Episode 5

Maya turned the brass key over in her palm, the metal warm as if it had been sitting in sunlight.

It didn’t match any school key she’d seen before—smaller, heavier, with an old-fashioned cut along the teeth.

Her mind jumped straight to Hallway B.

If the gate was locked, maybe this was the key.

---

She didn’t try it right away. Instead, she kept it tucked in her pocket through her last class, feeling the weight of it like a pulse. Every few minutes, her fingers brushed against it, just to make sure it hadn’t vanished the way Lila did.

When the final bell rang, Maya didn’t follow the crowd toward the buses. She took the long way around, weaving through the music hall, past the old trophy case, until she reached the east wing.

Hallway B was empty, the shadows already stretching long. The chain on the gate rattled faintly in the draft.

She slipped the key into the lock.

It didn’t fit.

The metal teeth caught halfway, refusing to turn.

---

Maya stepped back, frustration bubbling up.

“Then what do you open?” she muttered under her breath.

The hallway answered with silence.

Except—no, not silence. Somewhere behind her, the faint click of another lock turning.

She spun. All the classroom doors were shut, the glass windows reflecting her own uneasy face.

But halfway down, Room 116’s door stood slightly ajar. She knew for a fact it had been closed earlier.

---

Pushing it open, she found herself in what looked like an old storage room—dusty shelves lined with outdated textbooks, broken chairs, and stacks of forgotten binders.

In the far corner was a small wooden cabinet with a tarnished brass lock.

Her heart thudded. She knelt, slid the key in. This time, it turned smoothly, like it had been waiting for her.

The door creaked open to reveal a single item: a folded piece of lined paper, yellowed with age.

She unfolded it carefully. The handwriting was neat, slanted, and urgent.

> If you’re reading this, he still works here. Don’t trust the one with the keys. – L

---

Maya read it twice, her pulse hammering.

There was no mistaking the signature—L for Lila.

The sound of footsteps in the hall made her freeze. Heavy, deliberate. Not the soft, wet steps she’d come to associate with Lila.

She stuffed the note into her pocket, shut the cabinet, and slipped out of the room—only to find Mr. Lowell standing at the end of the hall.

His expression was unreadable.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

“I got lost,” she lied.

He didn’t move, but his gaze dropped briefly—just briefly—to her pocket. “Be careful where you wander. This school has… locked doors for a reason.”

---

Maya didn’t answer. She brushed past him, the smell of floor cleaner clinging to his clothes. She didn’t let herself breathe until she was back in the main hallway.

---

That night, she sat at her desk with the note spread out in front of her.

If Lila wrote it before she died, it meant she knew she was in danger. It also meant Mr. Lowell—if “the one with the keys” was him—had been a suspect in her mind.

But why hide the note in a random storage cabinet instead of giving it to someone?

Unless she couldn’t.

---

The message notification jolted her out of her thoughts. A new text from “Unknown.”

> Do you believe me now?

She didn’t bother asking who it was.

> Yes. What do you want me to do?

The reply came almost instantly.

> Go to the basement.

---

The basement wasn’t exactly a secret—every school had one—but it was rarely used except for maintenance. The door was at the far end of the gym hall, beside a row of vending machines.

She waited until late morning, when gym class was outside and the hallway was empty.

The door to the basement had a padlock. The brass key slid in and turned without resistance.

The air that met her was damp, cold, and carried a faint metallic tang.

She descended slowly, her footsteps echoing off the concrete walls. The light grew dimmer until she was standing in the kind of dark that felt alive, pressing against her skin.

---

A single bare bulb flickered above an open space. Old desks and filing cabinets sat in clusters, covered in dust.

In the center of the room, someone had painted a crude circle on the floor.

Inside it was a single object: a black leather shoe, small enough to belong to a teenage girl.

---

Maya crouched, her throat tight.

“Lila?” she whispered.

The air shifted, and she felt it—that sudden, prickling cold she’d come to recognize.

Lila materialized at the edge of the circle. Her hair hung limp, her eyes brighter than usual.

“You found it,” she said softly.

“What is this?”

“My shoe,” Lila said. “The one I lost when he dragged me down here.”

Maya swallowed hard. “Mr. Lowell.”

Lila’s expression sharpened. “He kept me here before locking me in Hallway B. But it’s not just him.”

---

Before Maya could ask what she meant, footsteps echoed on the stairs. Heavy ones.

Lila vanished instantly.

Maya turned toward the sound just as Mr. Lowell stepped into the light.

His eyes dropped to the shoe in the circle, then to her.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said quietly.

Her mind scrambled for an excuse, but her hands clenched around the brass key instead.

“I think I should,” she said.

---

He took a slow step forward. “That key doesn’t belong to you.”

“It doesn’t belong to you either,” she shot back.

Something in his gaze darkened, but before he could move again, another voice called from the top of the stairs.

“Maya?”

It was Eli.

Mr. Lowell’s expression shifted in an instant, softening into something almost polite. “You kids shouldn’t be poking around down here.”

“We were just leaving,” Eli said quickly, grabbing Maya’s arm and tugging her toward the steps.

---

They didn’t speak until they were outside, back in the bright, safe chaos of the courtyard.

Eli released her. “What the hell were you doing down there?”

“Following a lead,” she said.

He stared at her, then shook his head. “You’re insane. But if you’re going to keep doing this, I’m not letting you do it alone.”

---

That night, another text came through.

> He’s not the only one you need to worry about.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***