That night, the apartment was calm.

  No bright lights, only the warm glow of the living room lamp casting a soft, almost comforting light. The background music was barely a whisper of instrumentals, and the world outside seemed to have forgotten them for a while.

  Kali was stretched out on the sofa, a blanket over her legs and her head resting on Nicco's arm. Dahlia, sitting on the floor, was absentmindedly flipping through some mythology notes she wasn't really reading. The atmosphere was peaceful — like the last breath before something breaks.

  Nicco looked at her. Not like he usually did. This time, he stopped. Really stopped.

  Kali's eyes.

  They were glowing. Too much.

  —"Kali...?" —he murmured, frowning— "Are your pupils... dilated?"

  She blinked and looked at him.

  —"What?"

  Nicco leaned in closer, his hand instinctively rising to her face. He brushed her cheek with gentle fingers, carefully. He looked closely. Her pupils were fully dilated, as if she'd been in pitch dark... or under something strong.

  —"Your eyes are... like you've taken something," —he said, more softly from concern than accusation.

  Kali squinted and sat up slightly.

  —"Yours too," —she said, nodding at him— "Your pupils are huge."

  Nicco blinked.

  —"What?"

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  —"Yeah," —Dahlia added from the floor, glancing up at them. And that's when Kali looked at her—

  And froze.

  —"Dahlia... you too," —she whispered.

  The three fell silent.

  All with dilated pupils.

  Too wide. As if under the influence of a strong drug. But they hadn't taken anything — not knowingly.

  —"This makes no sense," —Dahlia said, finally closing the notebook— "The dream, the window, the electricity, the necklaces... and now this."

  —"What if..." —Nicco began, swallowing hard— "What if someone drugged us?"

  —"When?" —Kali asked— "How? We haven't gone out, eaten anything weird, no more parties."

  —"And we slept for two days," —Dahlia added— "Without waking up. No thirst, no hunger. Like a blackout."

  They shared a long look.

  Incredulous.

  Afraid.

  —"Wait... We always drink coffee," —Kali whispered— "What if it's that?"

  —"It's true, every time before sleeping, we've had coffee," —Nicco pointed out.

  —"What if someone put something in it?" —Kali said, opening the jar— "Some hallucinogen? A sedative?"

  Nicco grabbed the jar of ground coffee and opened it. He sniffed it.

  —"Smells the same as always. Nothing weird."

  —"This doesn't make sense," —Kali groaned— "No traces, no odd taste. So how?"

  Dahlia, silently, stared at the coffee maker. Then she lowered her gaze — to the nearly empty plastic water bottle.

  The water.

  The same water used again and again to fill the coffee maker. The bottled one they'd bought. What if someone had poured something into it? What if it was the same person who left the window open? Assuming it was a person...

  —"Wait..." —Dahlia murmured.

  She bent down, picked up the almost-empty plastic bottle still by the recycling bin. Held it up to the light. Nothing odd... at first glance.

  But something inside her twisted.

  —"What if it wasn't the coffee..." —she said slowly, turning to face them— "What if it was the water?"

  Kali blinked.

  —"The water?"

  —"I filled the coffee machine, and it lines up exactly with when we started sleeping so much," —she said, looking at them— "What if someone poisoned the water?"

  —"Could it be the same person—or thing—that opened the window?" —Nicco asked.

  —"It might be," —Kali said.

  Silence fell.

  One that said more than any words.

  Sitting there, eyes wide as the abyss that had been stalking them for days, they understood one thing:

  They were no longer safe.