*Chapter 13: Room 404*
940 Words
Ava ran.
Hospital hallways blurred past her. Red emergency lights. Alarms. Screams behind her as security dragged Alexander away in cuffs.
“Room 404,” she repeated. His last words. “Key is in Sophia’s wheelchair.”
She skidded around a corner and almost ran straight into Victoria.
Victoria stood in front of the nurse’s station. Red dress. Blood on her gloves. Smiling like she’d been waiting.
“Running to him?” Victoria asked. “Or running from him?”
Ava skidded to a stop. “Where’s Sophia?”
Victoria tilted her head. “Wheelchair’s down the hall. Left. But you’ll never get the key, Ava. It’s not for you.”
Ava didn’t answer. She bolted past her. Victoria didn’t chase. She just laughed.
The wheelchair sat abandoned by a fire exit. Empty. Sophia gone.
Ava dropped to her knees. Frantic hands searched under the seat. In the cushion. In the spokes.
Nothing.
“Looking for this?”
Ava spun. Sophia stood behind her. No wheelchair. Walking. Mouth no longer taped. But eyes hollow. She held up a small brass key.
“You lied,” Ava said. “You’re not pregnant. You never were.”
Sophia’s laugh was broken. “No. But I did carry him for 9 months. His obsession. His ‘you belong to me’. And I’m tired.”
She tossed the key. Ava caught it. Cold metal.
“It opens Room 404,” Sophia said. “Victoria’s private suite. Your mother’s diary is in the safe. But Victoria’s already there. Waiting.”
“Why are you helping me?” Ava asked.
“Because he chose you,” Sophia whispered. “Over me. Over everything. And I want to see what happens when the girl wins.”
Footsteps behind Ava. Victoria.
“Give me the key, Ava,” Victoria said. Gun in her hand now. Aimed at Sophia’s chest. “Or I kill the girl who betrayed me.”
Sophia didn’t flinch. “Do it. I’m done being your puppet.”
Ava stood up. Key clenched in her fist. “Room 404 is 3 doors down. You shoot her, I run. You chase me, she lives. Choose.”
Victoria’s finger tightened on the trigger. Then she lowered the gun. Smiled.
“Smart girl. Your mother’s daughter.”
Ava ran. Key in hand. Behind her, Victoria followed. Slow. Like a cat playing with a mouse.
Room 404. Gold numbers. Hotel-style door in the hospital’s private wing.
Ava slammed the key into the lock. Turned. Click.
The door opened.
Inside: luxury suite. Black and gold. And in the center, a wall safe.
And standing in front of it, blocking it with her body: Victoria.
“You’re too late,” Victoria said. “I burned the diary 5 minutes ago.”
Ava’s heart stopped. “No—”
Victoria pulled out a charred notebook. Half burned. Pages crumbling. She tossed it on the floor at Ava’s feet.
“What’s left,” Victoria said. “Read it. Then tell Alexander in jail that his ‘obsession’ was built on ashes.”
Ava dropped to her knees. Grabbed the notebook. Blew on the embers. Pages stuck together, but 3 lines were still readable:
`...Victoria didn’t kill me in a car crash. She locked me in the basement for 2 years...`
`...Alexander is not James’ son. He’s the son Victoria killed 30 years ago. Cloned...`
`...If you’re reading this, Little Star, run. Don’t trust the man who says ‘you belong to me’...`
Ava’s hands shook. Cloned? Alexander wasn’t James’ son? Her mother said to run from him?
Footsteps behind her. Victoria.
“Now you know,” Victoria whispered. “Why I raised him. Why I made him obsessed with you. He’s not human, Ava. He’s my revenge. And you’re his cage.”
Ava looked up. Eyes full of tears. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?” Victoria said. She pulled out her phone. Pressed play.
Audio filled the room. Her mother’s voice. Weak. Sick.
`...Don’t let Alexander near you, Ava. He doesn’t love you. He was programmed to. Victoria made him that way...`
The recording ended. Silence.
Ava stood up. Clutched the burned diary to her chest. Looked at Victoria.
Then she did the last thing Victoria expected.
She smiled.
“Even if it’s true,” Ava said. Her voice didn’t shake. “Even if he’s cloned. Even if he’s obsessed. He chose me. Every time. When Sophia was ‘pregnant’. When my father came back. When you put a gun to his head. He chose me.”
She stepped past Victoria. To the window.
“You burned the diary,” Ava said. “But you can’t burn the truth I felt. He stayed.”
She opened the window. 10 floors up. Fire escape below.
Victoria lunged. “You’re insane!”
Ava climbed out onto the fire escape. Wind hit her face. “Maybe. But I’m his insane.”
Below her, police cars. And one man in handcuffs, being loaded into a car. Alexander. He looked up. Saw her. Even from 10 floors, she saw it. His eyes went black.
“Ava!” he shouted. “Jump!”
Not “Don’t jump.” Not “I’ll catch you.”
“Jump.” Trust.
Ava looked back at Victoria in the window. Then at Alexander below.
She jumped.
Not down. Sideways. To the fire escape. Metal clanged under her feet. She ran.
Behind her, Victoria screamed. But Ava was already gone.
Running to jail. Running to the man her mother warned her about.
Because “you belong to me” was better than “I abandoned you”.
*End of Chapter 13*
- Writer
