ASK HIM WHY
1813 Words
The card felt heavier than it should have.
Elena stared at the three words until they seemed to burn themselves into her mind.
ASK ADRIAN WHY.
She looked up.
Adrian was still standing several feet away, his face unreadable.
"Why?"
He didn't respond.
She lifted the card.
"It says I should ask you why."
"I can read."
"Then answer."
The corridor remained silent.
Elena waited.
Adrian glanced at the doors around them.
"Not here."
She almost laughed.
"Of course."
"Elena."
"Every time I ask you something, you tell me it's not the right place, not the right time, or that I don't need to know."
"I've been trying to keep you safe."
"And how's that working?"
His jaw tightened.
She stepped closer.
"Marcus disappeared right in front of us. Mara disappeared. This building keeps showing me memories I don't understand, and now I find out my father was involved in all of this."
"I know."
"And you're somehow connected to every part of it."
"I know."
"Then stop saying you know and tell me something."
Adrian looked at her for a long moment.
"My first day at Vespera wasn't my first day here."
Elena went quiet.
He continued.
"I came here years before you did."
"To work for my father."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he asked me to protect you."
She frowned.
"From the games?"
"From the people running them."
"Who were they?"
"I never saw all of them."
"But you saw the first boss."
Adrian's expression changed slightly.
"Yes."
"Who was he?"
Adrian looked away.
"I don't know his name."
"You've seen him."
"Yes."
"And you don't know his name?"
"He never gave it."
Elena folded the card between her fingers.
"Then what did you call him?"
"The boss."
"That's all?"
"That's all anyone called him."
She stared at him.
"Why did my father need you to protect me?"
Adrian's silence lasted too long.
"Because he believed the company was interested in you."
"Why?"
"Because of something you could do."
Elena's brow furrowed.
"What could I do?"
"Open doors."
She almost smiled.
"Anyone can open a door."
"Not these."
He pointed toward the corridor.
"These rooms respond to you."
Elena looked around.
The numbered doors were all closed now.
"So the building remembers me?"
"Some parts do."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
She shook her head.
"You know more than you're saying."
"Yes."
"Then tell me."
Adrian took a slow breath.
"Your father discovered that Vespera wasn't built around the company."
Elena waited.
"The company was built around something that was already here."
She looked at the walls.
"What?"
"An old research facility."
"For what?"
"Memory."
Elena's expression changed.
"The games?"
"The games came later."
She thought about the rooms.
The bedroom.
The hospital.
The office.
The memories that seemed real until they weren't.
"Who created them?"
"I don't know."
"But someone was running them."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Adrian looked directly at her.
"To find people who could survive them."
Elena's stomach tightened.
"Survive what?"
"The building."
She stared at him.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It didn't to me either."
He walked farther down the corridor.
"Your father believed the games were some kind of experiment. Every participant was tested differently. Fear. Trust. Memory. Guilt. Loyalty."
"And if they failed?"
Adrian stopped.
"They disappeared."
Elena looked down.
"Like Marcus?"
"I don't know what happened to Marcus."
"But you've seen it before."
"Yes."
She followed him.
"How many people?"
"I don't know."
"Ten?"
He shook his head.
"More."
"Twenty?"
Another shake.
"How many?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Elena stopped walking.
"How many?"
He looked back.
"Enough."
She hated that answer.
They continued down the corridor.
A faint red light appeared at the end.
As they approached, Elena noticed a glass panel set into the wall.
Behind it was a room filled with monitors.
Dozens of screens.
Each showed a different part of Vespera.
The lobby.
The cafeteria.
The conference rooms.
The elevators.
The staircase.
The old office.
Even the corridor they were standing in.
Elena stared.
"We're being watched."
Adrian nodded.
"Probably."
"Probably?"
"The cameras don't always belong to the same person."
She looked at the monitors.
One screen showed the reception area.
Another showed the main entrance.
Another showed the elevator.
Then Elena noticed something.
A screen near the bottom showed her bedroom.
Her real bedroom.
She recognized the curtains.
The small table beside the bed.
The books stacked near the window.
Her breath caught.
"That's my house."
Adrian turned.
His expression hardened.
He stepped toward the monitor.
The image suddenly changed.
Now it showed an empty bedroom.
Elena's bedroom.
But the camera angle was different.
It was positioned inside the closet.
She stared.
"How can they have a camera in my room?"
Adrian didn't answer.
"Adrian."
"I don't know."
She looked at the screen again.
A shadow moved across the bed.
Then stopped.
Someone sat down.
Elena's heart pounded.
The screen flickered.
A face appeared.
Her face.
She stepped backward.
The image showed Elena sitting on her bed, staring directly into the camera.
But Elena had never seen that recording.
The girl on the screen smiled.
Then raised one finger to her lips.
The monitor went black.
Elena's voice dropped.
"That's me."
Adrian didn't answer.
"No."
She shook her head.
"That's not me."
"Elena..."
"I've never done that."
"I know."
"Then who is she?"
Adrian stared at the blank screen.
"I don't know."
A click sounded behind them.
They turned.
One of the monitors switched on.
A new message appeared.
ASK HIM WHY.
Elena's stomach tightened.
The same words.
Again.
Then another line appeared.
WHY DID HE LEAVE YOU?
Elena looked at Adrian.
He didn't move.
"Who left me?"
Silence.
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
Her father.
Standing outside Vespera.
Beside him was Adrian.
And between them was little Elena.
The photograph zoomed in.
Her father's hand was resting on Adrian's shoulder.
Then another image appeared.
A younger Adrian carrying Elena.
She looked asleep.
Her father was walking beside them.
Then another.
Adrian standing alone in the lobby.
Then another.
The lobby empty.
Then another.
A car driving away.
Elena stared.
"Where was my mother?"
Adrian's voice was quiet.
"She wasn't there."
"Why?"
"She had already left."
"Left where?"
"I don't know."
Elena's eyes remained on the screen.
"Did she abandon us?"
"No."
"Then what happened?"
"Your father sent her away."
"Why?"
"To keep her alive."
Elena turned.
"And me?"
Adrian didn't answer.
She stepped toward him.
"What happened to me?"
He looked at her.
"You stayed."
"Here?"
"Yes."
"With you?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Three days."
She frowned.
"Three days?"
"Then the game ended."
"What happened?"
"You were taken home."
"By who?"
"Your mother."
Elena's eyes widened.
"You just said she wasn't here."
"She came back."
"Why don't I remember any of this?"
Adrian's expression softened.
"Because your father asked me to make sure you wouldn't."
Elena went still.
"You erased my memories?"
"No."
"Then what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything."
"You're lying."
"I protected the memory."
"What does that mean?"
"I made sure nobody could access it."
She stared at him.
"That's worse."
"I know."
"You had no right."
"I know."
"Then why?"
"Because your father believed they would come looking for you again."
Elena's voice dropped.
"And they did."
"Yes."
"When?"
Adrian looked at the monitors.
"Three days ago."
The room suddenly felt colder.
"That's why I was here."
"Yes."
"Someone brought me here."
"Yes."
"Who?"
Adrian looked at her.
"We're trying to find out."
A loud alarm suddenly sounded.
Every monitor switched to the same image.
Marcus.
He was standing in a room.
This time he wasn't alone.
Someone stood behind him.
A tall man dressed in a dark suit.
His face was turned away from the camera.
Marcus looked directly at the lens.
"Elena."
She moved closer to the monitor.
Marcus raised his hand.
He was holding something.
A small silver bracelet.
Elena looked at her own wrist.
The old photograph came to mind.
The bracelet she had found.
Marcus lowered his hand.
The man behind him leaned closer.
Elena couldn't see his face.
Then Marcus spoke.
"He says you have something that belongs to him."
Adrian stepped closer to the screen.
"What?"
Marcus looked down.
"The key."
Elena's fingers closed around the brass key in her pocket.
The man behind Marcus suddenly lifted his head.
Even though his face remained hidden, Elena felt an inexplicable chill.
Marcus looked frightened.
"He knows you have it."
The screen went black.
A message appeared.
RETURN THE KEY.
Then:
OR MARCUS STAYS BELOW.
Elena looked at Adrian.
"Where is the key supposed to go?"
Adrian's expression was grim.
"Back where your father found it."
"Where?"
He looked toward the far end of the corridor.
"There."
A door opened.
Beyond it was a small room.
At the center stood a stone table.
A single lock was built into its surface.
Elena slowly approached.
The brass key fit the lock perfectly.
She stopped.
Adrian caught her wrist.
"Wait."
She looked at him.
"What?"
"Once you put that key in, the room will open."
"That's what we need."
"No."
"You said Marcus is down there."
"I know."
"Then I'm going."
"Elena."
She pulled her hand free.
"I'm tired of being protected by people who won't tell me the truth."
She placed the key into the lock.
The entire floor shook.
A deep sound travelled through the walls.
The stone table split apart.
A staircase appeared beneath it.
Cold air rose from the darkness.
Adrian stared down.
Elena looked at him.
"You coming?"
He nodded.
They descended.
The staircase was much narrower than the previous one.
At the bottom stood a single door.
There was no number.
No name.
Only a small sentence carved into the wood.
THE FIRST MEMORY BELONGS TO HER.
Elena touched the words.
The door opened.
Inside was a room filled with photographs.
Hundreds of them.
All of Elena.
As a child.
As a teenager.
As she was now.
Some photographs showed her sleeping.
Some showed her walking.
Some showed her entering Vespera.
One showed her three days ago.
Standing in the lobby.
Looking directly at the camera.
Elena stepped closer.
The date was visible.
Three days ago.
She looked at Adrian.
"Why was I here?"
Before he could answer, a voice came from the darkness at the back of the room.
"Because you came looking for me."
Elena froze.
Adrian stepped in front of her.
The voice continued.
"You just don't remember."
A man stepped slowly into the light.
Elena couldn't see his face clearly.
But she knew the voice.
She had heard it before.
In the corridor.
In the game.
In her memories.
The man stopped several feet away.
"Hello, Elena."
She stared at him.
Adrian's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Don't look at his face."
The man smiled.
"Too late."
And Elena suddenly remembered something she had forgotten for sixteen years.
She had seen him before.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD