Noah's Warning
898 Words
The curtain in the science lab window fell back into place.
Maya looked up.
"Did you see that?"
Jordan followed her gaze.
"The curtain?"
"It moved."
"There isn't supposed to be anyone in the science wing after school."
Maya slipped Noah's photograph into her backpack.
"Then let's find out who's up there."
Jordan sighed.
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
The school parking lot was almost empty.
Teachers' cars were leaving one by one, and the late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the pavement.
Maya and Jordan quietly made their way back inside through a side entrance that had been left unlocked.
The hallway felt different after school.
Without hundreds of students filling it, every footstep echoed.
Every locker slam sounded twice as loud.
They climbed the staircase toward the science wing.
Halfway up, Maya stopped.
"Listen."
Jordan held his breath.
From somewhere above them...
Tap.
A pause.
Tap... Tap.
It sounded like someone knocking on metal.
Then silence.
They reached Room 214.
The door was closed.
A small window in the door revealed a dark classroom.
"No lights," Jordan whispered.
Maya tried the handle.
Locked.
She looked through the glass again.
Rows of lab tables stood motionless in the fading light.
Beakers and microscopes sat neatly arranged on shelves.
It looked abandoned.
Then...
A chair moved.
Just slightly.
Jordan stepped back.
"Did you see that?"
Maya nodded.
"I did."
Someone was inside.
Just as Maya reached for the door again, footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Fast.
Coming toward them.
Jordan grabbed her arm.
"Hide!"
The two slipped into an empty classroom across the hall, leaving the door cracked open just enough to watch.
Seconds later, Vice Principal Grant appeared.
He looked around the hallway.
His expression was calm.
Almost too calm.
He walked to Room 214.
From his pocket, he removed a silver key.
The same kind Maya had seen earlier.
He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
The door closed behind him.
Maya looked at Jordan.
"What is he doing in there?"
"I don't know."
"But whatever it is..."
"He doesn't want anyone to see."
They waited.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
No one came out.
Jordan checked the hallway.
"It's clear."
They crossed to Room 214.
Maya pressed her ear against the door.
Nothing.
No voices.
No footsteps.
Only silence.
Jordan looked through the window.
His eyes widened.
"Maya..."
"What?"
"The room's empty."
She frowned.
"That's impossible."
"He went in."
"I know."
They both looked through the glass.
Jordan was right.
There was no one inside.
No Vice Principal Grant.
No open windows.
No second door.
Just an empty science classroom.
"It doesn't make sense," Maya whispered.
"Unless..."
Jordan stopped.
"Unless what?"
"There is another door."
Suddenly, Maya remembered Noah's recording.
They're hiding something beneath the school.
She slowly looked down at the classroom floor.
"Beneath the school..."
Jordan followed her gaze.
"You think there's another entrance?"
Before Maya could answer, a sharp metallic sound came from inside Room 214.
Click.
Both of them jumped.
Then, from somewhere inside the classroom...
A projector switched on by itself.
Light spilled across the whiteboard.
A single sentence appeared.
STOP LOOKING.
Maya's heart pounded.
Neither of them had touched anything.
The message slowly disappeared.
Another sentence appeared.
THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING.
Jordan grabbed Maya's wrist.
"We need to leave."
Before they could move, every light in the hallway flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then they went out completely.
Darkness swallowed the corridor.
Emergency lights blinked on, filling the hallway with a dim red glow.
The school alarm didn't sound.
There was only silence.
Then...
A whisper.
"Maya..."
It came from inside Room 214.
Closer than before.
Jordan swallowed hard.
"It knows your name."
Maya forced herself to stay calm.
"No."
She shook her head.
"Someone knows my name."
The whisper came again.
This time, it wasn't alone.
Another voice joined it.
Then another.
Soft whispers echoed from every direction.
"Maya..."
"Jordan..."
"Leave..."
"Run..."
The voices overlapped until it was impossible to tell how many there were.
Then, just as suddenly as they had begun...
They stopped.
The hallway lights came back on.
Everything looked normal again.
The projector inside Room 214 was off.
The classroom was empty.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Jordan looked at Maya.
"We're not imagining this anymore."
"No."
She reached into her backpack and pulled out her phone.
"I'm recording everything from now on."
As they turned to leave, Maya noticed something taped beneath a nearby trophy case.
A folded piece of paper.
She carefully peeled it off.
Jordan unfolded it.
Inside was a hand-drawn map of the school.
Most of it looked ordinary.
Except for one thing.
Beneath the science wing...
Someone had drawn a network of underground tunnels.
In the center of the map, a red circle surrounded two words:
Archive B
On the back of the map was a message written in the same neat handwriting as the earlier notes.
Midnight. Come alone. Trust no one.
Before Maya could say another word, they heard a locker slam somewhere behind them.
They turned.
The hallway was empty.
But taped to Locker 117—which had somehow appeared at the end of the science wing in place of an ordinary locker—was a fresh white envelope with Maya's name written across the front.
Someone had been there only seconds ago.
Watching.
Waiting.
And leaving the next clue.
- Writer
