Chapter 74: Sixty Seconds
Kai didn’t move.
His fingers remained wrapped around the silver key, but every muscle in his body locked the moment he heard his own voice behind the hidden door.
It wasn’t distorted.
It wasn’t mechanical.
It sounded exactly like him.
Not the tired version that had stumbled through the last twenty-four hours.
This voice sounded... rested.
Hopeful.
Almost happy.
Daniel took an involuntary step backward.
"...Did..."
His throat worked before he managed to finish.
"...did that door just talk?"
Kai slowly nodded without taking his eyes off the wall.
"I think so."
"No."
Daniel shook his head immediately.
"I heard it."
"I actually heard it."
For the first time since this nightmare began, Daniel had witnessed something impossible with his own senses. There was no rational explanation left to cling to.
The voice came again, still calm.
Still patient.
"Kai."
"You’ve already waited long enough."
"Open the door."
Luna spoke so quickly she nearly talked over it.
"Don’t answer."
"I wasn’t going to."
"I know."
"But I needed to say it."
Kai took one slow step away from the hidden door.
His heartbeat gradually slowed.
Then he remembered the letter.
"Sixty seconds."
Daniel looked at him.
"What?"
"The letter."
"It said... don’t open the door immediately."
"Stand outside for exactly sixty seconds."
Daniel nodded once.
"So we wait."
Kai pulled out his phone.
The screen read 6:18 AM.
He opened the stopwatch.
Pressed start.
00:00
Nobody spoke.
The apartment became eerily still.
Outside, the distant sounds of morning continued as if nothing had changed. A car rolled past. Someone laughed somewhere in the parking lot. The ordinary noises only made the silence inside the apartment feel heavier.
Only the quiet ticking of the stopwatch filled Kai’s ears.
00:09
Nothing.
No voice.
No movement.
Kai almost relaxed.
Then—
A soft scratching noise came from the other side of the hidden door.
Not fingernails.
A pencil.
Someone was writing.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The scratching continued for several seconds before stopping as abruptly as it had begun.
Daniel frowned.
"...What’s that?"
Kai didn’t answer.
He was counting.
00:21
The voice returned.
This time...
It sounded amused.
"You finally learned Rule One."
Kai’s eyes narrowed.
"I did."
"Good."
The voice laughed quietly.
"I was hoping you’d survive long enough."
Luna’s breathing caught.
"Kai..."
"I know."
Something about the conversation felt wrong.
The voice wasn’t trying to lure him.
It wasn’t threatening him.
It sounded...
Proud.
As though it had been waiting for this moment.
00:34
Another sound.
A chair scraped across a wooden floor.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
They approached the hidden door from the inside and stopped directly in front of it.
Kai stared at the faded paint.
The person on the other side was standing exactly where he was.
Separated by only a few inches of old wood.
"I know what you’re thinking."
The voice had become quieter.
"You think I’m pretending."
Kai didn’t respond.
"You should."
"I would."
The honesty of that answer sent a chill through him.
Then—
"I also know you’re holding the photograph."
Kai’s grip tightened.
Nobody had mentioned the photograph.
Not out loud.
"I know the letter says not to trust me."
The voice sighed.
"I wrote that."
Kai’s eyes widened.
Daniel looked between the wall and Kai, clearly struggling to keep up.
"What?"
Luna whispered into the headset.
"...Don’t."
"Kai..."
"...Please don’t believe it."
The voice behind the wall responded immediately.
"You shouldn’t believe me."
"You shouldn’t believe anyone."
"Not until the minute is over."
Kai looked down.
00:49
Eleven seconds remained.
Silence returned.
No footsteps.
No scratching.
Nothing.
The timer climbed.
00:55
00:56
00:57
Kai realized he was holding his breath.
00:58
The apartment lights flickered once.
The bulb above the kitchen dimmed for the briefest instant before returning to normal.
00:59
The hidden door shuddered.
Not violently.
Almost...
Expectantly.
01:00
The stopwatch beeped.
At that exact instant—
Three violent bangs exploded from the other side of the door.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Daniel jumped so hard he nearly stumbled into the kitchen counter.
The entire wall shook.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
Luna gasped.
"What was that?!"
Kai’s pulse hammered in his ears.
The calm voice was gone.
Completely.
Something else slammed against the hidden door.
A deep, guttural roar echoed through the wood, so loud the floor vibrated beneath their feet.
It didn’t sound human.
It didn’t sound like any animal Kai had ever heard.
It sounded...
Hungry.
Another deafening impact rattled the frame.
The old wood groaned but didn’t break.
Then—
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Kai stared at the door.
His breathing came in short, uneven bursts.
The calm voice returned.
Soft.
Almost apologetic.
"...That’s why we wait sixty seconds."
Kai slowly closed his eyes.
Past Kai hadn’t been checking whether something was inside.
He’d been waiting for whatever was behind the door to reveal itself.
Waiting for it to realize...
It had failed to trick him.
The voice spoke one final time.
"If you’d opened the door immediately..."
A long pause.
"...you wouldn’t have met me."
The lock turned by itself.
Not on Kai’s side.
On the other side.
A soft metallic click echoed through the apartment.
Then the hidden door slowly swung inward.
Warm golden light spilled through the narrow opening.
It wasn’t blinding.
It was gentle.
Almost nostalgic.
And standing just beyond it...
Was Kai.
Not a copy.
Not a monster wearing his face.
Older.
Maybe only two years.
A little thinner.
A faint scar crossed his left eyebrow.
His eyes carried the weight of countless sleepless nights, exhausted in a way Kai had never seen before.
But when he smiled...
It was the same genuine smile from the rooftop photograph.
The older Kai looked at him for several long seconds before speaking.
"I’ve missed you."
Then his smile faded.
His eyes drifted past Kai, settling on the monitor sitting on the desk.
On Luna’s Discord call.
His expression cracked.
Hope.
Fear.
Disbelief.
All at once.
Very quietly, almost afraid the answer would shatter him, he asked—
"...Is she really still with you?"