Ashes Before Dawn
Chapter 1: The new student
The first rumor Alex Carter heard about Blackwood University wasn't about the professors.
It wasn't about the campus.
It wasn't even about the famous hockey team.
It was about Ethan Hayes.
Noah
Whatever you do," Alex roommate said while helping him unpack, "don't get on Ethan's bad side."
Alex
Alex looked up from the cardboard box.
"Why?"
Noah
"He's... complicated."
Noah
"He thinks the whole campus belongs to him."
Alex
Noah laughed.
"Sounds exhausting."
Noah
His roommate didn't laugh back.
"I'm serious."
The next morning, Alex arrived early for his first class.
He found an empty seat near the middle of the lecture hall and quietly opened his notebook.
Students slowly filled the room.
The noise grew louder.
Then, suddenly...
Silence.
A group of tall students walked in wearing Blackwood hockey jackets.
At the front was Ethan Hayes.
Confident.
Sharp-eyed.
The kind of person who looked like he expected the world to move out of his way.
His friends laughed loudly as they made their way to the back row.
Ethan glanced around the room.
His eyes landed on Alex for only a second.
Then he looked away.
After class, Alex was gathering his books when someone bumped into his shoulder.
His notebook fell to the floor.
Alex
"I'm sorry," he said automatically.
The student who had bumped him shook his head.
Alex looked up.
Ethan was standing over his notebook.
Without saying a word, Ethan nudged it aside with the tip of his shoe and walked past.
The notebook slid into a puddle left by someone's wet umbrella.
The pages soaked through almost instantly.
Alex stared at it.
It could have been an accident.
Or maybe it wasn't.
Either way, Ethan didn't look back.
That afternoon, Alex stopped by the campus cafe.
As he waited for his coffee, two students at the next table lowered their voices.
student
"The new student."
student
"Yeah. Apparently he's gay."
Alex froze.
He hadn't told anyone on campus.
He wasn't ashamed of who he was.
But he also hadn't expected strangers to be discussing his private life.
The conversation continued....
student
"If Ethan finds out..."
student
Sighed.
"Things are going to get ugly."
Alex picked up his coffee and walked away before they noticed him.
He had no idea whether the rumor was true, who had started it, or why.
But one thing was certain.
By tomorrow...
Ethan Hayes would hear it too.
Chapter 2: The rumour
By Monday morning, the rumor had spread across campus.
No one knew where it started.
No one could prove it was true.
But that didn't stop people from whispering.
As Alex walked through the main courtyard, conversations faded the moment he passed.
student
"I heard he's openly gay."
student
"I heard he transferred because of bullying."
student
"No... I heard he got expelled."
Alex kept walking.
He'd learned long ago that rumors only grew louder if you stopped to answer them.
The lecture hall buzzed with chatter.
Ethan walked in with his teammates, laughing about the weekend's hockey game.
One of them nudged him.
Steve
"Hey, have you heard about the new guy?"
Ethan
Ethan shrugged.
"The quiet one?"
Steve
"Apparently he's gay."
Ethan's smile disappeared.
His jaw tightened.
Steve
"That's what everyone's saying."
Ethan looked across the room.
Alex sat alone, reading before class began.
Ethan
"Disgusting," he muttered.
His friends laughed awkwardly.
One of them, Mason, frowned.
Mason
"Maybe it's just a rumor."
When class ended, Alex packed his bag and headed for the door.
Someone stepped in front of him.
Ethan.
The hallway fell silent.
Ethan
"So..." he said coldly.
Ethan
"You know what people are saying about you?"
Alex
Alex met his eyes.
"I've heard the rumors."
Alex
"And my personal life isn't anyone else's business."
A few students exchanged surprised looks.
Alex hadn't raised his voice.
He hadn't backed down either.
Ethan
Ethan scoffed.
"You don't deny it."
Alex
"I don't owe strangers an explanation."
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Ethan leaned closer.
Ethan
"If the rumors are true..."
His voice dropped.
"Stay away from me."
He turned and walked off, his teammates following behind him.
Later that afternoon, Alex sat alone on a bench outside the library.
He stared at the pages of the book in his hands without reading a single word.
A shadow fell over him.
It was Mason.
One of Ethan's teammates.
Alex
He looked up.
"I will be."
Mason
Mason hesitated.
"I'm... sorry about Ethan."
Alex
"You don't have to apologize for someone else."
Mason
"But I should've said something."
Alex
Alex gave a tired smile.
"Maybe next time."
Mason watched him for a moment before walking away.
Across the courtyard, Ethan had seen the entire conversation.
For some reasons, he couldn't explain...
Seeing Alex smile at someone else bothered him far more than it should have.
He told himself it was because he didn't trust Alex.
He didn't realize it was the first crack in the certainty he'd always carried.
chapter 3: The first cut
Alex had expected the whispers.
He hadn't expected them to become actions.
By Wednesday, people had stopped sitting beside him in lectures
.
Someone had written a slur across his locker in black marker.
He wiped it away before anyone could see.
Or at least, before anyone could pretend not to.
That afternoon, Professor Williams paired the class for a semester-long research project.
"You'll be working with the person whose name appears beside yours."
Alex glanced at the screen.
His stomach dropped.
The classroom erupted into murmurs.
student
"That's going to be a disaster."
student
"Professor has no idea."
student
I'd ask for a new partner if I were him.
Ethan stood up immediately.
Ethan
There has to be a mistake.
Professor Williams
"There isn't," Professor Williams replied. "The pairs are final."
Professor Williams
"You can refuse if you're willing to fail the course."
Ethan clenched his jaw.
He looked at Alex with open disgust.
Ethan
"This is ridiculous."
Alex quietly packed his notebook.
Alex
"I'll do most of the work," he said. "You won't have to spend much time with me."
Ethan
Ethan scoffed.
"You think that's the problem?"
Without another word, he stormed out of the classroom.
The next day, Alex waited in the library for their first meeting.
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
Thirty.
Ethan never came.
Noah sighed and began working alone.
He knew this would happen.
Still...
A small part of him had hoped otherwise.
Outside the library, Ethan leaned against a wall with his teammates.
Mason
"Aren't you supposed to meet your project partner?" he asked.
Ethan
I'm not working with him.
Mason
Mason frowned.
"You really hate him that much?"
Ethan
Ethan's voice was cold.
"I hate what he stands for."
Mason was quiet for a long moment.
Mason
"...Do you even know him?"
Ethan didn't answer.
Because the truth was...
He didn't.
That evening, Alex left the library carrying a stack of books.
Rain had started falling.
As he hurried across campus, someone shoved him from behind.
He stumbled.
The books slipped from his arms and scattered across the wet pavement.
Laughter echoed behind him.
Alex turned.
Three students stood there.
One of them smirked.
Another kicked one of his books into a puddle.
student
"You should transfer again."
People like you don't belong here."
Alex bent down without saying a word.
He picked up the soaked books one by one.
His hands trembled, but he refused to let them see him cry.
From the second-floor walkway, Ethan had witnessed everything.
His friends expected him to laugh.
Instead...
He stared silently at the boy kneeling in the rain.
For the first time, he felt something unfamiliar.
Not guilt.
Not yet.
Just an uncomfortable feeling that settled heavily in his chest.
He turned away before anyone noticed the hesitation in his eyes.
But the image of Alex, alone in the rain, stayed with him long after he got home.
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