IA

it's like my brain is glitching or something." "Have you told anyone else about this?" "Who would I tell? A doctor? Hey Doc, I'm seeing things and having weird dreams; please prescribe me something to make it stop." "That's not the worst idea." "I'm not going to a doctor, Hanna; I'm fine." "You just said you don't know what's happening to you; that's the opposite of fine." She was right, and I hated that she was right. "Maybe I'm just stressed," I said, "new school, new city, Celeste trying to ruin my life, Alexei being, whatever Alexei is being, it's a lot." "Maybe," Hanna said, but she didn't sound convinced, "or maybe there's something else going on." "Like what?" "I don't know, but Aria, normal stress doesn't make you scream in your sleep; normal stress doesn't make you speak in languages you don't know." I didn't have an answer for that. We sat there in silence for a while, the dorm room quiet around us, just the hum of the heating and the distant sound of someone's music playing three floors down. "Can I ask you something?" Hanna said eventually. "Yeah." "Do you ever feel like something is missing? Like there's a part of you that you can't reach?" I looked at her, "What do you mean?" "I don't know how to explain it, it's just, sometimes when I look at you, it's like there's more to you than what I can see, like you're only showing me half of yourself and the other half is locked away somewhere." "That's a weird thing to say." "I know, but it's true, you've always been like that, even when we were kids." "I haven't always been like that." "You have," she said gently, "you just don't notice it because it's you." I didn't know what to do with that information. "Get some sleep," I said, changing the subject, "we have class in the morning." "Are you going to be okay?" "I'm fine." "Aria." "I'm fine, Hanna, I promise; go to sleep." She looked at me for a long moment, then sighed and got up. "Okay, but if you need me, wake me up. I don't care what time it is." "I will." She went back to her bed and turned off the lamp, the room going dark except for the light from the streetlamp outside filtering through the curtains. I lay back down, but I didn't close my eyes. I just s