The darkness was perfect.
Not the kind that comes from a power outage—
but darkness that felt embodied,
as if a giant hand had pressed its cold palm over the entire room.
Elara clutched Aiden's chest, her fingers instinctively digging into his shirt.
She couldn't see anything only feel Aiden's heartbeat pounding like it was trying to break through his ribs.
"Stay calm," Aiden whispered, barely breathing.
Calm?
Something outside the door was calling her name with a voice that wasn't human and Aiden said calm?
Elara swallowed, the taste sharp and metallic.
Aiden leaned down, keeping his mouth close to her ear.
"If we talk… it'll know our exact position."
"It?" Elara whispered back, without realizing her lips had moved.
Aiden immediately covered her mouth with his hand.
The sound outside the hallway stopped.
Abruptly.
As if… listening.
Elara held her breath.
Aiden slowly gripped her wrist, sending a silent signal:
don't move, don't speak, don't breathe too loudly.
And from outside-
TOK. TOK. TOK.
Soft knocking.
Not loud.
Not aggressive.
Not like a monster.
More like… an invitation.
Like someone patiently waiting for her to open the door.
A chill crawled over Elara's skin.
The voice returned closer now, more distorted, like a damaged tape recorder.
"Ai…deeen… why… are you… hidiiing…?"
Elara crushed Aiden's hand, face buried into his shoulder.
Aiden held his breath, staring at the door as if he could see through the dark.
"He doesn't know our exact location," Aiden mouthed silently.
Elara could read the shape of his lips.
Then the voice changed.
Not scary anymore.
Not calling.
Now it was… mimicking.
"Elara… Elara… Aideeen… Elaraaa…"
Aiden's fist tightened.
She could feel his muscles harden like steel cables.
"He's scanning," Aiden whispered.
"He's trying to imitate our voices. He's searching for a pattern."
"Elara… this isn't a creature. It's the system."
Elara nearly gagged.
"T-the system… can mimic voices?" she whispered, horrified.
Aiden leaned in, his voice so low it felt like it was spoken directly into her bones.
"The system is built to process possibilities. It learns. It adapts. It takes input from previous loops."
"Elara… in some loops, it's heard you."
Elara covered her mouth, terror rising.
"In loop one-seventy-three," Aiden murmured, "you screamed my name before… before you fell."
Elara froze.
"And in loop one-ninety-eight, I screamed for you when"
Aiden stopped.
His face tensed in the dark.
"Aiden. When what?" Elara whispered, barely audible.
Aiden leaned in until his forehead almost touched hers.
"You… were hit by a car."
Elara's heartbeat slammed against her ribs.
"And the system recorded it," Aiden continued.
"It keeps those sounds. And uses them to… lure."
TOK.
TOK.
TOK.
Elara covered her ears.
The voice stretched into a long electronic distortion, like a vocal cord made of broken wires shoved into the wrong body.
"Elaraaa… open… the doooor… youuu… belong… to the looop…"
Aiden grabbed her shoulders with both hands.
"Elara."
His voice was soft, but razor-firm.
"I need you here. Stay conscious. Focus on my breathing."
Elara forced her eyes toward where she felt Aiden was.
"I'm scared," she said raw and unfiltered.
"I know." Aiden nodded.
"So am I. But if we panic, the system gets into our heads. It doesn't need a door if our minds are open."
Elara held her breath.
"Listen," Aiden said, leaning closer.
"The system can't break a physical barrier without an input. We're safe for now."
The sound outside stopped.
Silence.
Total, suffocating silence.
Aiden stiffened.
"…It stopped knocking," Elara whispered.
Aiden shook his head.
"No.
It's waiting.
That's worse."
Elara's knees felt weak.
"How long will it… watch?"
Aiden swallowed.
"…until midnight."
Elara's breath hitched. "What?!"
Aiden cupped her face quickly.
"Elara focus on me. Not on it."
"If we make it to 23:59, the system resets, and that entity whatever it is will vanish."
Elara nodded, trembling.
Her lips shook.
"Aiden… what time is it now?"
Aiden slowly pulled out his phone, blocking the light with his hand so nothing outside could see.
The screen lit faintly.
17:11.
Elara's world collapsed.
"So we have to survive… six more hours?!"
Aiden looked at her, pupils widened by the dark.
"Elara… I've survived five hundred and thirty-one hours like this."
He intertwined his fingers with hers.
Gently.
"But this is the first time… I'm not alone."
Elara stared at him.
For a long moment.
Then whispered, "…I'm not leaving you."
Aiden exhaledlike those words were the only thing keeping him alive.
Then-
THE DOOR WAS YANKED FROM OUTSIDE.
KRRAAAKK-
Elara screamed and slapped her own hand over her mouth.
The door rattled.
Jammed.
Shaken by something that didn't have human strength.
The voice turned into a long electronic hiss.
"OO…PEN… AIIIDEEENN…"
Aiden pulled Elara behind him.
"Elara," he whispered sharply.
"Breathe slow. Get down. Don't stand."
Elara crawled down, clutching his shirt so she wouldn't lose him in the dark.
Aiden crouched, becoming a full shield.
He reached into his jacket pocket pulling out some small device, a unit of some kind.
"Elara…"
Aiden's voice dropped, cold and threatening toward whatever was outside.
"…if that door opens, you run to the far side of the room. Don't look at anything in the hallway."
Elara shook her head violently, tears spilling.
"I'm not leaving"
"Elara."
Aiden looked at her firm, final.
"If it sees you… it will copy you."
Elara clamped her mouth shut.
Aiden turned toward the door, whispering:
"You're not part of the loop.
And that's why it wants you."
The door shook again harder.
Elara held her breath.
Aiden lowered himself, ready to fight something that didn't have a shape.
And before the voice returned
the entity whispered, perfectly human:
"Elaraa… if you won't open… I'll come in another waaay"
Aiden cursed silently.
"Elara," he hissed.
"From here on… whatever happens… DO NOT trust any voice that sounds like me."
Elara froze.
Aiden gripped her shoulder.
"The real me… is right beside you."
The lights flickered.
The door cracked open.
Elara trembled.
Aiden stared at the widening gap with lethal resolve.
"Bring her out, Aiden," the voice purred.
"Or I'll come collect her."
Aiden held Elara like the world was trying to rip her away.
The darkness thickened.
And the last sound before this chapter ends
was not a monster's voice.
Not the system.
But Elara's own voice…
played backward, like a recording dropped into the wrong mouth.
"Ai…den… heeelp… meee…"
Aiden's soul screamed.
And the door began to open by itself.