Math 100 is a huge class. Easily 200 students in a big lecture hall. Even in that sea of people, she stood out to me.

Long jet black hair, black nail polish, black lipstick, lots of real leather both on her clothes and for her accessories, knee high black boots with a heavy sole. No one dressed like her and no one looked like her. She did her own thing in a room bursting with conformity.

She asked sharp questions, in a soft but commanding voice, in class. Her questions brought clarity to everyone who listened.

She sat in the same spot every class but didn’t mingle with those around her. She was alone but didn’t come off as lonely.

I occasionally saw her on the campus quad, usually under the shade of a big elm tree. Never doing anything, just sitting and basking in being outside.

It’s not that I was stalking her or anything - I just always seemed to notice her when she was about. Just about her, always captures my attention.

—————————

“Dude,” Justin says as we are walking through the quad, “you are staring at her again.”

“I am not staring. I am just…. noticing her… sitting there,” I said defensively.

“You need to go say ‘hi’ already. Your noticing is starting to get creepy.”

He was right. I was staring too much, too often.

“Fine! Fine! I will go talk to her,” I said, trying to convince myself this wasn’t a horrible idea. I walked across the lush green grass of the quad. There were students lounging around, some playing frisbee, some just goofing off. It was easily my favourite place on campus.

I walked towards the tree she was under, I could still veer off, I could still bail out - should I? Fuck I am getting close I gotta -

“Hi,” she said simply as I got close. “I was wondering if you were going to get the nerve to talk to me.” She was smiling a bright genuine smile that lit up her face.

I awkwardly sat down opposite her.

“You noticed, huh?” I said, running my hand through my hair.

“You aren’t exactly subtle,” she says still smiling.

We chat the afternoon away. Little things - our majors, what dorms we are in, our professors… all of the usually university chit chat. She was easy to talk to. So comfortable in her own skin - in who she is.

We talked through my 3pm class and through her 4pm class. We were both enjoying ourselves in a way that I have never had while talking to someone else. It just all felt so right.

“I should get going,” I finally said, glancing at my watch. “I have volleyball practice and my coach will tear a strip off of me if I am late.”

I stand up and offer her a hand up. She takes its. Her hand is warm. It is unexpectedly calloused, like someone who does lots of work with their hands, and much stronger than I expected. I pull her up.

“See you tomorrow, in math class,” she says with a wink. She takes a step and then leans against the tree, letting out a little grunt.

“Hey, you ok?” I am instantly worried for her.

She hangs her head and takes a couple of deep breaths.

“Fine. I am fine,” she lies.

She is clearly not alright.

“I will walk you to your dorm. I have time,” she starts to protest, “Don’t. I will walk you. Can’t have you passing out half way there.”

She takes my arm in hers and we walk to her dorm.

The chit chat has died out and she looks apprehensive. Scanning the quad - she is tense and on edge.

The sun is dipping behind the campus buildings, casting the quad into premature twilight. The lamp posts flicker and come to life - one by one.

I keep trying to get her talking but I am just getting one syllable answers. Something has her preoccupied.

We are almost at the dorms. There is a rustling over by the dumpsters. She freezes. Tension runs through her body and I can feel it in her arm. Her breathing speeds up.

“It’s ok, we are almost there. It is just a couple more metres,” I say reassuringly.

A shadow separates itself from the dumpster. Must be someone dumpster diving. Seems harmless. The shadow starts coming towards us, walking then running.

She brushes my arm off and squares herself to the shadow.

“Fuck,” she mutters under her breath. She drops her backpack and stand with her legs shoulder width apart and her arms loose. Her hands start to glow in a bluish white light.

The shadow is clearly a man, about our age, running towards us. His face is covered in messy rotten food.

“Die! Witch!” He yells.

She swirls her hands around and then suddenly pushes them out from her centre. A ball of bluish white light blasts off from her hands and hits him in the chest. He staggers and then falls to his knees.

She runs to him, spinning her right arm, windmill style. The bluish white light gathers on her hand. She leaps at him - just as she is about to land the light from her hand lashes out like a blade - slicing him in half.

Stunned - I shake my head and walk over to her.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” she says panting.

Looking at the guy, sliced cleanly in half, lying on the ground in front of her and then back to her.

“What the hell is going on?” I say, terrified.

She takes a knee in front of the body. “Ghoul,” she says. “It was rooting around in the dumpster for rotten food. They usually feed on dead animals and people but anything filled with decay will do in a pinch.”

Her eyes never left the body as she spoke. A soft light emanated from her hands. She pressed them to the ground in front of the body. The grass started to glow. The glowing spread and enveloped the ghoul as well. Then the whole thing gets swallowed up by the grass.

She stood up and looked into my wild eyed face. She smiled slightly.

“I am Angela and I am a witch,” she gave a slight tilt to her head, “I don’t usually tell people in such a dramatic fashion but ghouls are an abomination that have to be dealt with. They will corrupt everything they touch. It had to be dealt with.”

“Ok,” I said simply. Somehow I wasn’t bothered or even phased by this. I handed her the backpack she dropped and we walked to her dorm.

I open the door for her.

“You good?” She asked as she went in the door. “You have been awful quite since…. Since the ghoul.”

“I am good,” I said with a smile. “You didn’t need me to walk you back at all. Did you?”

“No, but it is very sweet,” she said with a smile. “See you tomorrow?”

“You know it!”

She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and headed into the dorm.