Reese was one of those guys that was always slithering around, not fitting into anything. He wasn’t like the good guys, the bad guys, the weird guys, the cool guys. Whatever you could call someone, he wasn’t it. He was just Reese. I’ve known that since high school, when he’d sit in the back of the class and not talk to anyone. He wasn’t quiet all the time, but he didn’t waste words. I moved to this college recently from the old high school we’d both attended, and apparently he’d gotten accepted into the same program. In ordinary circumstances, one would overlook this situation. But these are no ordinary circumstances.

I’m flipping through an informational pamphlet that I’m not actually paying attention to, as I listen to my friends, Mia and Charlotte, talking. “You know what I wish I had? More money,” Charlotte says in her dry but conversational voice. Mia stops scribbling things on the clipboard she’s holding and tosses Charlotte a glance, azure and exasperated. “We all do, Char. Wishing isn’t gonna get you anywhere, graduating college will.” “Well, I’d prefer to be studying in Greece with four cats.” Mia turns to me and looks as if she might say something, but a flash of brown and black cuts her off. Someone has accidentally bumped into her, causing her to drop her pen on the cracked concrete below. It’s only until he picks it up and resurfaces in the blink of an eye that I realize it’s Reese. The sun’s shining directly on his black jacket and that familiar mousy hair that’s a bit too ordinary. He faces wide-eyed Mia. He hands her the pen. “Sorry.” He doesn’t say it quickly and nervously like most people do when they apologize; there’s a certain smoothness to his voice. And Mia still isn’t looking away. “It’s okay,” she responds, the ends of her lips tilting upward. “Hey, are you new?” Charlotte says, slanting her head questioningly. I’ve been silent for a while, and I don’t plan to speak anytime soon. Mia and Charlotte didn’t go to the same high school as me, so they don’t know Reese. I know him all too well and not at all. “This is my first day, actually. How long have you guys been here?” He’s smiling just the same way Mia is, almost unnoticeably. “This is our second year. I’m nineteen, Charlotte’s also nineteen,” Mia says, pointing to Charlotte and then turning her blue eyes to me. “And she’s twenty.” Reese slowly turns his head to me, as if he’s acknowledged my presence the whole time, but was purposefully ignoring me. “I’m aware.” He says silkily, still smiling the exact same casual way. I feel a crawling sensation all over my skin. He swivels his gaze to Mia. The sunlight always glints off his clear thin-rimmed glasses when he looks at someone. And when he pays attention to them, he maintains eye contact for a long time. “Oh, you two know each other?” asks Charlotte. “Just went to the same high school,” Reese says, running a hand through his hair, his eyes still on Mia. I definitely notice the way she’s looking at him, and I don’t like it. “So, are you enjoying your time here?” Reese inquires. Mia responds and her and Charlotte begin to speak about something, but I can’t pay attention. My mind is slipping into the abyss of memories I thought I’d locked away for good. Because I wasn’t supposed to see Reese again, and I was supposed to forget any and all narratives that included him.

I had only seen him kill once. I was walking in a back alley somewhere near my school when I saw him with another boy, his arm pressed against his neck. I should’ve walked away, but I didn’t, because I thought this was just one of those high school fights guys got into sometimes. I was frozen in my tracks as Reese took a jagged shard of glass and cut open his carotid artery. He made quick work of it. Then he stepped back and let the boy crash into the gravel, with his wide verdant eyes and blood pouring out of him rapidly. Nobody saw me, because I had never run so fast in my life.

I miss most of their conversation, but I catch a part where Reese compliments the blue highlights in Mia’s ebony hair, and he says they match her eyes. This makes her smile grow wider, and in turn makes my stomach clench further. “Well, it was nice seeing you all. I hope we can meet again sometime.” He’s addressing the three of us, but I can see in his body language that he’s really speaking to Mia. “Of course,” she beams. I think he’s about to leave now, and my anxiety starts to ebb. It’s replaced by a building need to warn Mia not to talk to him again. I’m going to say it. I’m about to say it, as soon he goes away. But instead he faces me and I’m forced to look into those soft hazel eyes; ones that don’t belong to a killer. He subtly leans in, out of view of my friends, so he can whisper something to me.

“I know you know.”