CHAPTER FOUR __ THE DOOR BEHIND THE WALL
865 Words
Asher stared at the message on his phone.
SHE DID.
For several seconds, he didn't move. The words seemed to sit on the screen, waiting for him to understand something he wasn't ready to understand. Someone was lying to him. The only problem was that he had no idea who.
Jace knew something. Evelina knew something. And whoever was sending these messages seemed to know everything.
Asher looked down at the old photograph again.
He had already studied it so many times that he knew almost every face in it. The children. The old school building behind them. Himself standing beside Evelina.
But now he noticed something he hadn't seen before.
Little Evelina wasn't looking at the camera.
She was looking toward the side of the building.
Asher zoomed in.
There was something beside one of the doors. A small metal sign.
17.
His heart skipped.
Room 17.
He quickly opened the school's online directory and searched for the room.
Rooms 1 through 16 were listed.
Then came Room 18.
There was no Room 17.
Asher searched again.
Nothing.
He spent the next few minutes checking old school documents, maps and archived photographs. Every time, the same thing happened.
Room 17 didn't exist.
He finally went to the library.
The librarian was an older woman who had worked at the school for years. Asher showed her the photograph and pointed toward the small sign in the background.
“Do you know where Room 17 is?”
The woman looked at the picture.
Her expression changed almost immediately.
It was subtle, but Asher noticed.
She looked away from the photograph and began arranging some books on the desk.
“That room doesn't exist anymore.”
“Did it exist before?”
She hesitated.
“Some rooms were closed a long time ago. Students don't need to worry about them.”
“Why was Room 17 closed?”
The librarian finally looked at him.
“Because some things are better left alone.”
Before Asher could ask another question, his phone vibrated.
YOU'RE GETTING CLOSER.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
Another message appeared.
WHERE IS ROOM 17?
Asher looked around the library.
No one seemed to be watching him.
Then another message arrived.
WHERE IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN.
He stared at it.
For the first time, he wondered if the person sending the messages wasn't trying to scare him.
Maybe they were leading him somewhere.
That afternoon, Asher found Jace behind the sports building.
He didn't bother with small talk. He showed him the photograph and pointed at the number.
“Room 17.”
Jace went completely silent.
That silence told Asher everything.
“You knew.”
Jace looked toward the empty field.
“I knew there was a room.”
“You told me you didn't know anything.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn't have to.”
Jace sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Asher, there are things about that night you aren't ready to know.”
“What night?”
Jace looked at him.
“The night you forgot.”
Asher felt anger rising in his chest.
“Why does everyone keep talking like I chose to forget?”
Jace didn't answer.
Asher stepped closer.
“What happened in Room 17?”
Jace's expression hardened.
“You weren't supposed to find it.”
That sentence stayed with Asher long after Jace walked away.
By evening, he had made up his mind.
He returned to the oldest part of the school.
The corridor was almost completely empty. Most students never came this far because the classrooms had been abandoned years ago.
Asher walked slowly, counting the doors.
Fourteen.
Fifteen.
Sixteen.
Then nothing.
Just a long stretch of wall.
He checked the photograph again.
The angle was different, but he was certain.
Room 17 should have been there.
He placed his hand against the wall.
Cold.
Too cold.
He pressed harder.
Nothing.
Then he heard it.
Knock.
Asher froze.
He slowly pulled his hand away.
Silence.
Then...
Knock.
His breathing became shallow.
He stepped backward.
Knock.
Three knocks.
From behind the wall.
His phone vibrated.
He nearly dropped it.
YOU FOUND IT.
A second message appeared.
NOW REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED.
The lights above him flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire corridor went dark.
Asher stood completely still.
Somewhere in the darkness, he heard a sound.
A girl crying.
His heart began pounding.
He knew that voice.
He had heard it before.
Not today.
Not yesterday.
Years ago.
“Evelina?”
The crying stopped.
A faint whisper came from behind the wall.
“Asher...”
His entire body went cold.
Suddenly, the memories came rushing back.
Rain pouring against a window.
A red door.
Blood on the floor.
A little girl screaming.
Evelina running toward him.
Someone shouting his name.
Then himself, much younger, standing in front of Room 17.
Smiling.
Asher gasped and grabbed his head.
The memory disappeared as quickly as it had come.
He opened his eyes.
The corridor was still dark.
He stared at the wall in front of him.
His breathing was unsteady.
He had been inside Room 17 before.
And he hadn't been alone.
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