”Tori. The whispers heard at night is our little secret". Those are the words that I can't seem to forget. Those are the words that I heard last night. It was as if the voice was right next to me. In one sense, it felt close but in another so far away. It sounded like a man's voice. I don’t know who this man was or where he came from, but the deep melodic tone that intruded my senses and invaded my sleep felt familiar, and I knew that I was safe. Ordinarily, these types of things would scare someone like me. I guess you can say I’m the fearful kind. I shy away from scary movies; whenever I do go to the movie theater, I make sure to sit as close as I can to the emergency exit door, just in case something decides to pop off while I’m there. I whole-heartedly believe in the buddy system. I’m cautious about walking alone and not just while traveling at night either but in the daytime as well. With so much going on these days you just can’t be too careful. I guess that’s what you can call me. I’m the careful kind.

It’s already after 9:00 a.m., I know I'm going to be late for my first class. The spring semester just started, and I'm already failing to show up on time. Well, at least I won’t be the only one. I’ve been attending college for two years, and nothing has changed. A few days before class starts our professor releases the course syllabus to the online portal and expects their one hundred plus students to diligently review it, study it and memorize the contents by the time class starts the following week. Of course, this never happens.

I jump out of my bed, reach over to grab my phone from underneath my pillow and see that I have two messages in my inbox. They’re from Gabby, my roommate. If I'm not downstairs with coffee in hand ready to greet her with my usual sarcastic and witty humor, then I can expect a couple warning messages before she comes charging in my room with her annoyingly cheerful renditions of whatever Disney princess' song that comes out of her mouth. I love her to death, but she’s also annoying as hell. The girl can’t help it. She’s the type who’s always on a natural high. Everything about life seems to fascinate this one and to top it all off, she's the worst kind of human there is, a morning person. She’s also my roommate, but we’ve been best friends for most of our lives so it feels as if she’s more like family. I look at the last text message and see that It was sent five minutes ago. Good. That means I still have time before the chorus begins.

I grab my clothes for the day and head down the hall towards the bathroom when I hear that voice again. “Have a great day today and this time don’t forget to lock the door on your way out.” It was the same voice that I heard last night except for this time the tone was different. There was a kinder yet authoritative quality to it. This time it left me stunned and confused. How did it know I forgot to --“Hey Tor it's about time you woke up I was just headed to your room to tell you about “A whole new wooooorld a dazzling place I ne..ver knew.” Gabby started to belt out in a dramatic soprano fashion as she walked towards me. Her songs would ordinarily earn an eye roll and a punch to the upper arm, but today it was a welcome distraction from the icy cold feeling that slowly crept up my spine and sent shivers throughout my body. I don’t know why I keep hearing these voices or why it feels oddly familiar and the worst part is I can’t tell anyone. Not even my best friend. What do I say? “Hey, Gab. I hear strange voices at night that tell me to keep secrets and in the day time it reminds me to lock up the apartment.” Yea. That will go over well. “Toriiiii why you looking like that? Okay, I’ll stop singing if it bothers you that much.” Gabby exclaimed. “ No,” I replied back. “I'm fine. I just have a little headache. I think I’m going to skip class today and go back to bed.” “Are you sure?” She continued. “I can stay with you. We can watch movies together if you want.” “No…no you just want an excuse to skip class. Well, I’m not giving it to you. Go ahead and go.” As I turned around to walk back to my room, I hesitated and said “Oh. And um… don’t forget…don’t forget to lock the door on your way out.”