Episode 17: The Memory
1526 Words
## Episode 17: The Memory
Heaven didn't sleep after the mysterious boy disappeared.
She remained sitting on her bed, staring at the window.
The door found you first.
His words wouldn't leave her mind.
She had been there before.
Not in a dream.
Not in a story Sierra had told them.
In real life.
She had stood in front of that door as a child.
And Conrad had been there too.
But why couldn't either of them remember?
Heaven looked down at her wrist.
The golden mark was still there.
It pulsed faintly beneath her skin.
She covered it with her sleeve.
There was only one person she could talk to.
Conrad.
---
The next morning, Heaven found him near the basketball court.
He was alone, sitting on the bleachers.
He looked up when she approached.
“You're early.”
“So are you.”
“I couldn't sleep.”
“Me neither.”
Heaven sat beside him.
For a few seconds, they said nothing.
Then she spoke.
“I remembered.”
Conrad turned toward her.
“What?”
“The hallway.”
His expression changed.
“You remember it too?”
“Yes.”
Heaven took a breath.
“We were children.”
Conrad stared at her.
“I saw it in my dream.”
“It wasn't a dream.”
Heaven's voice was quiet.
“It was a memory.”
Conrad looked down at his hands.
“I remember my father.”
“He was there.”
“He told us to forget.”
Heaven nodded.
“And the boy was there too.”
Conrad looked at her.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
He was silent.
Then he asked,
“Do you remember what happened after?”
Heaven closed her eyes.
“I remember the door opening.”
Conrad's face went pale.
“Opening?”
“Just a little.”
“What did you see?”
“I don't know.”
Heaven opened her eyes.
“Everything went dark before I could.”
Conrad leaned back.
“So we've done this before.”
“Yes.”
“And our memories were erased.”
“Yes.”
Heaven looked at him.
“Maybe we're not supposed to remember.”
Conrad shook his head.
“Maybe that's exactly why we need to.”
---
Maya arrived a few minutes later.
She looked between them.
“Okay. Why do you both look like you've just seen a ghost?”
Heaven glanced at Conrad.
Then she told Maya everything.
Maya's mouth fell open.
“You're telling me you two knew each other as children?”
“We think so,” Heaven said.
“And the mysterious boy was there?”
“Yes.”
Maya sat down.
“This just keeps getting crazier.”
Dylan joined them.
“What did I miss?”
Maya looked at him.
“Apparently Heaven and Conrad have been involved in magical door drama since childhood.”
Dylan stared.
“Of course they have.”
Conrad laughed despite himself.
For a moment, the tension broke.
Then Sierra appeared.
The moment she saw their faces, she knew.
“You remembered.”
Heaven nodded.
Sierra sat down slowly.
“Then we don't have much time.”
“Why?” Conrad asked.
“Because memories don't return for no reason.”
She looked toward the school building.
“The door is pulling them back.”
---
They went to the library during lunch.
Sierra brought the old black book.
She placed it on the table.
“We need to find out what happened the first time.”
The pages turned as soon as Heaven touched the cover.
A golden symbol appeared.
Then words slowly formed beneath it.
THE FIRST OPENING MUST BE COMPLETED.
Maya frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Sierra continued reading.
THE KEY AND THE POWER MUST RETURN.
Conrad looked at Heaven.
“We're the key and the power.”
Sierra nodded.
“But there's something else.”
She pointed to the next line.
WHAT WAS BROKEN MUST BE RESTORED.
Heaven frowned.
“What was broken?”
Nobody answered.
Then the library lights flickered.
A cold wind passed through the room.
The book slammed shut.
Dylan jumped.
“Okay. I officially hate this book.”
Maya laughed nervously.
“Same.”
Heaven looked toward the library doors.
Someone was standing outside.
The mysterious boy.
He didn't enter.
He simply watched them.
Heaven stood.
“You.”
He smiled.
“Five days became four.”
Everyone froze.
“What?” Conrad asked.
The boy looked at him.
“Time changed.”
Sierra stood.
“You said five days.”
“It was five.”
“Then why four?”
The boy's expression became serious.
“Because the magic is stronger than it was before.”
Heaven stepped forward.
“What happens when the countdown ends?”
“You already know.”
“I don't.”
“You will.”
Then he looked at Heaven.
“You've remembered the hallway.”
Heaven nodded.
“Then remember the night.”
“What night?”
“The night the door opened.”
He disappeared.
---
That evening, Heaven stayed in her room with the lights off.
She didn't want another dream.
But when she closed her eyes, the hallway returned.
This time, she saw more.
She was standing beside Conrad.
They were both children.
Conrad's father stood in front of them.
The mysterious boy was behind him.
The door was glowing.
Heaven heard her younger self crying.
“Please don't make us forget.”
Conrad's father looked at her sadly.
“If you remember, the door will find you again.”
“But why?”
“Because you're connected to it.”
Heaven looked at Conrad.
“What does that mean?”
His father didn't answer.
The door suddenly opened.
A bright golden light poured through the gap.
Something moved behind it.
Heaven screamed.
Conrad grabbed her hand.
“Run!”
They turned.
But the mysterious boy remained standing beside the door.
He wasn't afraid.
He looked directly at Heaven.
“Remember me.”
The memory ended.
Heaven woke up gasping.
She immediately reached for her phone.
She needed Conrad.
---
He arrived outside her house less than twenty minutes later.
Heaven told him everything.
He listened quietly.
Then he said,
“I remember something too.”
“What?”
“My father wasn't trying to protect us from the door.”
Heaven frowned.
“Then what was he doing?”
“He was protecting the door from us.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
Conrad shook his head.
“I don't know what that means.”
They stood silently.
Then Heaven's wrist began glowing.
Conrad's mark responded.
Golden light spread between them.
For a second, they saw the same vision.
The door.
The hallway.
And the mysterious boy.
But this time, there was someone else standing behind him.
A girl.
Sierra's sister.
Heaven gasped.
“She was there.”
Conrad stared.
“Sierra's sister.”
The vision disappeared.
Heaven looked at him.
“We have to tell Sierra.”
---
The next morning, Sierra listened without interrupting.
When Heaven mentioned seeing her sister, Sierra's face changed.
“She was alive when the door opened.”
“You knew that?” Conrad asked.
“I suspected it.”
Sierra looked at the floor.
“My sister didn't disappear because she failed to close the door.”
Heaven frowned.
“Then why?”
Sierra finally looked at them.
“She stayed behind.”
Maya's voice softened.
“Why would she do that?”
“To protect someone.”
“Who?”
Sierra hesitated.
Then she looked at Heaven.
“You.”
Heaven froze.
“What?”
Sierra shook her head.
“I don't know why yet.”
Conrad stepped closer.
“What does Heaven have to do with your sister?”
“I don't know.”
Sierra looked at the black book.
“But I think your memories are going to tell us.”
Suddenly, the book opened by itself.
A new message appeared.
FOUR DAYS.
Then another line appeared underneath.
THE KEY REMEMBERS.
Conrad stared at the words.
His wrist began burning.
He grabbed it.
Heaven reached for him.
The moment she touched his wrist, another vision exploded into her mind.
She saw herself as a child.
She saw Conrad.
She saw the mysterious boy.
She saw Sierra's sister.
And she heard her younger self say something that made her blood run cold.
“Don't let him open the door.”
Heaven's eyes snapped open.
She looked at Conrad.
“What?”
Conrad was staring at her.
“What did you see?”
Heaven swallowed.
“I heard myself say something.”
“What?”
She looked at him.
“Don't let you open the door.”
Silence filled the room.
Conrad slowly looked at his glowing wrist.
The key.
The power.
The door.
Everything was connected.
And for the first time, Heaven wondered if the person they were supposed to fear wasn't the mysterious boy at all.
Maybe it was Conrad.
Or maybe...
It was what Conrad had been chosen to unlock.
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