Chapter four
1048 Words
The door opened slowly, revealing an empty corridor beyond it. Ethan stared into the darkness, barely breathing as he waited for someone to appear. Nothing happened. There was no sudden movement, no footsteps, and no mysterious figure waiting to attack them. Only the long, silent hallway stretched beyond the doorway, illuminated by the weak afternoon light coming through the dusty windows.
Maya was still holding Ethan's arm. After several seconds, she released him and stepped toward the doorway. She looked down the corridor, then back at Ethan. “There's no one there.” Ethan didn't answer. He was staring at the floor just outside the room. A small black object lay near the wall. He crouched and picked it up. It was a lens cap, scratched and covered in dust. He turned it over in his hand, and something about it made his stomach tighten.
Daniel's camera.
Ethan remembered the camera immediately. Daniel had carried it everywhere during their final year of school, taking photographs of almost everything. He had once joked that if Ethan ever disappeared, he would have enough photographs to prove that Ethan had existed. Ethan had laughed at the time. Now the memory felt painfully different.
“This belonged to Daniel,” Ethan said.
Maya looked at the lens cap and nodded slowly. “Are you sure?”
“I've seen it before.”
He turned it over again. There was a small white mark near the edge, almost impossible to notice. Daniel had made it himself with correction fluid because the original lens cap had looked identical to several others in the photography room. Ethan remembered teasing him about it.
For the first time since entering the building, Ethan felt certain that they were standing in a place Daniel had actually used.
Maya closed the door behind them. “We need to search the room.”
They began carefully looking through the shelves and drawers. Most of what they found was useless: old film rolls, broken batteries, damaged photographs, and notebooks filled with names Ethan didn't recognize. Maya searched the desk near the window while Ethan examined a cabinet against the opposite wall. After several minutes, Maya suddenly stopped.
“Ethan.”
He turned.
She was holding a small brown envelope.
There was no name written on it, only a date.
October 17, 2023.
Ethan walked toward her slowly. “Open it.”
Maya looked at him. “Are you sure?”
“No,” Ethan admitted. “But we've come this far.”
She carefully opened the envelope and removed several photographs. The first showed the outside of the building. The second showed the corridor they were standing in. The third showed Room 214.
Ethan's expression changed when he saw the fourth.
It was a photograph of him.
He was sitting on the floor of the room, his back against the wall, looking toward someone outside the frame.
Daniel had taken the photograph.
Ethan knew because he recognized the camera angle.
But there was something wrong.
The photograph had been taken after midnight.
Ethan could tell from the clock on the wall.
12:17 a.m.
He stared at the image, trying to force his memory to open.
Nothing.
Maya noticed his expression. “You don't remember this?”
Ethan shook his head.
“Look at your hand.”
He did.
His right hand was clenched tightly around something.
A key.
Ethan suddenly felt dizzy.
A fragment of memory struck him so hard that he grabbed the edge of the desk.
Daniel was standing in front of him.
He was angry.
“You promised me you wouldn't tell anyone.”
Ethan heard his own voice.
“I didn't.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then who did?”
The memory vanished.
Ethan closed his eyes, breathing heavily.
Maya moved toward him. “What happened?”
“I remembered Daniel.”
“What did he say?”
Ethan opened his eyes. “He thought I told someone about something.”
“About what?”
“I don't know.”
Maya stared at him for a moment, then looked back at the photographs. “There are more.”
She placed the remaining photographs on the desk.
The next showed Daniel standing beside a door.
Room 214.
The photograph after that showed Maya.
Ethan looked at her immediately.
She was standing outside the building, looking directly toward the camera.
Maya's face changed when she saw it.
“You said you left before midnight.”
“I did.”
“This photograph was taken at 12:21.”
Maya stared at the photograph.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered, “I came back.”
Ethan's stomach dropped.
“You lied to me.”
“I didn't want you to know.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid you would remember.”
The room seemed to become completely silent.
Ethan stared at her, trying to understand what she meant.
“You knew I couldn't remember?”
Maya nodded.
“How?”
“I was there when it happened.”
Ethan stepped backward.
“You said you left.”
“I thought I could protect you.”
“From what?”
Maya looked toward the photographs.
“From the truth.”
Before Ethan could respond, something fell from the top shelf behind them.
They both turned.
A small digital camera hit the floor.
Ethan froze.
The camera was old, scratched, and damaged along one side, but he recognized it immediately.
Daniel's camera.
He picked it up carefully.
The screen flickered when he pressed the power button.
Once.
Twice.
Then it turned on.
There was only one file saved on it.
A video.
Recorded on October 17, 2023.
Ethan stared at the screen.
Maya stepped closer.
“Don't play it here,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent those messages knows we're here.”
Ethan looked toward the closed door.
For the first time, he noticed something he hadn't seen before.
A small red light was blinking above the doorway.
A security camera.
Someone had been watching them.
His phone vibrated.
A new message appeared.
You found Daniel's camera.
Ethan's fingers tightened around it.
Another message appeared.
Now watch the last thing he recorded.
Then a final message arrived.
But don't let Maya see it.
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