Beneath Weatbridge
1490 Words
Chapter 19
Beneath Westbridge
The old gates of Westbridge High stood open.
Nadia stared through the windshield.
Three years ago, she had been seven years old, standing somewhere inside this place with Elena.
Tonight, she was coming back to find out why.
Adrian switched off the headlights.
“We walk from here.”
Layla looked at him.
“You're seriously planning to walk into an abandoned school at midnight?”
Adrian glanced at her.
“Do you have a better idea?”
“No.”
“Then yes.”
Nadia opened the door.
Cold air rushed inside.
She stepped out.
The school looked nothing like it had in the photographs.
The windows were dark.
The walls were covered in climbing vines.
A broken sign swung above the entrance, creaking whenever the wind moved it.
Nadia held the silver key tightly.
She could feel her heartbeat in her palm.
Adrian came to stand beside her.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Good.”
Nadia frowned.
“Good?”
“It means you're paying attention.”
Despite everything, a small smile appeared on her face.
It disappeared almost immediately.
She looked toward the building.
“Let's go.”
---
The main doors were unlocked.
That frightened Nadia more than if they had been locked.
Adrian pushed one open.
It groaned.
They stepped inside.
The smell of dust and damp wood filled the hallway.
Their footsteps echoed.
Nadia looked at the walls.
Old classroom photographs still hung in crooked frames.
Then she stopped.
One photograph was different.
It showed students standing outside the school.
Nadia moved closer.
Adrian looked over her shoulder.
“What?”
She pointed.
There.
Near the back of the group.
A little girl.
Seven years old.
Nadia.
Her mother stood beside her.
And Elena was kneeling in front of them.
Nadia's breath caught.
“I remember this.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
“The photograph.”
She touched the glass.
“I remember Elena telling me not to smile.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Nadia closed her eyes.
A memory surfaced.
Elena's voice.
Don't look at the camera, Nadia.
A flash.
Someone shouting.
Then—
nothing.
She opened her eyes.
“Someone took this picture when we weren't supposed to be here.”
Adrian looked at the date.
July 12.
His expression hardened.
“That's the same day.”
Nadia nodded.
“Everything keeps leading back to it.”
A noise came from somewhere deeper in the school.
Both froze.
Adrian reached for Nadia's hand.
“Stay close.”
They continued down the corridor.
The old auditorium was at the end.
Its doors were chained.
Adrian examined the lock.
“There's no way through.”
Nadia looked at the silver key.
“Maybe there is.”
She inserted it.
The lock clicked.
The chain fell.
Adrian stared.
“You're kidding.”
Nadia pushed the door open.
The auditorium was enormous.
Rows of empty seats disappeared into darkness.
The stage curtains were covered in dust.
Nadia stepped inside.
Immediately, her head began to hurt.
She pressed a hand against her temple.
“Nadia?”
“I've been here.”
Adrian came closer.
“How do you know?”
“I remember the smell.”
He looked around.
“Dust?”
“No.”
Nadia breathed in.
“Something like antiseptic.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“Medical?”
She nodded.
They walked toward the stage.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
Nadia stopped.
“This.”
“What?”
“I remember this.”
She pushed aside an old curtain.
A metal door appeared.
There was no handle.
Only a keypad.
Twelve numbers.
Nadia stared.
“Do you know the code?”
“No.”
Adrian looked at the wall.
“Maybe the key.”
Nadia tried the silver key.
Nothing.
She looked at the keypad.
Three lines.
A circle.
Twelve.
Her fingers moved without thinking.
Three.
One.
Two.
The door unlocked.
Adrian stared at her.
“How did you know?”
Nadia shook her head.
“I don't know.”
The door opened.
Cold air rushed toward them.
Adrian turned on his flashlight.
A staircase descended into darkness.
Nadia swallowed.
“This is where I was.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
They went down.
The walls became concrete.
The air smelled stronger now.
Antiseptic.
Metal.
Something old.
At the bottom was a hallway.
Several doors lined both sides.
Some had numbers.
Others had names.
Adrian stopped at one.
ELENA R.
Nadia's heart pounded.
“She had a room.”
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a desk.
A chair.
A bookshelf.
And dozens of files.
Nadia walked slowly toward the desk.
A photograph sat on top.
It showed Elena.
She looked younger.
Happy.
Nadia picked it up.
Something was written on the back.
For Nadia, when she remembers.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“She knew I'd come back.”
Adrian stood beside her.
“She knew you would.”
Nadia turned the photograph over again.
There was another line.
Don't let them tell you Adrian was responsible.
Nadia looked at him.
Adrian went completely still.
“For what?”
He didn't answer.
Nadia looked at him.
“Adrian.”
“I don't know.”
She studied his face.
“You're scared.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked toward the files.
“Because I remember something now.”
Nadia waited.
“The night Elena disappeared…”
He swallowed.
“I was the one who opened this door.”
Nadia stared.
“What?”
“I came here with her.”
“Why?”
“She told me she needed help.”
“With what?”
Adrian looked at her.
“With you.”
Nadia's heart skipped.
“Me?”
“She said someone was coming for you.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
He looked away.
“But I remember you being here.”
Nadia's breathing stopped.
“I was inside this room?”
Adrian nodded.
“You were sitting on that chair.”
Nadia looked at it.
A sudden memory hit her.
A white room.
A chair.
Elena kneeling beside her.
Adrian standing near the door.
And another person behind him.
Nadia whispered,
“There was someone else.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
She closed her eyes.
A voice.
Male.
Calm.
“She's ready.”
Nadia opened her eyes.
“He said I was ready.”
Adrian's face went pale.
“Ready for what?”
“I don't know.”
Then a sound came from the hallway.
A door closing.
Adrian immediately turned off the flashlight.
Someone was outside.
Nadia's heart raced.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Adrian pulled Nadia behind the door.
They stood silently.
The footsteps stopped.
Someone spoke.
“Nadia.”
Her blood went cold.
It was her father's voice.
Adrian looked at her.
The footsteps moved closer.
“Nadia, I know you're in there.”
Nadia covered her mouth.
Adrian shook his head.
Don't answer.
The door handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
A few seconds passed.
The footsteps faded.
Nadia finally breathed.
Adrian whispered,
“He knows we're here.”
Nadia looked at the files.
“Then we need to find what he doesn't want us to find.”
She opened the top drawer.
Inside was a small recorder.
She pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then Elena's voice.
“Nadia, if you're hearing this, your father has found you.”
Nadia froze.
Adrian stared at the recorder.
Elena continued.
“I'm sorry.”
Her voice trembled.
“I wanted to tell you everything.”
A pause.
“But if I did, they would have taken you before you were ready.”
Nadia's eyes filled with tears.
Elena's voice became quieter.
“Your father wasn't the only person who betrayed me.”
Adrian looked at Nadia.
The recording continued.
“The person I trusted most was the one who opened the door.”
Nadia's blood ran cold.
Elena took a breath.
“And if you're with Adrian…”
The recording crackled.
“…don't trust him.”
The recorder clicked off.
Silence.
Nadia slowly turned toward Adrian.
He didn't move.
Neither did she.
Then the lights in the underground hallway suddenly switched on.
Bright white.
A voice came through the speaker above them.
“Hello, Nadia.”
Adrian stepped in front of her.
The doors at both ends of the hallway locked simultaneously.
Click.
Nadia's heart slammed against her ribs.
The voice continued.
“You finally came back.”
And then a screen on the wall turned on.
A live video appeared.
Her father was standing in the room above them.
Beside him was Daniel.
And between them—
was Ethan.
Nadia stared at the screen.
Ethan looked directly into the camera.
Then he said four words:
“I'm sorry, Nadia. I failed.”
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