WHAT IS LOST

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Chapter 2

The Hallway That Remembered

Darkness swallowed the corridor whole.

Aya froze.

For a few terrifying seconds, the only sounds were the trembling pipes inside the walls and the uneven breathing beside her.

Then—

Emergency lights flickered on.

Dim red light flooded the hallway.

Aya turned instantly toward her friends.

Nobody was there.

Only a water bottle rolled slowly across the floor.

Her chest tightened.

“No…”

The washroom door stood open, moving slightly back and forth as if someone had just walked through it.

Aya rushed forward.

“Riya?” she called shakily. “Mina?”

No answer.

The bathroom was empty.

Every stall door hung open.

The mirrors above the sinks were cracked from corner to corner, reflecting her face in broken pieces. But something felt wrong about the reflections.

In one mirror, she noticed herself blinking.

In another—

She wasn’t moving at all.

Aya stepped back immediately.

The lights buzzed louder.

A cold voice spoke behind her.

“They cannot hear you anymore.”

Aya spun around.

The man stood near the entrance of the washroom.

He should not have been able to walk there silently.

He simply appeared again.

Closer this time.

“What did you do to them?” Aya demanded, though fear weakened her voice.

The man ignored the question.

Instead, he stared at her with an expression that almost looked disappointed.

“You returned too early,” he said softly.

“I don’t know you.”

“Yes,” he replied. “That is the problem.”

Aya backed away slowly.

The man’s eyes followed every movement like he already knew where she would go next.

The building suddenly groaned again.

A loud metallic sound echoed from somewhere deep below them.

Then came another sound.

Footsteps.

Not one pair.

Many.

Aya looked toward the corridor.

People were standing there now.

At least twenty of them.

Men. Women. Children.

All completely still beneath the flickering red lights.

Watching her.

None of them blinked.

Aya’s breathing became uneven.

“Who are they?”

The man remained silent.

One of the figures in the hallway slowly raised an arm and pointed directly at Aya.

Then another did the same.

Then all of them.

A violent headache exploded inside her head.

Images flashed through her mind too quickly to understand:

A staircase covered in water.

Someone crying in darkness.

Her own voice screaming.

A red switch.

Again.

Aya grabbed her head painfully.

“What is happening to me?”

The man finally stepped closer.

His shadow stretched unnaturally long across the floor.

“This place remembers,” he whispered.

The lights flickered violently.

For a split second, the hallway changed.

The walls became rotten and blackened with mold.

The staring people looked thinner.

Dead.

Then the lights stabilized again.

Everything returned to normal.

Almost normal.

Aya noticed something that made her stomach turn cold.

Every person in the hallway had the same expression.

Fear.

Not directed at her.

Directed behind her.

Slowly, Aya turned around.

The mirror above the sink no longer showed her reflection alone.

Something stood beside her in the reflection.

Tall.

Dark.

Its face hidden.

But in reality—

Nothing was there.

Aya stumbled backward in horror.

The man closed his eyes briefly, almost exhausted.

“It found you faster this time,” he murmured.

“What found me?”

The emergency lights suddenly shut off again.

Darkness crashed over the room.

And somewhere very close to Aya’s ear—

Something breathed.49Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC0Hu1LrpBZ

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