Ghosts in the Hallway

The old Hart Industries research lab was at the edge of campus it looked a forgotten tomb. Plants were all over its cracked concrete walls, and the sign above the door PROJECT ECHO was so rusted, the letters looked like scars. Elena stood across the street, clutching her mother's photo in her palms. The dream's warning echoed in her head: VNOMOUS, The license plate, the truck, and Adrian Voss's icy stare.

Noah moved close to Elena, his hoodie sleeves were rolled up and it revealed his tensed forearms. "You sure about this? That place has squatter written all over it," He asked her.

"My mom worked here," Elena said, stepping toward the entrance. "Answers are inside."

"Answers, or asbestos?" Noah asked with worry.

The door was padlocked. Elena pulled out the key from Clara's locket. It fit.

"Convenient," Noah muttered.

Inside, dust particles and thick spider webs were floated everywhere. The lobby was frozen in time: a cracked screen 90s-era computer sat on the reception desk, Faded posters of brain scans and DNA helices were lined up on the walls. One read: The Future of Memory.

Elena's flashlight beam trembled. "Split up. Look for anything with my mom's name."

"Bad idea," Noah said. "This place feels... watched."

She ignored him, going down a hallway labeled Lab B. Her mother's scent lingered here, jasmine and pencil shavings. She pushed a door open.

The room was a time capsule. Clara's lab coat hung on a hook, her name stitched in cursive. Notebooks filled a shelf, their pages warped by humidity. Elena flipped one open.

Entry #127: Richard thinks I'm reckless. But if Project Echo works, we could preserve human consciousness beyond death. Imagine a second chances for everyone.

Elena's breath caught. Second chances. "Like my rebirth?," She said confused. 

A photo slipped from the notebook: Clara (her mother), pregnant and standing beside a machine shaped like a giant metal egg. Wires sprouted from its frame, connected to a monitor displaying brain waves. Written on the back of the photo was Prototype 1: Success?

"Mom..." Elena traced the photo. "What did you do?"

A crash echoed down the hall.

"Noah?" she called.

Silence.

Her flashlight died.

In the darkness, Elena's childhood fears rushed back to her, the creak of the mansion's stairs at night and the way her father's voice turned cold after her mother died. She looked for her phone, but a hand covered her mouth from the back.

"Shh." Noah's voice, low and urgent. "Someone is here."

They crouched behind a lab table. Footsteps echoed slow and deliberate. A beam of light swept the room.

"Check the files," a man growled. "Voss wants everything on Clara Hart."

Mr Voss. Adrian's father?

Elena's pulse roared. The footsteps neared them. Noah's grip tightened on her arm.

A rat fell on the floor and ran in the opposite direction. The light swung away towards the running rat. "Just vermin. Let's go," One of the men said.

When the men left, Noah exhaled. "Told you this was a bad idea."

"Who is Voss?" Elena whispered.

"He is a powerful guy, He runs a tech empire, and he is enemies with your dad."

His son Adrian also tried to kill my mom. Elena then stuffed Clara's notebook into her bag. "We need to go."

"Wait." Noah pointed to a ventilation grate. "They're blocking the exit. This way."

The crawl space was so tight and it was reeking of all kinds of decay. Elena's knees scraped the concrete but she still held her mother's photo in her palm tightly. Noah moved ahead, and used his phone torch to lighting the way.

"Turn left," he whispered.

The tunnel opened into a hidden room.

Elena froze.

The metal egg from the photo dominated the space, its surface was dull with age. A faded label of Project Echo: Consciousness Transfer was on it, and the wires snaked to a monitor that is still glowing faintly.

"Is that... a time machine?" Noah asked.

"Seems worse." Elena placed her hand on the cold metal. "I think it's why I'm alive."

A hum vibrated through the room. The monitor flickered back to life, displaying garbled text:

Subject: Clara Hart. Transfer incomplete. Error 451.

Then, a video played a security footage of Clara, nine months pregnant and she arguing with a man in a lab coat.

"It's too dangerous!" Clara yelled at the man. "The prototype isn't ready!"

"We are out of time," the man said. Richard. He was younger in the video and angrier. "The board wants results."

"I won't risk her life!"

Her. Elena.

The feed cut to static.

Noah stared at her. "You were part of the experiment?"

Before she could answer, voices boomed outside the room.

"They are in here!"

Elena grabbed Noah's hand. "Run!"

They both ran into the parking lot it was already raining, and they got drenched. A black SUV screeched to a halt, blocking their path. The window rolled down.

Adrian Voss leaned out, hair plastered to his forehead, scar gleaming. "Need a ride?"

Elena backed up. "Stay away from me!"

"Suit yourself." He nodded to the lab. "But those men? They'll shoot first, and would never ask question."

A gunshot bullet exploded a concrete near Elena's feet.

"Get in!" Adrian barked at them both.

Noah shoved Elena into the SUV and flew in after her. Tires screamed as Adrian zoomed away.

"Seatbelts," he said, smirking at the rearview mirror. "Unless you want to die twice."

Elena's blood turned to ice. He knows about my rebirth?

Adrian drove to a secluded diner, the neon sign buzzing Joe's 24/7. He went down into a booth, ordered three coffees, and tossed Elena a sugar packet. "Start talking."

"Why should I trust you?" Elena asked him, her face serious.

"Because I just saved your life." He stirred his coffee, the spoon clinking like a tiny bell. "And because you're not the only one with ghosts, Hart."

Noah stiffened. "What does that mean?"

Adrian ignored him, locking eyes with Elena. "Your mother's project, it wasn't about time travel. It was about souls. Storing them, transferring them. My father funded it. Until she refused to hand it over."

Elena's throat tightened. "So he killed her."

"Yes." Adrian's voice cracked. "And I helped."

Silence fell, heavy as a tombstone. Rain drummed the windows.

Noah broke the silence. "You are a murderer."

"I was fourteen," Adrian snapped back. "My father said it was a game, He hacked the truck's GPS, reroute it. I didn't know..." He looked at Elena, pain flashing behind his icy mask. "I'm sorry."

Elena's coffee sat untouched, cold as her mother's grave. "Why tell me this?"

"Because Project Echo isn't dead. Your father revived it." Adrian slid a file across the table. Inside were blueprints for a new lab and a list of test subjects.

Elena's photo stared back, dated three days ago.