Chapter 18 : The Voice
**Chapter 18: The Voice That Shouldn't Exist**
The air inside Room 19 was different now.
Daniel could feel it—like a weight pressing against his chest, making every breath shallow, every movement feel sluggish. The walls, once solid, seemed less real, shifting ever so slightly when he wasn't looking directly at them. The single overhead light flickered, casting long, shifting shadows across the floor.
He wasn't alone.
The presence was still here. Watching. Waiting.
The figure in the chair had vanished, but Daniel knew better than to believe he was truly alone. His fingers curled into fists at his sides, his mind racing to piece together what had just happened.
> You need to leave.
The words still echoed inside his skull, but they weren't his own.
They belonged to someone else.
To him.
To Elias Wren.
The name still burned in his mind like an open wound, familiar yet foreign, like something half-forgotten in the depths of his memory.
> Who am I really?
The file in his hand crinkled as he gripped it tighter. The words on the front still read:
> Patient: [REDACTED]
He flipped it open.
The pages were no longer blank.
The ink bled across the paper like something alive, shifting and reforming until the words became legible.
> Subject: Elias Wren
Status: Recovered Asset
Mnemosyne Protocol: Active
Objective: Erase and Reinstate
Daniel's stomach twisted.
The ink shifted again.
> Observation: The patient is beginning to resist memory implantation.
Recommendation: Reinforcement required. Subject is unstable.
His hands trembled.
This isn't real. This isn't real.
But it was.
And it meant only one thing—
They had been watching.
They had always been watching.
---
### **The Door That Shouldn't Open**
A low creak broke the silence.
Daniel's head snapped up.
The door to Room 19—the one that had been locked, the one that shouldn't open—was open.
Just a crack.
Darkness seeped in from the hallway beyond, thick and unmoving. The fluorescent lights outside flickered erratically, casting jagged flashes of white into the void.
Daniel took a step back.
Then another.
The room felt like it was shrinking around him.
> Don't go near it.
The thought came unbidden, instinctual.
But then—
A voice.
Faint. Distorted.
Calling his name.
> "Daniel."
His pulse hammered.
It was his own voice.
Coming from the hallway.
---
### **The Hallway That Loops**
Daniel swallowed hard, his body moving before his mind could stop him.
He stepped forward, hesitantly, each footstep echoing too loudly against the tiled floor.
The hallway stretched ahead, long and impossibly empty. Rows of identical doors lined either side, their numbers faded, rusted. No windows. No signs. Just an endless corridor of cold, white walls.
The air smelled sterile, like antiseptic and something else—something metallic.
Blood.
He took another step.
And then—
He heard it again.
> "Daniel."
His own voice.
But this time—closer.
His fingers curled against his palms, nails digging into flesh. He turned, his breath shallow, searching for the source.
The hallway behind him was no longer the same.
The doors had changed.
Now, every door had the same number.
> 19
Daniel's stomach dropped.
He turned back.
Every door ahead of him—
> 19
The numbers pulsed, shifting, like the ink on the file.
A shiver crawled down his spine.
> You need to leave.
The words echoed again, but whose voice was it now?
> Yours.
> Elias's.
Or someone else's entirely?
---
### **The Figure That Walks Behind**
A shadow moved at the far end of the hallway.
Daniel's breath hitched.
It was subtle at first. A shift in the dim lighting. A flicker of movement against the sterile white walls.
Then—
It took a step forward.
And another.
The air turned ice-cold.
Daniel's fingers twitched. His instincts screamed at him to run, but his legs felt like lead.
The shadow stepped forward again, moving into the flickering light.
And for the first time, Daniel saw it.
A figure.
Blurred. Wrong.
Like something caught between existing and not.
Like something unfinished.
But one detail stood out—
Its eyes.
Empty. Hollow.
But staring directly at him.
And then, in his own voice, it spoke.
> "You shouldn't be here."
Daniel's blood ran cold.
The lights flickered—
And the shadow was closer.
Flicker—
Closer.
Flicker—
Right in front of him.
Daniel stumbled back, his breath catching in his throat.
The figure tilted its head, studying him.
Then, it raised a hand—
And pointed.
At one door.
A single Room 19 among the hundreds lining the hall.
The door creaked open.
A whisper crawled through the air, slipping into his mind like silk.
> "Wake up."
And then—
The floor collapsed beneath him.
---
### **The Fall Into Oblivion**
Daniel plummeted.
The world stretched, distorted. Shadows bled into his vision, swallowing everything.
And in that endless void, the whisper came again—
> "Find me."
And this time—
It wasn't his voice.
---