The Secret I can't Remember

Chapter three

The old photography building looked smaller than Ethan remembered. Perhaps it was because he had been sixteen the last time he stood outside it, and at sixteen, everything seemed larger than it really was. The windows had looked like dark eyes staring into the night, the narrow entrance had seemed like the mouth of something waiting to swallow him, and the faded brick walls had stretched endlessly above him. Now, standing beneath the pale afternoon sky beside Maya, Ethan could see the building for what it really was. Old, neglected, and almost completely forgotten by the university. Yet something about it still made him uneasy.

Maya stood beside him with her hands tucked into the pockets of her jacket, staring at the entrance. She had barely spoken since they left campus. Ethan had noticed the way she kept glancing behind them as they walked, as though she expected someone to be following them. He finally broke the silence. “You're sure this is where you found the note?” Maya nodded. “Room 214.” Ethan looked toward the second floor, where most of the windows were covered in dust. One of them, however, appeared strangely clean. “Why would Daniel bring you here?” he asked. Maya hesitated before answering. “I don't know.” Ethan turned toward her. “You knew him.” She looked back at him. “So did you.” “That isn't an answer.” For a moment, the confidence in her expression disappeared. “You're right,” she said quietly. “It isn't.”

Maya reached into her bag and pulled out Daniel's memory card. Ethan stared at it for several seconds. It was such a small thing, barely larger than a fingernail, yet it suddenly felt heavier than anything he had held in years. “What if there's nothing on it?” he asked. Maya shrugged. “Then we wasted our time.” Ethan looked at the card again. “And if there is?” Maya's eyes moved toward the building. “Then we find out why Daniel was afraid.”

They entered through a side door that had been left unlocked. The hallway smelled of dust, old paper, and something Ethan couldn't identify. Their footsteps echoed through the empty building as they walked toward the stairs, but after only a few steps, Ethan stopped. A strange pressure had formed in his chest. He stared at the floor, trying to understand why the place suddenly felt so familiar. It wasn't simply that he had been there before. It was something deeper, like his mind was reaching for a memory that refused to come back.

Rain against glass.

Daniel's voice.

A camera hanging from someone's hand.

Then darkness.

Ethan blinked, and the hallway returned to normal. Maya was watching him carefully. “What happened?” she asked. Ethan shook his head. “I don't know.” “You remembered something.” “Maybe.” Maya took a step toward him, but Ethan raised his hand. “Don't.” She stopped immediately. He wasn't sure why he had said it. He only knew that for a brief moment, the hallway had felt dangerous.

They continued toward the stairs, and that was when Ethan noticed the scratch on the wall. Three crooked lines had been carved into the brick beside the staircase. He stared at them, and suddenly another memory surfaced. He and Daniel had been sitting on these same stairs years ago, laughing about something Ethan could no longer remember. Daniel had taken a key from his pocket and scratched three lines into the wall, telling Ethan that they were their secret symbol. It had been stupid and meaningless at the time. Now, seeing those same marks made Ethan's stomach tighten.

“He was here,” Ethan whispered.

Maya looked at the scratches. “Daniel?”

Ethan nodded. “I remember.”

They climbed the stairs without speaking again. At the end of the second-floor corridor stood Room 214. The door was closed, exactly as Ethan remembered it from the photograph. He reached for the handle, but Maya suddenly caught his wrist. “Wait.” Ethan looked at her. She pointed toward the lock. There was a fresh scratch around it, as if someone had recently forced the door open.

Ethan's expression hardened. “You said this place was abandoned.”

“It is.”

“Then who has been here?”

Maya didn't answer.

Ethan slowly turned the handle, and the door opened with a soft creak. The room beyond was almost completely dark. Dust covered the tables and shelves, and old photography equipment had been left scattered across the floor. Near the window sat a broken camera with a cracked lens. Ethan stepped inside, feeling the same strange pressure return to his chest.

Something about the room was familiar.

Not like the hallway.

This felt personal.

His eyes moved across the walls until he noticed several photographs pinned beneath a thick layer of dust. Most were ordinary images of the university, student events, and old buildings. Then he saw Daniel.

Ethan moved closer. There were three photographs of him and Daniel. The first showed them outside the university library. The second had been taken at a football match. The third made Ethan's stomach drop.

It was the same photograph Maya had shown him.

October 17, 2023.

Ethan and Daniel stood outside the building, with Maya in the background. But there was something different about this photograph. It had been taken from another angle, and someone else was standing behind them.

A person dressed completely in black.

Their face was hidden.

Ethan reached toward the photograph, but stopped before touching it. “Where did this come from?” Maya stepped beside him and stared at the image. “I've never seen that one.” Ethan looked at her suspiciously. “You're sure?” “Yes.” He studied the figure again. Something about the person's posture felt strangely familiar, although he couldn't explain why.

His phone vibrated.

Both of them froze.

Ethan pulled it from his pocket. A new message appeared on the screen.

You shouldn't have come back.

Before Ethan could say anything, another message appeared.

Now she will show you what happened.

He slowly looked at Maya.

She was staring at the screen.

“What does it say?” she asked.

“You tell me.”

Maya's expression changed. “I don't know.”

“You're lying.”

“I swear I'm not.”

The phone vibrated again. This time there was no message. Instead, a photograph appeared.

Ethan opened it, and every thought disappeared from his mind.

It was a photograph of Room 214.

But it wasn't an old photograph.

It had been taken only moments ago.

From inside the room.

Ethan slowly lifted his eyes from the screen and looked around. The room appeared completely empty. Maya was standing beside him, and there was no one else in sight.

Then Ethan noticed something in the photograph that he hadn't seen at first.

A shadow stood in the corner behind them.

Someone was in the room.

His heart began pounding as he looked toward the corner.

Nothing.

Maya suddenly grabbed his arm. “Ethan.”

He turned toward her.

“Don't move.”

Ethan followed her gaze toward the doorway.

A dark shadow had appeared beneath it.

Someone was standing on the other side.

Neither of them spoke.

The handle began to turn.

And then the door slowly started to open.