The Record Room's Secrets
Lara's breath came in shallow gasps as she leaned against the cold metal door. Her body trembled, tears streaming silently down her face. Andy's mocking words echoed in her mind, each syllable twisting the knife of betrayal deeper into her heart.
"Run, little lamb."
How could it have come to this? Lyn, Margot, and now Andy—people she trusted, people she fought alongside—had played her like a pawn. They had exploited her desperation to uncover the truth about the City, leading her straight into a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.
Her fingers curled into fists as she tried to push the thoughts away. Focus, Lara. You can't afford to fall apart now.
The room she'd stumbled into was eerily quiet, its air thick with dust and a faint metallic tang. She forced herself to look around, taking in the rows of neatly arranged report booklets on shelves that stretched to the ceiling.
In the center of the room stood a small wooden table and chair, piled high with thick stacks of paper. The scene felt out of place too orderly for the chaos surrounding it.
Lara wiped her eyes and moved to the table, her footsteps muffled by the worn linoleum floor. The chair creaked faintly as she sat, her hands trembling as she began sorting through the files. She had to find answers—about Lyn, about Margot, about this cursed hospital.
Her fingers froze when she uncovered a photograph, tucked neatly under a stack of papers. Her heart skipped a beat as she lifted it, her breath catching in her throat.
It was the same photograph from her room the one that had haunted her since the beginning. A sunny park, blurry faces, and the date scrawled at the bottom: August 13, 2020.
Her hands trembled as she stared at the image, the memories clawing at the edges of her mind. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make sense of it.
"Why is this here?" she whispered to herself, her voice trembling.
She flipped the photograph over and found a file beneath it. Her eyes scanned the text, her stomach sinking with every word.
Dammy Ixis
Ward 30
Patient Name: Dammy Ixis
Age: 28
Status: Single
Medical Record:
Frequent hallucinations of the city becoming a terror ground where individuals disappear and are turned into soulless beings.
Treatment: Long-term psychiatric care.
Improvement: Poor.
Status: Will be transferred to the ICU for intensive experiments.
Lara's hands shook as she read the report again, her mind struggling to piece it together. The name meant nothing to her, and yet it filled her with a strange unease.
"This doesn't make sense," she muttered, gripping the edge of the table.
The man in the report seemed eerily similar to Roman—someone who had seen the City's future, someone who understood its horrors. But if the doctors had labeled him as mentally ill, how many others like him had they silenced?
The more she thought about it, the more questions gnawed at her. Why was she in the photograph? Why was it stored here, in this hospital? And why did it feel like these memories didn't belong to her?
Lara's attention shifted to a pile of crumpled notes beside the file. The handwriting was uneven, scrawled as though the writer had been in a hurry—or terrified. She picked up the first note and began to read.
"I noticed that the Patron was talking to something invisible in the lab."
"The Patron's daughter has gone berserk in the ICU."
"I saw some strange beings taking the Patron's heart out of her chest, but she didn't die. She was still normal."
Lara's blood ran cold, her hands trembling as she reached for the next note.
"The Patron's daughter isn't mentally ill as we all think. It's actually the Patron."
"Who would've known that the Patron has been a crazy lunatic from the very start?"
"Those strange beings buried the heart right in the center of the hospital."
"Something else was buried. An anchor."
"The Patron's daughter is okay again, but very much different from the others."
Her breath caught as she picked up the final note.
"The heart..."
The words stopped abruptly, as if the writer had been interrupted.
Lara's grip on the notes tightened, her mind racing. Andy's story had been horrifying enough, but this… this was something else entirely.
The Patron—Elene—had given her heart to those beings, and it had been buried here, in the hospital. But why? And what was the anchor mentioned in the notes?
The truth clawed at the edges of her mind, but it refused to take shape.
"Roman was right," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "This place is alive. And it's worse than I ever imagined."
Her heart ached as she thought of Elias. She needed him now more than ever. His strength, his reassurance, his arms around her telling her that it would be okay. But he wasn't here. She was alone.
A faint sound pulled her from her thoughts.
"Lara…"
Her body stiffened, her heart pounding in her chest. The voice was soft, childlike, and it came from the window.
Slowly, she turned her head, her blood turning cold. The blinds she had drawn earlier were now wide open, and standing just outside the glass was a young girl, no older than seven.
The girl's pale face was pressed against the window, her eyes wide and unblinking. Her lips parted into a small, eerie smile.
"Lara," the girl said again, her voice high-pitched and melodic. "Come play with me."
Lara stumbled back, her body trembling as her mind screamed for her to run. But her legs felt like lead, her body frozen in place.
"How… how did you—" she began, but the words died in her throat.
The girl's smile widened, revealing teeth that were far too sharp.
"I'm waiting," the girl whispered, her small hand reaching up to tap gently on the glass.
The sound echoed unnaturally in the small room, each tap like a hammer striking Lara's fragile nerves.
Her breath came in ragged gasps as the room seemed to close in around her. She clutched the photograph tightly, her knuckles white, her thoughts spiraling into panic.
She had to get out.