Chapter 20: A Mess of Memories

Lulu stared at the mountain of random junk piled up inside the storage unit and let out a slow, exhausted sigh. "Amelia," she said, voice tight with restraint, "do you realize how impossible this is?"

Amelia, floating cross-legged above a particularly hideous floral couch, made a helpless gesture. "Hey, in my defence, I didn't expect to be dead. And I definitely didn't expect someone else to have to dig through all of this."

"But you did expect to eventually be able to open it yourself, right? Where was the logic in hiding a code that even you forgot the location of?! Do you at least have a vague memory that might hint at where you wrote it down?"

Amelia just bowed her head silently at the chastisement.

Taking her silence as an answer, Lulu pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine. Let's just—ugh—get started."

She rolled up her sleeves and reached for the nearest dusty box—wishing she'd brought a mask and gloves— prying it open to reveal… a tangled mess of charging cables, mismatched socks, and a single, half-melted candle in the shape of a cat. Lulu held it up. "Why do you own this?"

Amelia peered at it. "Oh! That was a gift. I think. From someone. Maybe… "

Lulu tossed it aside and moved to the next pile. A duffel bag filled with what appeared to be an entire collection of novelty t-shirts. She pulled one out and read the faded text. 'World's Okayest Employee.' Lulu shot Amelia a look. "Really?"

Amelia shrugged. "I do have better ones in there...there's a 'Best at Being the Worst' one. It's in there somewhere."

Rolling her eyes, Lulu shoved the bag aside and reached for a stack of notebooks. Flipping through them, she quickly realized they were filled with half-written to-do lists, doodles, and what appeared to be an unfinished novel titled Murder on the Espresso Express.

She glanced at Amelia, raising a brow. "You wrote a book?"

Amelia grinned. "I tried. Never finished it, though. Too much effort."

"Shocking," Lulu muttered, tossing the notebooks onto the growing discard pile. She dug deeper, unearthing an old polaroid camera, a collection of mismatched earrings, and a shoebox labeled 'Definitely Not Important, Don't Open'.

Naturally, Lulu pried it open immediately. Only to find…

At least 200 different receipts from various coffee shops. She squinted at them. "Why did you keep these?"

Amelia hovered closer. "Oh! Those were all of the places that offered a free item or reward if you completed the survey. I collected them to do that…but I don't think I ever actually completed a single survey…"

Amelia finished with an embarrassed smile.

Lulu shut the lid and set it aside, muttering, "So you were always a menace..."

Just as she reached for another box, Amelia suddenly let out an ear-piercing scream.

Lulu jolted so hard she nearly knocked over an entire stack of shoeboxes. Her heart pounded as she whipped around, expecting to see something horrific. "What?! What is it?!"

Amelia, looking pale and traumatized, pointed a trembling finger at something wedged between a pile of old textbooks and a tacky snow globe collection.

Lulu followed her gaze and spotted it—a dusty, faded photo frame.

Cautiously, she picked it up. It was a middle school graduation photo. Of Amelia.

Lulu stared at the picture. Then at Amelia. Then back at the picture.

Amelia buried her face in her hands. "Burn it. BURN IT NOW. Even if I am dead, that photo must never see the light of day!"

Lulu squinted at the image. "It's not that bad."

Amelia groaned. "My hair! My braces! That—that sweater! I look like I got dressed in the dark by someone who hates me!"

Lulu rolled her eyes, setting the frame aside. "I thought something was actually wrong. Do not ever scream like that again unless there is a real emergency."

"This is an emergency," Amelia muttered, glaring at the photo as if it had personally offended her existence.

Ignoring her, Lulu continued digging through the mess. Thirty minutes passed. The pile of discarded items grew, but the safe combination remained elusive. Lulu was now elbow-deep in a suitcase stuffed with what seemed to be nothing but costume jewelry and single socks when something metallic caught her attention.

She pulled it out. A tin box, small, dented, and rattling with something inside. Lulu pried it open, and her breath caught. A folded slip of paper sat nestled among old arcade tokens and a verryyy old ring pop with lint on its sticky surface.

She unfolded it with careful fingers, eyes scanning the numbers scribbled in blue ink.

"Amelia," Lulu whispered. "I think I found it."

Amelia clapped her hands together. "Oh my god, yes! That's it! I knew I was responsible enough to keep it somewhere safe!"

Lulu gave her a deadpan look. "You put it in a tin box with literal garbage."

"Safe is a matter of perspective."

Lulu shook her head and turned toward the safe, paper in hand, but before she could start punching in the numbers, she heard it.

A distant metallic clank.

Her entire body went still. She exchanged a look with Amelia, her heart thudding in her chest. Then, another noise—this time, the unmistakable screech of a metal door sliding open.

Someone else was here.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the storage facility, growing closer.

Lulu's breath hitched. They weren't stopping.

Whoever it was…

They were walking right past her unit.