Episode 2

The footsteps stopped.

Maya lay rigid in bed, barely breathing. For a long moment, the silence pressed heavy against her ears. She told herself it was nothing—old plumbing, maybe, or the wind against the hallway window.

Then came the whisper.

Not a word at first, just the shape of breath curling into sound.

“Maya…”

She shot upright, heart pounding. The room was dark except for the thin strip of streetlight leaking through her blinds. Her eyes darted to the door. It was closed.

She grabbed her phone from the nightstand, ready to call her mother—then froze. The screen lit up, a new text flashing.

> Why are you hiding?

Her thumb hovered over the screen. She typed, Who is this? and hit send.

The three dots appeared. Then—

> Come to Hallway B.

She shoved the phone under her pillow like that would make the words disappear.

---

The next morning, Maya was the first one off the bus. The air was colder than yesterday, sharp enough to sting her lungs. She made straight for her locker, avoiding eye contact.

Eli appeared beside her, leaning casually against the wall. “You look like you didn’t sleep.”

“I didn’t,” she said flatly.

“Nightmares?”

“Something like that.”

He studied her for a beat. “I saw them again last night. The lights. Flickering in Hallway B.”

Maya shoved her books into her locker. “Maybe the janitor was working.”

Eli smirked. “You’d think that. Except the janitor doesn’t have bare feet.”

She froze.

Eli tilted his head, reading her expression. “You saw something, didn’t you?”

Before she could deny it, a group of students shuffled past, their voices low but urgent.

“—Jade’s freaking out again—”

“—said she heard it whisper her name—”

Jade Kim stood at the far end of the hallway, pale as chalk. She was surrounded by two of her friends, both talking to her in hushed tones. Her eyes, though, were fixed on Maya.

---

Second period was a blur. Maya sat at her desk, doodling mindlessly in the margin of her notes while the teacher droned on about cellular respiration. She kept replaying last night in her head—the whisper, the footsteps, the text.

By the time the bell rang, she’d convinced herself it didn’t matter. She was here to keep her head down, graduate, and get out. No ghosts, no drama, no trouble.

But the universe had other plans.

---

She was cutting through the main hall between classes when Jade stepped into her path. The blonde’s expression was tight, almost brittle.

“You saw it,” Jade said quietly.

Maya sidestepped. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jade followed, her tone sharp. “Don’t play dumb. You think if you ignore it, it’ll leave you alone?” She leaned closer. “It won’t.”

Maya stared at her. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because it chooses people. And once it chooses you, you can’t undo it.”

The bell rang overhead, and Jade slipped away before Maya could respond.

---

By lunch, Maya was done pretending not to notice the gate at the east end.

It stood like it always did—chained, padlocked, untouched. The light above it flickered once, briefly, before steadying. A faint hum filled the air, so low she almost mistook it for silence.

She stepped closer. The metal bars were cold under her fingertips. Through the gap, the hallway stretched into darkness.

Something moved.

It was quick, a shadow darting just out of sight. But she knew it was there.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

The voice behind her made her flinch. Mr. Lowell, the janitor, stood with a ring of keys in one hand and a mop bucket in the other.

“This wing’s off-limits,” he said.

“I wasn’t—”

He cut her off. “No excuses. You keep walking. You don’t stop at this gate again.”

His tone wasn’t angry, exactly—but it carried weight. Like he was trying to keep her alive.

---

That afternoon, Eli caught up with her at the bus stop.

“You went near the gate, didn’t you?”

She shot him a look. “Why do you care?”

“Because every time someone does, weird stuff starts happening to them.”

“Like what?”

He ticked off on his fingers. “Lights flickering. Hearing your name when no one’s around. Missing stuff from your locker. And…” He hesitated. “…seeing her.”

Maya didn’t ask who “her” was. She already knew.

---

That night, Maya did her homework at the kitchen table while her mother worked late. The apartment was quiet except for the hum of the fridge.

Her phone buzzed.

> You’re closer than you think.

She set the phone down, refusing to answer.

Buzz.

> Do you hear me now?

The hum from the fridge seemed louder. It wasn’t the fridge anymore—it was a voice, low and steady, just on the edge of recognition.

Buzz.

> Three steps from the gate. One step from me.

The lights flickered once, twice, then went out.

---

Her breath caught. The apartment was pitch black, the kind of darkness that felt thick, almost physical. She fumbled for her phone, its screen casting a faint glow over the table.

The reflection in the screen wasn’t hers.

It was a girl’s face—wet hair clinging to pale skin, eyes too wide, mouth curled into something between a smile and a snarl.

The lights snapped back on. The face was gone.

---

The next morning, Maya almost didn’t get on the bus. Her pulse hadn’t slowed since the night before. She considered skipping school, but that would mean explaining things to her mother—and explaining meant talking about things she wasn’t ready to admit.

At Franklin High, Eli was waiting again. He looked unusually serious.

“You’re in it now,” he said.

“In what?”

“The Hallway B game.”

Maya frowned. “This isn’t a game.”

“Not to you. But to her, it is. And she likes to play long.”

Before Maya could press him, Jade appeared at the end of the hall, eyes locked on Maya. She lifted her hand, curling two fingers in a slow come here motion.

Against her better judgment, Maya followed.

---

Jade led her through the science wing, out of sight of most students. They stopped by a supply closet, the smell of ammonia thick in the air.

“She’s watching you,” Jade said. “She’ll make you hear things. See things. She’ll pick at you until you break.”

“Why me?” Maya asked.

Jade’s expression faltered. “Maybe because you’re already broken.”

The words hit harder than they should have. Maya wanted to demand answers, but Jade was already walking away.

---

The rest of the day passed in fragments. Teachers’ voices blurred. Locker doors slammed too loud. Shadows stretched wrong in the corners of her vision.

When the final bell rang, Maya found herself walking—not toward the bus, but toward the east wing.

The gate was there, silent and waiting.

She stepped closer. One step. Two. Three.

The air grew colder. Her breath misted in front of her.

From the darkness beyond the bars, something whispered.

“Maya…”

And this time, it wasn’t just a whisper. It was followed by the sound of footsteps—slow, deliberate, coming closer until they stopped just on the other side of the gate.

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