CHAPTER-12 (PART-2)
967 Words
Library at Midnight
Part Two
Ara stood perfectly still.
The sound had lasted less than a second.
A heavy metallic...
Click.
Not loud.
Not frightening.
Just...
Out of place.
She slowly lowered the journal she had been reaching for.
The basement archive stretched endlessly before her, illuminated by long fluorescent lights that hummed softly overhead.
Every shelf looked identical.
Rows upon rows of research journals, dissertations, and forgotten academic records filled the room.
"Probably the ventilation," she whispered to herself.
Or at least...
That was the logical explanation.
Still...
Curiosity had always been stronger than common sense.
She switched on the flashlight on her phone and followed the direction from which the sound had come.
Upstairs...
Ryan looked around.
"...Where's Ara?"
Mia checked her phone.
"She said she'd be back in five minutes."
Ryan looked toward the staircase leading downstairs.
"She's been gone fifteen."
Logan closed his notebook.
"I'll go check."
"No."
Noah stood.
"I'll come with you."
Ryan immediately followed.
"I'm not staying here alone."
Mia sighed.
"You weren't alone."
"I felt alone."
Meanwhile...
Deep below the library...
Ara slowly walked past another row of shelves.
Dust floated through the beam of her flashlight.
Some of the journals hadn't been touched in years.
Small labels marked every section.
Medical Ethics
Genetics
Historical Research
Then...
She stopped.
At the very end of the archive...
Hidden behind a tall shelf...
Was something she had never noticed before.
A grey steel door.
No sign.
No window.
No handle on the outside.
Only a small electronic card scanner beside it.
She frowned.
"...What is this?"
Blackwood University's public library certainly didn't need a secure steel door.
She stepped closer.
The scanner emitted a tiny red light.
ACCESS DENIED
She hadn't even touched it.
A chill ran down her spine.
Not fear.
Curiosity.
She examined the floor.
There were faint muddy footprints.
Recent ones.
Someone had been here.
Very recently.
At that exact moment...
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then everything became quiet again.
Ara instinctively looked over her shoulder.
Nothing.
The archive remained empty.
Yet...
She couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been standing there only moments earlier.
She quickly took a photo of the strange door with her phone.
Just in case.
Then—
Footsteps echoed down the staircase.
"Ara!"
Ryan's voice.
"Please tell me the ghost didn't adopt you!"
Ara couldn't help smiling.
"We're down here!"
Seconds later...
Ryan, Noah and Logan appeared around the corner.
Ryan immediately looked relieved.
"There you are."
"I thought we'd have to explain to the police why our teammate disappeared inside a library."
Ara pointed toward the steel door.
"Have either of you seen this before?"
The three boys looked over.
Noah frowned.
"No."
Ryan blinked.
"...I thought this wall ended here."
Logan stepped closer.
"There aren't any labels."
"Exactly."
Ryan looked around dramatically.
"I vote we pretend we never saw it."
Ara raised an eyebrow.
"Scared?"
"I'm respectful."
"Of what?"
"Mysterious doors."
Noah laughed quietly.
Logan examined the card scanner.
"This definitely isn't part of the public library."
"So what's behind it?" Ara asked.
Ryan immediately answered,
"Definitely monsters."
Noah sighed.
"Or..."
"...storage."
Ryan folded his arms.
"I liked my answer better."
The four of them stood in silence for a moment.
Then Mia called from upstairs.
"Did someone actually find the journal?"
Ryan shouted back,
"We found something much weirder!"
Noah quickly interrupted.
"Nothing!"
He looked at Ara.
"Let's not start rumours."
She nodded.
"Fair enough."
They returned upstairs carrying the journal.
But before leaving...
Ara glanced back one last time.
The red scanner light still blinked quietly.
Waiting.
Elsewhere...
10:42 P.M.
Biomedical Research Centre.
Unlike the warm atmosphere of the library...
The research centre felt cold.
Clinical.
Almost silent.
Dr. Nicholas Sterling sat alone inside Laboratory Five.
His white lab coat rested neatly over the back of his chair.
On his computer screen...
Complex molecular models rotated slowly.
Beside him lay a thick blue folder.
Stamped with bold black letters.
PROJECT HELIX
Nicholas rubbed his eyes.
He had been working for nearly five hours without a break.
A soft knock interrupted the silence.
"Come in."
Dr. Emily Carter stepped inside carrying two cups of coffee.
"I thought you might still be here."
Nicholas accepted one.
"Thank you."
Emily glanced at the computer screen.
"Still working?"
"The deadline moved forward."
Emily sighed.
"It always does."
She sat opposite him.
"The students are making good progress."
Nicholas nodded.
"Some are."
"And Team Seven?"
A brief silence.
"They're improving."
Emily smiled knowingly.
"That's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say about undergraduates."
"They still have much to learn."
"Of course."
She stood to leave.
Then stopped.
"Oh..."
"I almost forgot."
"Campus Security reported another failed access attempt tonight."
Nicholas looked up.
"Where?"
Emily checked a note.
"...Near the old archive corridor."
His expression changed almost imperceptibly.
"The library?"
She nodded.
"They're checking the cameras."
Nicholas looked toward the rain-covered window.
Something wasn't right.
Project Helix was supposed to be secure.
Very secure.
If someone was searching near the archive corridor...
Then they either knew something...
Or they were getting dangerously close.
Back in the library...
Team Seven packed away their books.
Ryan stretched so dramatically that his chair squeaked.
"I've reached my academic limit."
"You reached it two hours ago," Noah replied.
The group laughed as they walked toward the exit.
Outside...
The rain had finally stopped.
The campus shimmered beneath the moonlight.
Everything looked peaceful.
Calm.
Safe.
None of them noticed...
A figure standing beneath the old clock tower.
Watching.
Waiting.
As Team Seven disappeared into the night...
The stranger quietly slipped a black access card into a coat pocket.
The card bore a single silver emblem.
A double helix.
And beneath it...
One word.
HELIX.
The figure turned.
Then vanished into the darkness before the clock struck eleven.
- Writer
