The First Hallway
886 Words
The hidden room fell silent.
Vice Principal Grant stood in the doorway, blocking the only exit.
His calm smile never faded.
Jordan instinctively stepped in front of Maya.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
Grant folded his hands behind his back.
"That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether you're willing to stop asking questions."
Maya glanced at the notebook lying on the desk.
Noah's notebook.
She quietly slid it closer to her while Grant's attention remained on Jordan.
Grant noticed.
"I wouldn't do that."
"You've been watching us," Maya said.
Grant nodded.
"Yes."
"Since when?"
He smiled.
"Long before you ever met Jordan."
Maya felt a chill run through her.
"So the file was real."
"It was."
INT. HIDDEN CLOCKTOWER ROOM – CONTINUOUS
Jordan held up Noah's notebook.
"My brother found this place."
"He did."
"What happened to him?"
For the first time, Grant's expression became serious.
"He made a choice."
Jordan's voice rose.
"You keep saying that!"
"Because it's true."
"What choice?"
Grant looked directly into Jordan's eyes.
"He chose the truth."
Silence filled the room.
"And what happened after that?" Jordan asked.
Grant hesitated.
"I wasn't there."
Maya frowned.
"You're lying."
Grant slowly shook his head.
"No."
"There are things even I don't control."
INT. HIDDEN CLOCKTOWER ROOM
Maya looked around the room.
Maps.
Photos.
Red strings.
Someone had spent years investigating Project Hallway.
Then she noticed something strange.
Every photograph had one corner cut away.
Except one.
The photograph of The Director.
Although the man's face had been torn off, a reflection in a nearby window showed part of his right hand.
On one finger...
A large ring engraved with the school's crest.
The same crest she'd seen on the silver keys.
Maya quietly snapped a picture with her phone.
Grant noticed the movement.
"No photographs."
He took a step toward her.
Jordan immediately moved between them.
"You stay away from her."
Grant sighed.
"I was hoping we could have a civil conversation."
INT. CLOCKTOWER – STAIRCASE
Suddenly—
A loud alarm echoed through the tower.
BEEEEEP!
Red emergency lights flashed.
Grant looked toward the ceiling.
His calm expression disappeared.
"No..."
Maya noticed.
"What's wrong?"
Grant muttered under his breath.
"They're here."
Before anyone could ask who he meant, heavy footsteps thundered up the spiral staircase below.
Not one person.
Several.
Grant turned back toward Maya and Jordan.
"You have to leave."
Jordan stared at him.
"You expect us to trust you?"
"I don't care whether you trust me."
Grant walked to the bookshelf and pressed a hidden switch.
A narrow stone passage opened behind it.
"Go."
Maya didn't move.
"Why are you helping us?"
Grant looked toward the staircase again.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"Because if they find that notebook..."
"...everyone in this school loses."
INT. SECRET PASSAGE
Reluctantly, Maya and Jordan stepped into the narrow passage.
Before it closed, Maya looked back.
Grant was still standing in the hidden room.
Waiting.
Almost as if he intended to face whoever was coming alone.
The stone door slid shut.
They heard voices on the other side.
One of them was unfamiliar.
Cold.
Commanding.
"Where are the students?"
Grant answered calmly.
"I don't know."
The mysterious voice replied,
"You're lying."
Then everything went silent.
INT. SECRET PASSAGE – MINUTES LATER
The tunnel twisted beneath the clocktower.
Maya held Noah's notebook tightly.
Jordan carried the cassette tape labeled FINAL MESSAGE – NOAH.
"We have to listen to it," he whispered.
"Not here."
After several minutes, the passage opened into an abandoned maintenance office.
Dust covered everything.
An old cassette player sat on a shelf.
Jordan smiled nervously.
"No way."
Maya carefully inserted the tape.
She pressed PLAY.
Static filled the room.
Then Noah's voice.
"If this recording reaches you..."
"...it means I failed."
Jordan closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry."
Noah continued.
"Project Hallway isn't the real experiment."
Maya looked at Jordan in shock.
"What?"
"The Director wants everyone to believe Archive B is the secret."
Another burst of static.
"It isn't."
Jordan leaned closer to the recorder.
"The real answers are hidden..."
The tape crackled loudly.
"...inside..."
More static.
Then, just before the recording ended, Noah whispered two words.
"The Bell."
The tape clicked to a stop.
EXT. WESTBROOK HIGH – SUNRISE
Maya and Jordan emerged from the maintenance tunnel just as the sun rose over Westbrook High.
Students were beginning to arrive for another school day.
Everything looked ordinary.
But Maya knew nothing about the school was ordinary anymore.
She pulled out her phone to look at the picture she had secretly taken in the clocktower.
As she zoomed in on the reflection in the photograph...
She froze.
The ring reflected a name engraved on the inside.
Just two initials.
D.A.
The same initials Noah had written in his notebook.
Before Maya could show Jordan—
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown Number.
A new message appeared.
You heard the recording.
Now find the Bell before The Director does.
Maya looked up toward the old clocktower.
High above the school, the frozen clock suddenly lurched forward.
For the first time in years...
It struck once.
BONG.
Students across campus stopped and looked up.
Maya and Jordan exchanged worried glances.
Somewhere inside the school, someone had just activated the next stage of the mystery.
End of Episode 3
To Be Continued in Episode 4: The Bell
- Writer
