The hallway outside the science wing was silent at this hour—too silent. Avery didn't realize how much the quiet unnerved them until every footstep felt stolen, every breath too loud.
They hadn't meant to return here alone. After the strange pulse in the auditorium and the way the dust behaved, they just… needed answers. And answers rarely came with company.
Avery stopped in front of Locker 213.
The paint around the edges had peeled back over the years, like something underneath had been clawing to be let out. When Avery touched the cold metal, a vibration rippled through it—subtle but unmistakable. Almost like a breath.
"Not funny," Avery whispered, though no one was near enough to hear.
The locker door clicked. Once. Twice.
Then slowly opened on its own.
Inside was nothing but an old notebook, the cover warped, pages browned. Avery picked it up carefully. Dust puffed out in a small, swirling breath, as if it recognized them.
The name on the inside cover froze their breath.
"Elias Lorne – Lockridge High, Class of '99."
Elias. The student whose disappearance was buried deeper than the school's own history. The one rumor whispered like a warning.
Avery flipped to the middle.
A line was written in hurried, uneven strokes:
"Memory isn't lost here. It waits."
Then another sentence, added later in a darker hand:
"If you hear the echo, don't answer."
The locker slammed shut behind them, loud enough to shake the frame.
And from inside the metal, Avery heard it—
A voice, faint, as if pressed between the pages of time.
"Avery… you came back."
Their blood turned to ice.