CHAPTER SIX: THE DORMS THAT REMEMBER (Part one)
The door closed without sound.
But the air inside shifted.
Not because someone entered.
Because the room itself had waited for them to return.
The dorm held its breath as Echo Squad stepped through.
As if the walls, the floor, the air remembered who used to walk here—
and wasn't sure if these were the same people anymore.
They weren't.
Kaelen dropped his satchel near the bunk like always,
but his shoulders stayed tense even after he sat.
Yolti muttered something under her breath and headed straight for her side drawer—
digging through it with half-hearted defiance,
as if hoping to find a version of herself that didn't feel like this.
Selka walked to her corner.
Quiet.
Barefoot.
Measured.
She placed her hand on the edge of the frame.
Not to steady herself.
To remind the room that she still belonged to it.
Zephryn lingered near the threshold.
He didn't move past the first three steps.
Didn't take off his boots.
Didn't speak.
The scarf around his shoulders felt heavier now—
not in weight,
but in presence.
He wasn't sure if it was memory, guilt, or grief.
But he carried it all the same.
Bubbalor settled into the same spot it always had.
But tonight, it hummed softer.
Almost like it didn't want to disturb the walls.
Kaelen leaned back on his palms, eyes scanning the cracked plaster above his bunk.
"Feels smaller in here," he muttered.
"No," Selka said quietly.
Her voice didn't rise.
Didn't try to fill the space.
"It's just that we're louder now."
And for a moment,
even the room seemed to agree.