CHAPTER FOUR __ THE ROOM THAT WASN'T THERE
976 Words
Asher didn't leave the classroom immediately.
He remained standing beside his desk, staring at the final message on his phone.
SHE DID.
His mind kept returning to Evelina's face.
She had looked terrified when she told him he had died. Not guilty. Not confused.
Terrified.
And now the unknown number was claiming the opposite.
Someone was lying.
The only problem was that Asher had no idea which person he could trust.
He slipped the phone into his pocket and glanced toward the hallway. Evelina was gone. So was Jace.
For some reason, that made the empty classroom feel colder.
Asher looked at the photograph again.
The children were still smiling at the camera.
Except for one.
Evelina.
Even as a child, she wasn't smiling.
She was looking at something outside the frame.
Something that seemed to frighten her.
Asher zoomed in on the photograph until the image became blurry. Behind the children was the school building. He could make out several windows and a long corridor.
Then he noticed a small metal sign beside one of the doors.
17.
His stomach tightened.
Room 17.
He stared at the number.
So this was where the mysterious messages had been leading him.
But why hadn't anyone mentioned it?
Asher looked around the classroom.
He had been attending this school for years. He knew most of the building.
There was no Room 17.
At least, not anymore.
---
The next morning, Asher arrived at school earlier than usual.
He went straight to the administrative block and found an old noticeboard covered with photographs, announcements and faded school records.
He searched for anything related to Room 17.
Nothing.
He checked the classroom list.
Rooms 1 through 16.
Then 18.
No 17.
It was as though the room had been deliberately removed.
Asher stood staring at the list when someone spoke behind him.
Looking for something?
He turned.
It was the school librarian.
Asher hesitated before asking about Room 17.
The woman's expression changed.
Only for a second.
But he noticed.
She looked toward the hallway before lowering her voice.
That room doesn't exist anymore.
Asher asked why.
She simply told him that some rooms were closed for reasons students didn't need to know about.
Then she walked away.
Asher watched her disappear.
Another person who knew something.
Another person refusing to talk.
He pulled out his phone.
There was already a new message waiting.
YOU'RE GETTING CLOSER.
Asher's jaw tightened.
He typed:
WHERE IS ROOM 17?
The response came almost immediately.
WHERE IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN.
He frowned.
WHERE?
The typing indicator appeared.
Then disappeared.
No answer.
Asher shoved his phone into his pocket.
Someone had been watching him.
He could feel it.
When he turned around, the hallway was empty.
---
By lunch, Asher had found Jace sitting alone behind the sports building.
He walked over without saying anything.
Jace looked up.
One glance at Asher's face was enough to tell him what this was about.
Asher sat beside him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Asher showed him the photograph.
Jace stared at it.
His expression changed.
“You found it.”
Asher looked at him.
That wasn't the reaction he expected.
“You knew about this?”
Jace remained silent.
Asher felt his anger rising.
“You knew there was a photograph?”
Jace finally looked at him.
“I knew there was a picture.”
“And Room 17?”
Jace's silence answered for him.
Asher stood.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you weren't supposed to know.”
“That's getting really old.”
Jace looked down.
Asher asked him what had happened in Room 17 seven years ago.
Jace didn't answer.
Instead, he told Asher to go home and forget everything he had discovered.
Asher laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps telling me to forget. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe I already forgot something I was never supposed to lose.”
Jace looked at him.
For the first time, his expression softened.
Then he said something that made Asher go completely still.
“You didn't forget Room 17.”
Asher waited.
“You were made to forget it.”
Before Asher could ask what he meant, Jace stood and walked away.
Asher remained seated.
His heart was pounding.
Someone had made him forget.
But who?
And why?
---
That evening, Asher returned to the old part of the school.
He had no idea what he expected to find.
Maybe nothing.
Maybe proof that everyone had been lying.
The corridor was dark and quiet.
Most of the lights had been turned off.
He walked slowly past the classrooms.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Then he stopped.
There was a wall where Room 17 should have been.
No door.
No sign.
Nothing.
Asher touched the wall.
Cold.
Solid.
He almost turned around.
Then he heard something.
A faint knock.
Three times.
From behind the wall.
Asher froze.
He stepped closer.
Another three knocks.
His heart began pounding.
Someone was inside.
He pressed his ear against the wall.
Nothing.
Then his phone vibrated.
He pulled it out.
One new message.
YOU FOUND IT.
Asher stared at the screen.
Another message appeared.
NOW REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED.
The corridor suddenly went dark.
Asher's breathing stopped.
Somewhere behind the wall, he heard a girl's voice.
A voice he recognized.
Evelina.
She whispered his name.
“Asher…”
He stepped backward.
Then the memory hit him.
Rain.
Blood on the floor.
A red door.
Evelina screaming.
And a little boy standing in front of Room 17.
Asher.
His younger self slowly turned toward him.
And smiled.
Then everything disappeared.
Asher dropped his phone.
He stood frozen in the darkness, unable to breathe.
Because for the first time, he remembered something that had been missing for seven years.
He had been inside Room 17 before.
And he hadn't been alone.
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