The Secret Behind the Top Student's Death

Julian Nash lives under his father's relentless pressure to place first, and when he comes second on a practice college entrance exam, the shouting and the belt follow. That night he dreams of pushing the girl who beat him, Zara Henson, from the twenty-third floor — and wakes to the class group chat reporting her death in exactly that way, in the same strawberry-bear pajamas he saw in the dream.

The police find no fingerprints and call it suicide, but Officer Daniel Lewis notes that Julian, now the top student, gains most from every rival's death. When the next exam comes, his best friend Zachary King takes first place, and Julian dreams of shoving him from a window too. Zachary is found dead the next morning, and Daniel reveals that one killer is targeting whoever ranks first — with Julian the suspect holding the strongest motive.

Julian knows he never left his bedroom on either night, yet cannot explain the dreams, and the grieving mothers are already turning on him.