The 11:07 PM Guest

The USB

The old apartment on Mall Road smelled like dust and memories.

Elena stood in the middle of the living room. Nothing had changed in 2 years. The same couch. The same broken clock on the wall. Stopped at 11:47 PM.

Aryan locked the door behind them and pulled the curtains. "No lights," he said. "We use the laptop."

He took out an old laptop from his bag and placed it on the table. The room was dark except for the streetlight coming through a small gap in the curtain.

Elena sat down. Her heart was pounding. "What if they’re already here?"

"Then we hear them first," Aryan said. He plugged in the silver USB.

The laptop took a minute to read it. Then a folder popped up.

Inside: 4 files.

1. Video_01.mp4

2. Audio_02.mp3

3. Documents.pdf

4. Note.txt

Elena’s hands were trembling. "Which one first?"

Aryan clicked on Note.txt.

The screen lit up with white text on black background.

"If you’re reading this, it means I’m either dead or you found me. Elena, I’m sorry. I had to disappear. They were going to kill both of us. The people I worked for are not what they seem. They traffic people. They sell information. And I have proof.

Don’t go to the police. Don’t trust Aryan. He was one of them.

The video has everything. Watch it. Then run.

I love you, sis.

- Aarav"

Elena felt like someone punched her in the stomach. "Don’t trust Aryan?" she whispered.

Aryan didn’t look at her. His face was blank. "Play the video."

Elena clicked Video_01.mp4.

The screen flickered. A dark room. A table. 3 men sitting. One of them was Aarav. He looked scared.

The man in the middle spoke. "You have 24 hours to bring us the list, Aarav. Or your sister pays the price."

Aarav looked at the camera. "I won’t do it."

The man smiled. "Then we’ll find Elena ourselves."

The video cut off.

Elena couldn’t breathe. "They were talking about me. 2 years ago."

Aryan closed the laptop. "Your brother stole a client list from them. Names, bank accounts, everything. That’s why they’ve been hunting him. And you."

"And you?" Elena stood up. "Were you one of them?"