The 365 Letters

Episode 13: The Voice Behind the Door

Ariana stared at her phone.

LETTER 205

THE MAN BEHIND THE DOOR IS NOT YOUR FATHER.

Her hands began to shake.

Behind the metal door, the voice came again.

“Ariana…”

It sounded exactly like him.

Exactly like her father.

Her heart wanted to believe it.

But the letters had never lied to her before.

Leon slowly stepped closer.

“Don't open it.”

Ariana looked at him.

“You heard him.”

“Yes.”

“That was my father's voice.”

“I know.”

“Then why does the letter say—”

“Because someone wants you to doubt everything.”

Ariana turned back toward the door.

Her father's voice came again.

“My daughter… please.”

Tears filled her eyes.

She remembered his laugh.

His hands.

The way he used to call her princess when she was younger.

Could someone really imitate his voice?

Or was the letter trying to stop her from finding him?

Ariana looked down at the message again.

Then she noticed something.

The message had come from the same unknown number as Letter 204.

The same person who had warned her.

The same person who had sent her to Platform Three.

Ariana whispered, “Who is writing these letters?”

Leon didn't answer.

She turned sharply toward him.

“You know something.”

His face tightened.

“Ariana—”

“You always know something.”

Before he could answer, Lila appeared behind them.

Her clothes were covered in dust.

A small cut ran across her forehead.

But she was free.

“Daniel escaped,” she said.

Leon immediately looked around.

“Where?”

“I don't know.”

Ariana pointed at the door.

“Who's behind this?”

Lila's expression changed.

She listened.

The voice came again.

“Ariana…”

Lila went pale.

“What?” Ariana asked.

Lila stepped closer to the door.

Her eyes filled with fear.

“I know that voice.”

Ariana grabbed her arm.

“Who is it?”

Lila looked at her.

“That isn't Dad.”

Ariana's stomach dropped.

“Then who?”

Lila whispered—

“The man who raised me.”

Silence.

Ariana stared at her sister.

“What?”

Lila stepped away from the door.

For the first time, she looked like a frightened child again.

“After Daniel took me,” she said, “I was moved from place to place.”

Ariana listened.

“There were different houses. Different people.”

Her voice became quieter.

“But after a few years, I was given to someone else.”

“Who?”

“I never knew his real name.”

Leon frowned.

“What did you call him?”

Lila looked toward the door.

“Father.”

Ariana felt cold.

The voice inside came again.

“Lila…”

Lila froze.

Then she backed away.

“No.”

Ariana looked at Leon.

“What is happening?”

Leon stepped toward the door.

“No one opens it.”

Ariana grabbed his arm.

“Wait.”

Leon looked at her.

“You said your father worked for Daniel.”

“Yes.”

“Did he know this man?”

Leon didn't answer immediately.

Ariana's heart sank.

“Leon.”

“Yes.”

She closed her eyes.

Of course.

Another secret.

Leon spoke quietly.

“My father called him Victor.”

Lila looked up.

Ariana repeated the name.

“Victor.”

Leon nodded.

“He was Daniel's partner.”

“Partner in what?”

Leon looked toward the tracks.

“Everything.”

The kidnapping.

The money.

The secrets.

The people Daniel controlled.

Ariana slowly understood.

Daniel wasn't the only person behind her nightmare.

There had always been someone else.

Someone hidden in the shadows.

Someone her father never named.

“Victor,” Ariana whispered.

The door suddenly shook.

BANG!

Everyone jumped.

“Ariana!” the voice shouted.

This time it sounded different.

Angrier.

The imitation of her father's gentle voice was gone.

“Open this door!”

Lila covered her mouth.

Leon immediately pulled Ariana behind him.

The man inside slammed against the door again.

BANG!

Then—

Silence.

Ariana's phone vibrated.

Another message.

This time there was no letter number.

Only a photograph.

Ariana opened it.

Her heart stopped.

It showed a hospital room.

Her mother was lying unconscious on a bed.

Next to her stood Daniel.

The photograph had been taken recently.

Below it was a message.

SHE HAS TWENTY MINUTES.

Ariana's blood ran cold.

“Mom.”

Leon grabbed the phone.

His expression changed immediately.

“Where was this taken?”

Ariana looked at the image.

“There.”

A sign was visible behind the hospital bed.

Only part of the name could be seen.

ST. ELI—

Lila suddenly stepped forward.

“I know this place.”

Ariana looked at her.

“You do?”

Lila nodded.

“It's not a hospital.”

“What?”

“It looks like one.”

Leon looked at her.

“Victor's medical facility?”

Lila nodded slowly.

Ariana stared at him.

“You knew about it?”

Leon shook his head.

“I heard rumors.”

“Rumors?” Ariana said angrily. “My mother is there!”

Leon looked directly at her.

“Then we need to move now.”

Ariana looked toward the locked door.

“What about Victor?”

Leon pulled her away.

“We leave him.”

The voice behind the door suddenly laughed.

A deep, terrifying laugh.

Then the man said something that stopped all three of them.

“You're going to Saint Elias?”

Ariana froze.

Leon slowly turned.

Victor's voice became calm.

“Then you're already too late.”

Ariana ran toward the door.

Leon grabbed her.

“No!”

“My mother is there!”

“And that's exactly why Daniel sent the message.”

Ariana struggled.

“Let me go!”

Leon held her tighter.

“Listen to me!”

Lila suddenly shouted.

“STOP!”

Ariana turned toward her.

Lila was staring at something on the ground.

A small object had slid from beneath the door.

An envelope.

Ariana slowly walked toward it.

On the front was written:

LETTER 206

She looked at Leon.

Then opened it.

Inside was a single page.

This handwriting was different.

Messier.

Rushed.

Ariana immediately recognized it.

Her father's handwriting.

Her real father's.

She began reading.

Ariana,

If you have reached Door 365, then Daniel has made his final move.

Ariana's heart pounded.

Do not go to Saint Elias.

Leon looked at her.

She continued.

Your mother is not there. The photograph was sent to force you away from the station.

Ariana stopped.

“It's a trap,” Leon whispered.

The letter continued.

Daniel wants you to leave because he cannot open the room behind Door 365 without you.

Ariana stared at the locked door.

“What?”

She read faster.

The final evidence is inside. But the door can only be opened using three keys.

Lila moved closer.

Ariana looked at the next lines.

The first key belongs to Ariana.

Ariana immediately remembered the brass key from the swimming pool.

She pulled it from her pocket.

The second key belongs to Lila.

Lila froze.

Then slowly reached beneath her necklace.

She pulled out a small silver key.

“I've had this since I was a child.”

Ariana stared at her.

Her father had planned this.

The letter continued.

The third key belongs to the person who betrayed me.

Everyone went silent.

Ariana slowly lowered the letter.

Leon stepped backward.

“No.”

Lila looked at him.

Ariana's heart began pounding.

“Leon.”

He shook his head.

“I didn't know about this.”

“The person who betrayed my father has the third key.”

Leon looked terrified.

“I don't have a key.”

Daniel's voice suddenly echoed from somewhere behind them.

“Of course he doesn't.”

Everyone turned.

Daniel stood at the far end of the platform.

But this time—

he was holding a gun.

Ariana froze.

Leon stepped in front of her.

Daniel smiled.

“You've been searching for the wrong traitor.”

Ariana looked at him.

“Who has the third key?”

Daniel raised the gun slightly.

Then pointed toward Leon.

“Ask him what his father gave him before he died.”

Leon went completely still.

Ariana saw his face.

And suddenly—

she knew.

Leon remembered something.

“Leon?” she whispered.

He slowly reached beneath his shirt.

A chain hung around his neck.

At the end was something Ariana had never noticed.

A small, old key.

Lila gasped.

Daniel smiled.

“There it is.”

Ariana couldn't breathe.

Leon stared at the key in his hand.

“I thought it was just—”

“Just what?” Daniel asked.

Leon looked at Ariana.

“My father gave it to me the night before he died.”

Daniel laughed.

“Your father knew everything.”

Ariana stared at the three keys.

One brass.

One silver.

One old and dark.

Three keys.

Three children.

Three secrets.

The locked door.

Then Ariana understood something.

Her father hadn't simply hidden evidence.

He had built the truth around the three people connected to the night everything changed.

Daniel pointed his gun toward them.

“Give me the keys.”

“No,” Ariana said.

Daniel's smile disappeared.

“I wasn't asking.”

Suddenly, the station lights went out.

Complete darkness.

Ariana heard a gunshot.

BANG!

Someone screamed.

Then Leon grabbed Ariana's hand.

“RUN!”

Ariana ran.

Lila followed.

Behind them, Daniel shouted.

They rushed toward the locked Door 365.

Ariana pulled out her brass key.

Lila inserted hers.

Leon stood frozen.

“Leon!” Ariana shouted.

He looked at her.

Then at the third key.

Another gunshot echoed behind them.

Leon inserted it.

CLICK.

All three locks opened at once.

The heavy metal door slowly moved.

Ariana pushed it open.

Inside was darkness.

Then a light switched on automatically.

The three of them stepped inside.

And froze.

The room was filled with photographs.

Hundreds of them.

Ariana as a child.

Lila growing up.

Leon.

Her mother.

Daniel.

And her father.

But Ariana wasn't looking at the photographs.

She was looking at the man sitting in the corner.

Older.

Thin.

His face tired.

But alive.

Ariana stopped breathing.

The man slowly raised his head.

Tears filled his eyes.

He looked directly at her.

“Hello, Ariana.”

Ariana's knees almost gave way.

This time—

there was no message warning her.

No letter telling her not to believe.

No voice coming from behind a locked door.

She knew.

She knew that face.

She knew those eyes.

Her lips trembled.

“Dad?”

And the man smiled.

“My princess.”

To be continued...