Chapter 32: Room Zero

I stared at the message.

MAYA IS ALREADY INSIDE.

"But I'm standing right here."

Elias looked terrified.

"Then someone wants us to think you're inside."

Michael shook his head.

"Or there's another Maya."

Everyone went silent.

"No," I whispered.

"That's impossible."

Elias looked at the memory card.

"Not according to Echo."

Daniel, despite his injury, stepped closer.

"What does that mean?"

Elias didn't answer.

He looked at me.

"We need to go back to your old house."

"The house my mother left?"

"Yes."

Samuel shook his head.

"That's exactly where they'll expect us to go."

Elias nodded.

"Which is why we have no choice."

Twenty minutes later, we stood outside my childhood home.

The house looked smaller than I remembered.

Darker.

Almost unfamiliar.

I walked towards the front door.

My hands began trembling.

"I remember this place."

Michael looked at me.

"You were six when we left."

"I remember Mum crying."

"She was."

"I remember Dad carrying me."

Michael's expression changed.

"What else?"

I closed my eyes.

A memory flashed.

A hallway.

A locked door.

A bright white light.

Someone screaming.

I opened my eyes.

"I remember a door."

Elias went pale.

"Where?"

I pointed towards the basement.

"Down there."

We followed the narrow staircase.

At the bottom was a wall covered in old wooden panels.

Michael searched the wall.

"There's nothing here."

I stepped forward.

Something about the wall felt familiar.

I placed my hand against it.

Click.

A section of the wall moved.

Everyone froze.

Behind it was a steel door.

There was no handle.

Only a small scanner.

Elias stared at it.

"Room Zero."

"How do we open it?"

He looked at me.

"You."

I stepped closer.

The scanner lit up.

IDENTITY REQUIRED.

A red light appeared.

Then changed to green.

WELCOME, MAYA.

The door unlocked.

Slowly...

It opened.

Inside was a room filled with old monitors, computers and files.

But what caught my attention was the wall.

Photographs covered it.

Photographs of me.

At six years old.

At ten.

At thirteen.

At sixteen.

And recent photographs.

Someone had been watching me my entire life.

Daniel walked towards one of the screens.

"This system is still running."

I stared at the photographs.

"Who took these?"

Elias didn't answer.

Then a monitor suddenly turned on.

A video began playing.

My father appeared on the screen.

He looked directly into the camera.

"Maya..."

I stopped breathing.

"If you're watching this, then Room Zero has been opened."

He paused.

"I need you to remember something."

The screen flickered.

"You were never a subject."

My heart pounded.

"You were a witness."

The video cut to black.

Then another file opened automatically.

A childhood recording appeared.

I was six years old.

Sitting in this exact room.

Beside me was my father.

And across from us...

was my mother.

She was crying.

My younger self looked at her and asked:

"Why can't I remember what happened?"

My mother leaned forward.

"Because we had to make you forget."

The recording ended.

I stared at the screen.

Nobody spoke.

Then a voice came from behind us.

"You weren't supposed to see that."

We turned.

My mother stood in the doorway.

She was holding a gun.

And she was pointing it directly at me.