Episode 7: The Letter That Lied
1817 Words
Ariana read the sentence again.
LEON IS NOT THE MAN YOUR FATHER TOLD YOU TO TRUST.
The underground room became completely silent.
She slowly lowered the letter.
Leon stood a few feet away from her.
His face had changed.
The calm expression she had seen at the café was gone.
For the first time since meeting him, Leon looked genuinely afraid.
Ariana tightened her grip on the paper.
“What does this mean?”
Leon didn't answer immediately.
“Leon.”
“I don't know.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You don't know?”
“No.”
She laughed bitterly.
“That seems to be your favorite answer.”
“Ariana, listen to me.”
“No. You listen to me.”
Her voice echoed through the underground room.
“You knew my father. You knew about the old house. You knew about the hidden passage. My father apparently asked you to protect me, and now I find a letter saying you are not the person he told me to trust.”
Leon stepped closer.
Ariana immediately stepped back.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
The distance between them suddenly felt much larger than before.
“Did you write this letter?” Ariana asked.
“No.”
“Did you know someone would send it?”
“No.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
Leon looked toward compartment 201.
“Because whoever wrote that letter knows we're here.”
Ariana's breathing slowed.
She looked around the room.
The numbered compartments covered almost the entire wall.
There were 365 of them.
Two hundred were filled.
The rest were empty.
Except now, compartment 201 had delivered a letter.
“How did it open?” she whispered.
Leon walked toward the wall but didn't touch it.
“I don't know.”
“You knew about this room.”
“I knew it existed.”
“But you didn't know about the compartments?”
“No.”
Ariana studied his face.
She wanted to believe him.
That was the problem.
Something inside her wanted to trust Leon.
But every clue seemed designed to make that impossible.
Her phone suddenly vibrated.
Both of them froze.
Ariana looked at the screen.
Unknown Number.
A message appeared.
HE IS LYING TO YOU AGAIN.
Ariana slowly raised her eyes.
Leon saw her expression.
“What?”
She showed him the phone.
His jaw tightened.
Another message arrived.
ASK HIM ABOUT THE NIGHT YOU DISAPPEARED.
Ariana frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Leon looked away.
Her heart stopped.
“Leon.”
He remained silent.
“What night?”
“Ariana—”
“What night?”
Leon ran a hand through his hair.
“You don't remember.”
Ariana stared at him.
“Remember what?”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“The night you disappeared.”
For several seconds, Ariana couldn't speak.
“I never disappeared.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
“You were thirteen.”
Ariana shook her head.
“That was the year my father died.”
“Yes.”
“My father died in a car accident.”
Leon said nothing.
“My mother would have told me if I disappeared.”
A strange expression crossed his face.
“That was the problem.”
Ariana felt cold.
“What problem?”
“Your mother didn't tell you.”
She stepped toward him.
“Explain.”
Leon looked at the ground.
“Three days before your father's death, you disappeared for almost twelve hours.”
Ariana laughed.
It sounded wrong.
Too nervous.
Too broken.
“No.”
“You were found near the old railway station.”
“No.”
“You had a cut on your arm.”
Ariana instinctively looked at her left arm.
There was a small scar near her elbow.
She had always believed it came from falling off her bicycle.
Her breath caught.
Leon continued.
“You kept asking for your father.”
Ariana's knees felt weak.
“Stop.”
“You were terrified.”
“Stop!”
Leon immediately fell silent.
Ariana turned away.
Her memories felt confused.
Broken.
She tried to remember being thirteen.
Her father's birthday.
School.
The old house.
Then—
Nothing.
There was a gap.
A strange, empty space in her memories.
Ariana slowly turned back.
“What happened to me?”
Leon looked at her.
“That is what your father was trying to find out.”
A metallic sound suddenly came from the wall.
CLICK.
Compartment 202 opened.
Ariana and Leon both turned.
Inside was another envelope.
This one was older.
Covered in dust.
Ariana approached it.
Leon grabbed her wrist.
She looked down at his hand.
“Let go.”
He immediately released her.
“Sorry.”
Ariana took the envelope.
The handwriting was different from the first letters.
Messier.
Hurried.
She opened it.
The letter began:
Ariana, if you remember nothing about the night you disappeared, then someone succeeded.
Her fingers began trembling.
She continued reading.
You must never allow them to convince you that your memories are wrong.
Someone took you because they wanted something from your father.
You were returned, but you were not returned alone.
Ariana stopped.
Her heart was pounding.
“What does that mean?”
Leon moved closer.
“Read the rest.”
She continued.
There was another child with you.
Find him before they do.
Ariana slowly looked at Leon.
His face had gone completely pale.
“You,” she whispered.
Leon didn't deny it.
Ariana took a step back.
“You were the other child.”
“Yes.”
Everything suddenly became clearer.
The photograph.
Leon standing beside her father.
His connection to the family.
The protection.
The secrets.
“You disappeared too.”
Leon nodded.
Ariana felt anger rising inside her.
“You knew me before.”
“Yes.”
“You've known me for years.”
“Yes.”
“And when I asked you who you were, you lied.”
Leon looked at her.
“I didn't know if you remembered me.”
“So you decided to pretend we were strangers?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Leon looked toward the darkness behind them.
“From remembering.”
Ariana frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It will.”
Her phone suddenly began ringing.
Unknown Number.
Leon immediately moved toward her.
“Don't answer.”
“Why?”
“Because every time you answer, they know exactly where you are.”
Ariana stared at the screen.
The phone continued ringing.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then it stopped.
A message appeared.
YOU FOUND HIM.
Ariana felt her blood turn cold.
Another message.
NOW ASK HIM WHY HE SURVIVED.
She looked at Leon.
“What happened that night?”
Leon became silent.
Ariana raised the phone.
“Why did you survive?”
His eyes closed.
For several seconds, nothing moved.
Then Leon whispered:
“Because your father saved me.”
Ariana froze.
“What?”
“He came for us.”
“Both of us?”
“Yes.”
Leon walked toward the wooden table and placed both hands against it.
“Someone had taken us to an abandoned building near the railway station.”
Ariana stared at him.
“You remember?”
“Every second.”
His voice changed.
It was quieter now.
More painful.
“You didn't remember anything after we were rescued.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“What happened to my father?”
Leon looked at her.
“He found us.”
Ariana's eyes filled with tears.
“And?”
“He was supposed to take us to the police.”
“What stopped him?”
Leon slowly shook his head.
“Someone was waiting.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
“Who?”
Leon looked toward the numbered compartments.
“I never saw the person's face.”
Ariana's phone vibrated again.
A new message.
LIAR.
She stared at it.
Leon saw the message.
“I am not lying.”
“How do I know?”
“You don't.”
Ariana turned away.
She was tired of not knowing.
Tired of being told half-truths.
Tired of everyone deciding what she could handle.
She walked toward the compartments.
“Maybe the letters know.”
Leon followed.
“Ariana, wait.”
She ignored him.
Compartment 203 had started glowing red.
Then 204.
One by one, the lights began appearing.
The underground room filled with a faint red glow.
Ariana stepped back.
“What is happening?”
Leon looked genuinely confused.
“I don't know.”
Then every empty compartment began flashing.
All the way to—
365.
A loud mechanical sound filled the room.
The wall began moving.
Ariana grabbed Leon's arm without thinking.
He looked down at her hand.
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then the compartments stopped.
Everything went dark.
Ariana's phone flashlight turned off.
“No signal,” she whispered.
A faint light appeared at the far end of the room.
A door.
A door that hadn't been there before.
Slowly opened.
Behind it was another room.
Leon immediately stepped in front of Ariana.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Ariana.”
“I came here for answers.”
“And you might die getting them.”
She looked at him.
“Then stop lying to me.”
Leon went silent.
Ariana walked past him.
Together, they entered the second room.
It was much smaller.
There was only one object inside.
An old television.
Suddenly—
CLICK.
The television turned on.
Static filled the screen.
Ariana stepped closer.
Then the image changed.
Her breath stopped.
It was security footage.
A date appeared in the corner.
October 14 — Ten Years Earlier.
Ariana looked at Leon.
“That was the night.”
The footage showed an abandoned building.
Two children were sitting inside a dark room.
Ariana covered her mouth.
One of them was her.
The other was Leon.
Then a man entered the room.
His face was hidden from the camera.
Ariana watched in horror as the man walked toward them.
She leaned closer to the screen.
Then the footage suddenly froze.
A message appeared across the television.
THE MAN WHO TOOK YOU IS STILL IN YOUR FAMILY.
The screen went black.
Ariana stood completely still.
Then a voice spoke behind them.
“You shouldn't have watched that.”
Ariana turned.
Leon turned too.
A man stood in the doorway.
His face was hidden in the shadows.
Ariana's heart began pounding.
The man stepped forward.
And Leon whispered—
“No.”
Ariana looked at him.
“You know him?”
Leon didn't answer.
The stranger smiled.
Then he said something that made Ariana's entire world collapse.
“Hello, Ariana.”
Ariana froze.
She knew that voice.
She had heard it her entire life.
It was her mother's brother.
To be continued...
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