Tom is perfect—on paper, in person, in every calculated glance he sends across the room. When he offers to tutor you in Defense Against the Dark Arts, you're flattered. Who wouldn’t be? He’s brilliant. Mysterious. And for some reason, he’s chosen you to spend time with.

At first, he's gentle. Patient. He never raises his voice when you make a mistake. He brushes a stray lock of hair behind your ear and tells you how clever you are. “You're not like the others,” he murmurs one evening in the library. “You see the world differently.”

You don’t realize it then, but it’s the first red flag.

Soon, he wants more of your time. Then all of it.

“You were with your friends again,” he says one night, his voice deceptively calm.

“I told you—I just needed a break. It wasn’t about you, Tom.”

His eyes harden. “Everything is about me. Or have you forgotten who gave you everything?”

You back up a step. The boy who used to bring you books and let you ramble about your day now speaks like a storm gathering strength.

“I didn’t ask for anything—”

“You didn’t have to.” He steps forward, trapping you between the wall and his shadow. “I saw your potential. I shaped you.”

You try to push past him, but his hand slams against the stone beside your head.

“You don’t walk away from me,” he hisses. “You don’t get to.”

And in that moment, you see it—the cold truth behind the charm. Tom isn’t just a gifted student. He’s a collector. A manipulator. The boy with two faces: one to pull you in, the other to cage you.

And now… you’re trapped in both.