Chapter Nineteen: Into the West Wing
645 Words
Writer’s POV
The west wing was colder than the rest of the school.
Airless.
Silent.
It smelled faintly of burnt wood and dust — ghosts of a fire that had never quite been forgotten.
Their flashlight beams sliced through the dark, catching fragments of old posters, shattered glass, and tangled wires.
Every sound — their footsteps, their breathing — felt too loud.
Too exposed.
*****
Mila’s POV
“This place feels wrong,” I whispered, hugging my arms against the chill.
Xavier said nothing, scanning the hallway ahead.
The beam of his flashlight paused on a door marked ‘RESTRICTED ACCESS – DATA LAB C’.
“That’s it,” he said quietly. “That’s where the security archives used to be.”
I frowned. “You sure?”
He gave a small nod. “Positive. My dad helped fund the tech program here before it burned down.”
I hesitated. His dad… That same man who’d looked at me across the dinner table with a strange mix of warmth and calculation.
Something about that connection always felt off.
Xavier pushed the door open. It screeched on rusty hinges.
*****
Writer’s POV
Inside, dust coated everything — monitors, cables, shelves of abandoned circuit boards.
It was a room frozen in time.
Xavier crossed to the nearest desk, tapping at a cracked keyboard.
To his surprise, one of the screens flickered to life.
“Wait—” Mila stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “That’s still connected?”
The monitor buzzed, showing lines of corrupted code… then a login prompt.
ACCESS: REED-001
Mila’s breath caught. “Reed?”
Xavier stiffened. “That’s—”
Before he could finish, the screen glitched. A distorted video file began to play.
Static.
Then… a face.
Not clearly visible — half-shadowed, grainy — but familiar.
Her father.
Mila stumbled backward. “No… that’s— that’s impossible.”
*****
Mila’s POV
The video flickered again.
My father’s voice filled the room — calm, measured, distant.
> “The prototype is active. Proceed with surveillance on Subject R and Subject M. They cannot know what’s been set in motion.”
“Subject M?” I whispered. “That’s— that’s me.”
Xavier turned to me slowly, eyes sharp. “Mila… what the hell is this?”
I shook my head, heart racing. “I don’t know— he said it was just a partnership— some scholarship fund—”
The video ended abruptly.
The screen went black.
And then, in red text across the display:
“SYSTEM BREACH DETECTED.”
A piercing alarm began to wail through the corridor.
*****
Xavier’s POV
“Run.”
It was instinct — not even a thought.
He grabbed Mila’s wrist, pulling her toward the hallway just as the emergency lights flared on, bathing the wing in flashing crimson.
Doors that had been dead for years hissed open.
Security shutters dropped behind them, sealing off exits.
They sprinted past broken lab tables and fallen beams until they reached a narrow stairwell.
Mila gasped, stumbling. “He—he was working with your father, Xavier— I saw his name—”
“I know,” he said through clenched teeth, half-dragging her up the stairs. “And that’s what scares me.”
They burst into the upper hallway — and froze.
At the far end stood Principal Rowan.
Expression unreadable.
Phone in hand.
He didn’t look surprised to see them.
He looked… expectant.
“Leaving so soon?” he said softly. “You weren’t supposed to find that yet.”
*****
Writer’s POV
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then thunder cracked outside, shaking the windows.
Mila’s mind reeled — her father’s face, the word Subject M, Rowan’s cold tone — none of it made sense.
But one thing was suddenly, terrifyingly clear.
They weren’t uncovering the truth.
They were stepping straight into someone else’s plan.
- Writer
