it with my own hands. I pulled out my phone and took a close-up photo. I couldn't tear it off, and I couldn't move it. I couldn't let him know I knew. When I returned to the library in the afternoon, Ethan was already there. Seeing me come in, he nodded toward the empty chair again. "Still saved it for you. Sure you don't want to sit here?" "You get up at 5:00 AM every day just to save me a seat. What's the catch?" "No catch. Just being nice." As he spoke, he pulled a bottle of eye drops from his backpack, tilted his head back, put two drops in, and waved the bottle at me. "Want some? Studying for the MCAT is brutal on the eyes. You’ve got to protect them." Protect my eyes. Hearing those words from his mouth felt like a needle piercing my eardrums. "No, I'm good." Back in my dorm that night, I went through his Instagram. His latest post was from 5:12 AM today. It was a photo of the empty library chair with a cup of hot coffee next to it. The caption read: *Finally waiting for her.* There were over a dozen comments, all classmates teasing him. But at the very bottom was a comment from an account with no profile picture, under the name "Lily." Just two words: *Go get 'em.* The light of my phone screen reflected on my face. I didn't sleep a wink all night. First thing the next morning, I sent a text to Chloe. "Help me look someone up. Ethan’s younger sister. Find out which hospital she’s in and what she has." "You're investigating his sister? Don't tell me you actually have a crush on Ethan?" "Chloe." "Okay, okay, I’m on it. You owe me Korean BBQ once I find out.""Found her. Lily, nineteen years old. Admitted to the ophthalmology ward at St. Jude’s. Retinoblastoma, terminal." Chloe's voice message echoed in the empty hallway, and I quickly turned down the volume. "My cousin is an intern in that department. She said Lily’s brother visits her almost every day. Every time he leaves, his eyes are red from crying." "Also, her doctor issued a notice to the family last week. They strongly recommend surgically removing both of her eyes as soon as possible." Surgical removal of both eyes. In my past life, that surgery never happened because Lily’s tumor miraculously shrank and vanished right after I died. And the price for that miracle was the life of a twenty-three-year-old girl. I skipped my afternoon lectures and went straight to St. Jude’s. The nurses at the front desk didn't stop me. I gave them Lily’s name, and they let me right in. The hospital room was quiet. She was lying in the bed by the window, her hair cropped extremely short, her eyes covered in heavy white gauze. Her arms were so thin that the IV tube looked thick in comparison. Hearing my footsteps, she turned her head slightly. "Ethan?" "No, I’m one of your brother's classmates. Just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing." "Ethan’s classmate?" She paused, thinking. "What's your name?" "Clara." A solid second of silence. Then, a sweet smile spread across her face. "Clara! You're the girl who sits next to my brother, right?" My heart rate spiked. I had never sat in that seat. "Did your brother mention me?" "Yeah. He said he saves a seat for you every day, and that you'd be sitting there from now on." Her tone was incredibly certain, as if she were describing something that had already happened. "Why is he so sure I'll sit there?" "Because it’s the best seat in the library. Why wouldn't you, Clara?" Her smile was sweet. Way too sweet. We talked for a few more minutes. Her conversation always revolved around one specific topic. "How is your vision, Clara? Do you need glasses?" "Your eyes sound so bright. Have you never worn glasses in your life?" "If you suddenly went blind one day, what would be the last thing you'd want to see?" That last question was so sudden and eerie that goosebumps broke out from my arms all the way to the back of my neck. "Why would you ask something like that?" "Because I'm about to lose my sight," she said. Underneath the gauze, I couldn't see her expression, but her voice remained sugary sweet. "But my brother said he has a way to save me. He said I won't have to get my eyes scooped out." The hum of the hallway heater suddenly sounded incredibly loud and distorted. "What way?" "Ethan said I can't tell anyone." She reached her hand out, clawing at the empty air. "Clara, can you come a little closer? I want to feel your face." I took a step back. "I should go. It's getting late. I’ll visit you another time." The moment I stepped out of the hospital, the cold wind rushed down my collar. I looked down at my hands—they were drenched in sweat. Lily knew. She wasn't just a passive patient waiting for treatment. She knew exactly what her brother was doing. Her words, *“you'd be sitting there from now on,”* weren’t a guess. It was a plan. I took a cab back to campus. The moment I pushed open my dorm room door, something felt off. The pen holder on my desk had been moved two inches. It used to be flush against the corner, but now it was sitting in the middle. I searched my backpack, my pillow, and my nightstand. And there, inside my MCAT prep notebook, pressed between two pages, was a transparent red film. It was identical to the one under the library chair. He had been in my room. "Ashley, did anyone come by today?" I asked my roommate, who was lying in bed with a face mask on, scrolling through TikTok. "Oh, Ethan stopped by. He said he was dropping off some study guides for you." "Who let him in?" "He said he already texted you about it. He came all this way to help you, why are you acting like this? What's wrong?" I clenched the red sigil in my hand, my fingernails digging deep into my palm. "From now on, I don't care who comes looking for me, or what excuse they use. Do not let anyone into this room. Do you hear me?!" "Whoa, chill. Is it really that big of a deal?" "Do you hear me?!" "...Fine, fine. Your room, your rules." I got into bed, wrapped the sigil in a tissue, and sealed it in a Ziploc bag. When I unlocked my phone to read a few pages of a PDF, the words seemed covered in a thin fog. I rubbed my eyes, but it didn't help. The text was still blurry. I couldn't tell if it was psychological, or if it was already too late. A notification popped up. It was a text from Ethan. *“Why weren't you at the library today? I didn't see you. Just wanted to check in. Are you feeling okay?”* I typed: *I'm fine.* Then I deleted it and wrote: *“Just a bit of a cold. How did you know I wasn't there?”* *“I waited for you all day.”* I checked his Instagram. He had posted a new story. It was a photo of the chair, which had remained empty all day. The caption: *She didn't show up today. But I'll keep waiting.* Underneath, the account "Lily" appeared again. This time, it wasn't just a short phrase. She wrote a whole line: *“Ethan, hurry. I can't see the light in my right eye anymore.”*"Clara, did you go see Lily yesterday?" The next morning, Ethan blocked my path in the hallway of the science building. The smile was still there, but the curve of his mouth was different from before. "I did. Why?" "How did you know which hospital she was in?" "You tagged the location in one of your posts. I just looked it up. I felt bad for your sister and wanted to visit." His eyes flickered, but he didn't press further. "Well, thank you. Lily said you were really nice too." He reached into his pocket and placed something in my hand. A bottle of eye drops. "The air's been really dry lately, and I noticed you've been rubbing your eyes a lot. Use this, it'll help." I looked at the packaging—it was sealed, a legitimate brand from the pharmacy. But after everything, I wouldn't dare touch anything he gave me. "Thanks, but I have my own." As I handed the bottle back, his fingers brushed against the back of my hand. The moment we touched, a sharp, static-like sting shot from my skin straight up my arm. I yanked my hand back. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Just static." He smiled and said nothing. After the first lecture, I opened my pencil case and realized the zipper had been left slightly open. Inside, there was something new—another transparent red film, wrapped tightly around the barrel of my favorite pen. When did he put it there? My pencil case had been on my desk the entire lecture. Ethan sat diagonally behind me, less than six feet away. He could have easily reached over while I was focused on taking notes. I used a tissue to peel the sigil off and slipped it into the Ziploc bag. This was the third one. One under the chair, one in my notebook, and one on my pen. How many of these things had he planted around me? When I got back to my dorm, I flipped my backpack inside out. I checked my coat pockets, the inner covers of my textbooks, even the bottom of my water bottle. Nothing else. But who knew how many more would appear tomorrow? That night, I sat in the corner of the library to study. My vision was even worse than yesterday. The words in my textbook looked as if they had been soaked in water. The edges were blurry, and the double vision was getting worse. It was the exact same progression as my past life. I rubbed my temples. As I went to look back down at my book, I caught movement in the doorway. It was Lily. She was wearing massive, pitch-black sunglasses, holding a blind cane, and being guided in by Ethan. "Hey guys, I wanted to introduce you to someone. This is my sister, Lily. She got discharged today to get some fresh air, so I thought I'd show her around campus." "Hi, Clara," Lily said, pulling off her sunglasses and looking in my direction with a wide smile. The pupil of her right eye was cloudy and white. The iris of her left eye had an unnatural, dark yellow ring around it, but she could still manage to focus on me. "We meet again." "Yeah." Ethan pulled out his phone. "I have to take this call outside. Lily, why don't you hang out with Clara for a bit?" He walked out. There were seven or eight other students studying in the room, but none of them looked up. Lily stood in front of me and suddenly reached out. "Clara, could you take me to the restroom? I don't know my way around." I couldn't reject a semi-blind girl in front of a room full of people. The moment I reached out, her hand clamped around my wrist. Her grip was incredibly strong, completely disproportionate to her fragile body. Her five fingers felt like an iron band squeezing my pulse point. As soon as we made contact, a freezing, vacuum-like suction sensation spread from my wrist up my entire arm. It felt like something was being drained, drop by drop, from my veins. I tried to pull away, but I couldn't break her grip. "Walk slower, Clara. I can't see very well," she said, smiling as she leaned her body against mine, walking practically glued to my side. She stopped at the restroom entrance and tilted her head. "Clara, do you know why I insisted on coming to your campus today?" "Your brother wanted to show you around." "No. I wanted to come myself." Her left eye, which still had a tiny bit of vision left, locked onto me. Her smile widened. "My brother told me you were the best match in his entire year. Zero nearsightedness, zero astigmatism. Your retinal health is in the top one percent of your age group." The blood in my veins turned to ice. "He also said as long as you sit in that chair for six hours a day, it'll take forty days max. Then I won't have to get my eyes scooped out." "What are you talking about?" "Don't be scared, Clara," she said, releasing her grip. Her smile was innocent and sweet. "It's not like you'll remember any of this once it's over anyway. Master Victor said that when your life force is completely drained, there’s no pain. It’s just like falling asleep." She put her sunglasses back on and turned to walk back. "Thanks for taking me to the restroom." I looked down at my wrist. The spot where she had grabbed me had a reddish handprint, and right in the center was a tiny, blister-like burn mark. It looked like something had been seared into my skin. Ethan came walking down the hallway, taking Lily by the hand. "Let's go, Lily. It's getting late." As they passed me, he smiled. "Thanks for looking after her." I watched their retreating figures disappear down the hall. Lily leaned in and whispered something in Ethan's ear. They were too far away for me to hear. But looking at her mouth, I could read her lips. She said three words: *“She’s the one.”* When I got back to my dorm, I locked the door, pulled out my phone, and typed into the search bar: *How to break a Soul-Siphoning Sigil.*