In her dorm room, there were several note cards on the ground matching the one in the mailbox. A few with the name Liana written on it, filling up the space. Some with messages like I lie awake at night thinking about your eyes, every time I see something beautiful I want you to see it with me, every morning I long to hold your face in my hands, please be with me, we are soulmates, Liana, the rarest thing in the entire universe. The handwriting was curled and condensed, looking at the shapes, but not the words, each line looked like it was composed out of hairs from her head.

Written on her desk in lipstick: Liana.

There was a smell in the air, like rotting meat forgotten in the back of a refrigerator. She opened a window, but still it persisted. She lit candles, scrubbed her desk clean with paper towels and the lavender-scented spray she liked. The smell was maybe stronger, as if it were trying to fight back. She looked under her bed, in her dresser and desk drawers, in the closet, but couldn’t find anything that could be the source.

Something zipped from beneath the door, another note card. It read, leave him, please, I can’t take this.

Ayanna opened the door, but no one was in the hallway. There was no sound of doors being shut or footsteps. The only noise was her neighbor on the right, singing gospel with too many notes for her mouth to handle and cleaning again. Even the harsh chemicals, the bleach, the lemon, couldn’t fight the rot.

*  *  *

The tree near the fence was covered in crows. They were silent, and as Ayanna tried to count them, she realized she had never seen so many in the same place without being filled with their caws and discontented cries. Her grandmother had told her that contrary to popular belief, you should never see crows as bad omens, but after her dorm room and the night before, it still felt like a bad omen. From her bag, she fished out a blueberry scone left over from breakfast and crumpled it in her hands, tossed it in their direction. Ayanna’s approach to all superstitious thoughts was to face the thing distressing her head on. She told the crows to enjoy the snack, and watched as a few, then many, leaped up and started eating.

Felix walked up wearing headphones. He swiped his card on the gate and waved Ayanna in. He was carrying a duffle bag that wasn’t fully zipped. A large book was poking out of it.

“What are you listening to?” she asked.