UNILIFE: DEGREES AND DEMON

THE NIGHT THE SCHOOL WENT SILENT

At exactly 1:47 a.m., Dominion State University stopped breathing.
The rain had been falling for hours, hitting the hostel roofs like restless fingers.
Most students were awake.
Some reading.
Some pressing phones under blankets.
Some pretending not to hear the distant sounds of fighting near the old faculty building.
Because at DSU...
nighttime belonged to dangerous people.
Then the scream came.
Sharp.
Female.
Terrified.
The entire Queen Esther Hostel froze.
A girl ran barefoot across the corridor outside, banging violently on doors.
"Please open-please help me!"
Nobody moved.
Nobody.
Inside Room B14, a girl covered her mouth to stop herself from crying.
Inside B22, someone switched off their light immediately.
Inside B30, two roommates silently pushed their wardrobe against the door.
The footsteps outside became louder.
Fast.
Heavy.
Male voices.
Then-
A loud crash.
Silence.
Complete silence.
Even the rain suddenly felt afraid.
The next morning, Dominion State University behaved like nothing happened.
Students walked to lectures.
Vendors shouted prices.
Lecturers adjusted microphones.
And beside the Senate Building-
a body was carried into an ambulance under a black nylon cover.
Nobody was allowed close enough to see the face.
But rumors spread before first lecture started.
"She was a 200 level student."
"They found blood near the hostel staircase."
"Cultists chased her."
"No... she knew something."
"No... a lecturer was involved."
The school released only one statement:
The student died from an unfortunate accident.
Students stared at the message in silence.
Because everyone in DSU knew one thing:
Nothing dangerous was ever called murder.
By noon, another rumor began spreading.
A name.
Aziel Okoye.
The first time Amara saw him, the entire faculty building went quiet without meaning to.
He walked through the corridor slowly, black shirt sleeves folded neatly, earphones hanging around his neck.
Tall.
Dark-skinned.
Beautiful in a way that felt unfair.
Not soft beautiful.
Dangerous beautiful.
The kind that made girls stare too long and boys immediately dislike him.
His hair was packed neatly into a short ponytail behind his head, making his sharp jawline even more intimidating.
Two girls near the staircase stopped breathing.
"Jesus..."
"That boy is too fine."
"Forget fine," another whispered nervously.
"That one is not normal."
Aziel didn't look at anyone.
Yet somehow it felt like he saw everything.
Students greeted him carefully as he passed.
Even final-year boys shifted from his path.
Not out of respect.
Out of instinct.
Amara hated attention.
So she kept her head down and entered the lecture hall quietly.
New school.
New beginning.
That was the plan.
No friendships.
No campus drama.
No trouble.
She found an empty seat at the back and sat down immediately.
Then she noticed something strange.
The entire class had suddenly become quieter.
A girl beside her fixed her lip gloss quickly.
Another sat up straight.
Someone whispered:
"Aziel is here."
Amara looked up for the first time.
And saw him.
He entered the lecture hall lazily, hands in pockets, expression unreadable.
Every girl watched him.
Every single one.
But what unsettled Amara wasn't his face.
It was his eyes.
Cold.
Heavy.
Like someone who had seen terrible things and survived them.
For one second-
Aziel looked directly at her.
Amara quickly looked away.
Bad idea.
Because Aziel noticed something immediately:
She wasn't trying to impress him.
And in Dominion State University...
people like that were rare.
That evening, another student disappeared.
By nightfall, students were already locking doors early.
By midnight-
someone slipped an anonymous note under Amara's hostel door.
Three words were written in red ink:
STAY AWAY FROM AZIEL.