Shadows in the File
230 Words
The office they gave her was too clean. Too quiet. Like no one had ever worked there, or like someone had erased the memory of whoever did.
Aria sat at the desk, fingers hovering over the keyboard, but her eyes kept drifting to the drawer beneath. It was locked. Of course, it was. But locks were just puzzles waiting to be solved.
She waited until the hallway emptied, until the hum of voices faded and the lights dimmed to their nighttime glow. Then she knelt, pulled a thin tool from her bag, and clicked the drawer open.
Inside was a single folder.
No label. Just a strange symbol etched into the corner, sharp, jagged, almost carved.
She opened it.
Names. Dates. Faces.
Women.
Her breath caught when she saw it.
Elena Blake. Intern. Disappeared: June 17.
Her sister.
Aria’s hands trembled. The room felt colder. The lights flickered once, then again.
A shadow moved in the doorway.
Damian.
He didn’t speak. Just stepped inside, eyes locked on the folder in her hands.
“You weren’t supposed to find that,” he said quietly.
“Why is my sister in it?”
He looked at her for a long moment. Something unreadable passed through his eyes.
“Because she was chosen.”
Aria stood, heart pounding. “Chosen for what?”
Damian didn’t answer.
But the silence felt like a warning.
- Writer
