The Forgotten Tunnel
715 Words
The hooded figure disappeared around the corner.
"Maya, wait!" Jordan shouted.
But Maya was already running.
She raced through the hallway, weaving between students who jumped out of her way.
"Hey!"
"Watch it!"
The hooded figure pushed through the cafeteria doors.
Maya followed.
By the time she reached the other side...
The cafeteria was packed.
Hundreds of students.
Teachers.
Lunch monitors.
The hooded figure was gone.
Maya stopped, breathing heavily.
"They vanished..."
Jordan caught up a few seconds later.
"You'll never catch them in a crowd."
"I almost had them."
Jordan looked around.
"They wanted you to chase them."
Maya frowned.
"What do you mean?"
He pointed toward the hallway they had just left.
"You left your locker open."
INT. HALLWAY – CONTINUOUS
Maya and Jordan hurried back.
Her locker door was still hanging open.
The confidential file was gone.
Maya's heart sank.
"No..."
She searched every shelf.
Her notebooks.
Her backpack.
Nothing.
"They took it."
Jordan looked down.
"There."
A single sheet of paper lay on the floor.
It had been torn from the file.
Across the top were the words:
PROJECT HALLWAY
Below the title was a list of names.
Most had been blacked out.
Only three remained visible.
Noah Reed
Jordan Reed
Maya Thompson
Jordan's face turned pale.
"Why are our names together?"
Before Maya could answer, footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Vice Principal Grant rounded the corner.
"What seems to be the problem?"
Without thinking, Maya folded the page and slipped it into her pocket.
"Nothing, sir."
Grant looked from Maya to Jordan.
Then at Maya's open locker.
"Be careful with your belongings."
His smile never reached his eyes.
"As you've already discovered..."
"...things have a way of disappearing."
He walked away.
Jordan waited until he was out of earshot.
"He knows."
"I think he always has."
INT. HISTORY CLASS – LATER
Mr. Collins wrote today's lesson on the board.
Hidden Histories
Maya exchanged a glance with Jordan.
It felt like every lesson at Westbrook High was secretly about them.
As the teacher spoke, Maya felt something tap against her shoe.
She looked down.
A folded note had been slid beneath her desk.
She carefully picked it up.
It read:
Check the old yearbooks. Library basement. 3:30. Come before they do.
There was no signature.
Jordan looked at her questioningly.
She quietly showed him the note.
He sighed.
"Another trap?"
"Or another clue."
INT. LIBRARY BASEMENT – AFTER SCHOOL
The basement smelled of old paper and dust.
Rows of shelves held decades of yearbooks.
The lights flickered overhead.
Maya checked her phone.
3:31 P.M.
"We're late," she whispered.
Jordan searched the shelves.
"Look for the year Noah disappeared."
Maya pulled out the yearbook from two years earlier.
As she opened it, something thin slipped from between the pages.
A photograph.
It showed Noah standing in front of Room 214.
On the back, someone had written:
He was right.
Jordan stared at the picture.
"Who wrote this?"
"I don't know."
Then Maya noticed something tucked inside the back cover of the yearbook.
Three folded pages.
They matched the torn pages from the confidential file.
"We found them."
Jordan carefully unfolded the first page.
It was a report.
PROJECT HALLWAY
Phase Two Candidates
Noah Reed – Rejected
Jordan Reed – Pending
Maya Thompson – Approved
Neither of them spoke.
Jordan slowly looked at Maya.
"What does 'approved' mean?"
"I don't know."
"But I don't think I want to find out."
Suddenly...
The basement lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
A loud metallic CLANG echoed from upstairs.
Then another.
The library doors slammed shut.
Jordan switched on his phone flashlight.
"Maya..."
"What?"
"We're not alone."
At the far end of the basement...
A shadow stepped between the shelves.
It wasn't wearing a hood.
It was wearing a school security uniform.
The figure raised a flashlight.
Its beam landed directly on Maya and Jordan.
Then a familiar voice spoke from the darkness.
"You two have been asking too many questions."
Maya's heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't Vice Principal Grant.
It was the old janitor.
He looked at them with a sadness neither of them had seen before.
Then he quietly said:
"Come with me... if you want to know what really happened to Noah."
To be continued in Episode 3 – Part 3...
- Writer
