Midnight. Raucous shouts ripped through the silence from the dorm room above. I jolted awake, the sounds of chairs scraping across the floor mingling with bursts of laughter and piercing screams. "Lunatics!" I muttered, stuffing earplugs in before rolling over and drifting back to sleep. The next morning, yellow police tape barred the staircase leading to the upper floor. It was only then I learned the truth: the dorm room upstairs had been a slaughterhouse. All four residents, gone. 1 To piece together what happened that night, all four of us from the downstairs dorm suite were brought in for questioning at the precinct. The grisly discovery of the four victims in Room 414 had been made by the girls in Room 427, right next door. It was still dark, as winter mornings broke late, when the 427 girls, rushing for their 8 AM class, noticed 414’s door was still shut tight, no lights on. Then, looking down, they saw it: a thick, dark liquid seeping from beneath the door, a pool of black dread. Though the scene was quickly cordoned off by the police, some ghoulish onlookers had already managed to snap photos, circulating them in group chats. The images were sickening: a room awash in crimson, bodies shattered and strewn… Lily had puked on the spot. Nora, Julie, and I sat in the precinct's waiting room, Lily currently inside, being questioned. The air in that room was suffocating, thick with unspoken guilt. What if, just one of us, annoyed by the noise last night, had bothered to check? Could we have stopped a massacre? Even if not, could we have at least caught a glimpse of the killer, offered some vital clue? But no. Nothing. I had even cursed them, calling them lunatics as they died, then rolled over and slept through till dawn. Now, I couldn't even close my eyes. The moment my head hit the pillow, I saw crimson bleeding through the ceiling, a phantom stain. Understanding our fragile mental state, the police had specially brought in a professional therapist, not for "interrogation," but to help us cope. The interrogation room door creaked open, and Lily emerged, supported by a woman with long, dark hair – the therapist. 2 Dr. Evelyn Stone, a renowned criminal psychologist, had always been the precinct’s go-to partner for cracking major cases. Her secret weapon? An uncanny mastery of hypnosis. While suspects could easily control their words when awake, under her hypnotic spell, every detail, every memory, would spill forth, laid bare for the therapist. Evelyn gently guided Lily to sit beside me, her voice a soothing murmur. "Alright, kids. Thank you for all the information you've given the officers. They said you've been pretty shaken up, but don't worry. I'm going to talk to each of you individually, help you process everything. Sound good?" This therapist… she was talking to us like we were little kids. Her ID badge showed she was only about four years older than us. But at that moment, I couldn't care less. I was desperate for that "psychological guidance." 3 We entered the therapy room one by one. During the twenty minutes of my hypnotic session, I had no idea what transpired. All I knew was that when I woke, my mind felt lighter, my body relaxed, and for a blissful moment, the blood-soaked horror of Room 414 vanished from my thoughts. As I left the room, Evelyn gave me a warm smile. "Nice Doc Martens, kiddo." I waited in the lounge while the others took their turns. A kind young officer, sensing my boredom, even brought me a tablet to watch videos. Lily was the last one. This time, she walked out on her own, no need for assistance. "Congratulations, kids. You'll all sleep soundly tonight," Evelyn announced, clapping her hands softly. Her gaze swept over the group, then settled on me. I offered a reflexive smile, but the moment our eyes met, a shiver of ice crawled up my spine. Her red lips parted, a whisper that shattered the calm. "My apologies, Anna White, but you'll be staying." Nora, Julie, and Lily froze simultaneously. Lily was the first to speak, her voice trembling. "Why?" Evelyn’s long strides carried her swiftly toward me. My wrist suddenly felt heavy, then the cold, unyielding weight of handcuffs snapped shut around it. She was still smiling, but her eyes held no warmth, no joy, only an unsettling detachment. "You," she said, her voice dropping, "are the one who murdered everyone in Room 414." 4 "What did you say?!" Nora surged forward, planting herself protectively between me and Evelyn. "Anna's been with us this whole time! There's no way she could have killed anyone!" Julie and Lily quickly chimed in, "Yeah, I even heard her toss and turn that night!" Evelyn simply crossed her arms, a knowing look on her face. "You've all been fooled by her." Nora’s anger flared. "That's a lie! I thought you were one of the good guys, but you're just twisting everything! Officer! Get over here!" Her voice, loud and clear, echoed through the precinct as she yelled at the patrol officers standing nearby. "Come quick! Someone's trying to illegally detain her!" A handful of officers quickly gathered, their gazes shifting between my terrified face and Evelyn's composed one, confusion etching their features. "Dr. Stone, are you saying this young woman killed four people?" Evelyn just smiled, offering no verbal reply. "But… that's impossible. The killer was a ruthless brute. She's just a 22-year-old girl." Evelyn looked at me, her smile unwavering. "Then let's review the footage." 5 I hadn't killed anyone. But when the hypnosis video played, my jaw dropped. On screen, I lay back on the soft recliner, Evelyn's voice a gentle current, guiding me through questions. From simple things like my name and college, to intimate details like the time I'd used a cheat sheet on a test, even the deep, buried history of my bitterness towards my family — it all spilled out, unconsciously, without hesitation. I clapped a hand over my mouth, a gasp caught in my throat. So many of those little things, details I barely remembered myself, yet I’d answered with chilling fluency when she’d probed. Hypnosis, I knew, could unearth long-buried memories. And then, at the end, she had asked: "What were you doing at 1 AM on April 12th?" "I killed them." Evelyn's voice had been soft, a mere whisper. "Who?" "The four in Room 414." 6 A cold shiver ran down my spine. Nora, Julie, and Lily stared, their faces etched with disbelief. I shook my head frantically. "It wasn't me! I was woken up by the noise upstairs at that exact time – I looked at my clock, it was 1 AM! I swore, called them lunatics, then put in my earplugs and went back to sleep!" Lily quickly vouched for me. "I swear it! I'm a light sleeper, and I heard her toss and turn!" Nora nodded, "I sleep head-to-head with her, I heard her swear! How could it be her?" Julie also came to my defense. "Even though I was half-asleep, there's no way it was Anna! She has a history of depression, and after she got better, she became incredibly sensitive to screaming. That night, I heard screams coming from upstairs; Anna would never go anywhere near that!" At the long table, the four of us from Room 314 sat on one side, Evelyn and the officers on the other. The police, though allied with their consultant, still cast uncertain glances at me. One officer murmured to Evelyn, "The girl has a history of depression, confirmed by hospital records. She has an adverse reaction to screaming. Could there be a mistake?" Evelyn offered a faint smile. "Detective Miller, when has my hypnosis ever been wrong?" Miller fell silent. I knew her reputation. In the four years since she graduated, Evelyn Stone had helped solve over a hundred major cases, including twelve cold cases from the last century. And remarkably, she had never once been proven wrong. 7 Given Evelyn's unparalleled accuracy, her superiors had granted her special authorization: any suspect she identified through her methods could be directly detained. That’s how I ended up stuck at the precinct. Still, to actually prosecute me, they'd need solid, undeniable evidence. Evelyn was giving me a lot of personal attention these days, a direct consequence of the limited detention period. If they couldn't find concrete evidence within five days, I’d be released, and her special authorization would be revoked. I wasn’t worried. I knew I’d been in my bed all night. In five days, I’d become the first blemish on her perfect record. Then, on the fourth night, the police found my footprint in the bloodstains of Room 414. 8 Faced with irrefutable evidence, I was formally taken into custody. Evelyn sat across from me in the interrogation room, a smug, confident smile playing on her lips. "So, Anna White, how are we doing?" I clenched my fists. "I never went into Room 414!" Detective Miller’s gaze was complex, laced with pity and confusion. "Then how do you explain your footprint being there?" I had no words. He was right. How could my footprint be there? I hadn't even gotten out of bed that night! How was this possible? Had I sleepwalked and committed murder? But I’d heard the noise upstairs before I fell asleep, hadn’t I? Those screams mixed with laughter, sounds that made me think they were just having a wild party… My breathing hitched, becoming visibly rapid, a knot of suffocating panic tightening in my chest. Overwhelmed, I clutched my head, curling into a tight ball on the chair. "I… I don’t know… I didn't… Gasp! Gasp!..." "Hey! Kid, are you alright? Dr. Stone! Help her!" 9 When I finally came to, Lily was sitting across from me. Apparently, while I was blacking out, I’d been frantically demanding to see one of my roommates. I just desperately needed to know if I had truly left my bed or the dorm that night. Lily was the only one free, with no classes at that hour, so the police had called her in. Gazing at my long-unseen friend, I parted my lips, my voice raspy. "Lily, I..." Lily raised a hand, cutting me off. "I know what you're going to ask. No need." I blinked, confused. Lily, still across the long table, shifted her eyes to the side. "I looked into it…" I didn't understand. She pulled her gaze back to me, giving a conspiratorial wink. "Just keep denying everything." "But that night, I..." "Relax," Lily interrupted, her voice firm. "I barely slept that night. You never left your bed. Don't doubt yourself." The meeting ended just like that. After Lily left, I remained seated, unable to process what had just happened. It wasn't until Detective Miller gently pulled on my arm that I managed to stand. Turning, I saw Evelyn standing at the doorway, her gaze fixed on me, strangely knowing. Wait! I snapped my head back to where Lily had been sitting. Lily’s eyes had been looking… slowly, I lifted my gaze. Lily had been looking into… Evelyn?
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