Tony was going downstairs for breakfast, rubbing his eyes and expecting the usual silence. His house was always quiet in the mornings — his parents already gone or too busy to sit with him.
But today…
He stopped halfway.
Both his parents were sitting at the dining table.
Not on calls.
Not checking emails.
Not rushing out.
Just sitting. Waiting.
His mom smiled softly. "Good morning, Tony."
He blinked. His chest tightened with confusion.
This never happened. Not once.
This wasn't normal.
This wasn't real… but it felt warm.
The tenth gate was playing with his memories again — twisting them into something he once wished he had.
He couldn't even speak.
Samy sat alone in the school canteen, staring at her untouched lunch. The noise around her felt too loud, too sharp. She hated being in this place — the same old tables, same old fears.
Then someone sat next to her.
She froze.
Her elder sister.
Tall, perfect, confident — everything Samy wasn't. But even though Samy disliked being around her, her sister always cared more than she showed.
Without saying anything, she placed a juice carton beside Samy.
Samy didn't look up, but her fingers curled around it slowly.
A memory, twisted, softened, reshaped by the gate.
Not painful…
just uncomfortable, confusing, familiar.
Jet walked through the empty camp, wind pushing against her jacket. Everything was still — too still. Even the tents swayed like they hadn't been touched in hours.
She tried calling headquarters again.
No answer.
She checked the gear room.
Empty.
She shouted once, hoping someone would reply.
Silence.
Jet breathed out sharply, picked up her bicycle, and headed back onto the track. Midnight air stung her cheeks as she rode.
She was alone.
Completely.
And the world felt like it had swallowed everyone else.
Tin stood inside the dark corridor, staring at two opposite walls. At first glance, they seemed normal — dusty, old, cracked.
But Tin felt it.
Something was off.
The walls looked like they were holding weight.
Like they were hiding something inside — something invisible pressing outward.
He ran his hand across the surface; it was unnaturally cold.
He stepped back, studying them again.
These walls weren't random.
They were part of something bigger forming around them.
Kim, unlike the others, hadn't been dragged into a memory.
He was still in his room.
The lamp glowed over the large clue wall he had built—scraps of paper, photos, old notes, symbols pinned everywhere. A mess only he could understand.
He stood close, scanning the wall with sharp eyes.
No visions.
No strange rooms.
No time jumps.
Just Kim… thinking.
And tonight something shifted.
Every clue, every scrap, every marked circle… started lining up.
Piece by piece, they formed a pattern.
And that pattern pointed straight to one place:
The school.
The badge — school club.
The note — school emblem.
The key — storage room locks.
The missing student list — school archive handwriting.
Kim's heart raced.
"It all starts there…" he whispered.
Whatever the tenth gate was…
whatever was happening to them…
it all circled back to that school.
This wasn't coincidence.
Something happened there.
Something terrible.
Roger opened her eyes.
She wasn't hugging her brother anymore.
She wasn't in the swirling darkness of the tenth gate.
She was in her old bedroom.
Six years ago.
The posters.
The messy shelves.
The smell of the old room.
Everything was exactly the same.
She turned her head and saw Drake, younger, sleeping beside her. His arms wrapped around the giant teddy like it was alive. Roger smiled and pulled the blanket up to his shoulder.
A sound came from the drawing room — faint TV noise.
Roger walked out and stopped.
Her father was asleep on the couch, one hand over his face, breathing softly. He looked peaceful. Tired. Real. So painfully real.
She gently switched off the TV and covered him with a blanket.
Then her eyes drifted to the wall of family photos.
At first they looked normal.
Birthdays.
Trips.
Memories.
But something felt wrong.
The smiles looked too still.
The eyes too empty.
Like the photos were hiding something behind the glass.
Roger stepped closer, reaching out—
THUD.
A sound from upstairs.
She froze.
Her breath caught in her chest.
That wasn't a house noise.
That wasn't part of her memory.
Something was upstairs.
Something that didn't belong.
Tony trapped in a warm lie.
Samy facing a soft wound.
Jet lost in emptiness.
Tin sensing something building.
Kim uncovering the truth.
Roger hearing something impossible.
Six different places.
Six different fears.
Six different memories.
But one single force connected them.
The tenth gate.
Alive.
Growing.
Watching.
They weren't escaping.
Not yet.
They were sinking deeper.