Semua Bab Letters from the future: Bab 11 - Bab 20

The night pressed heavy against the windows, the kind of dark that swallowed whole the edges of the world. Ava sat at her desk, letters spread in front of her like a crime scene. The words blurred, smearing together in her tired eyes, but one thing stayed sharp: Rick had slipped, and her mother had secrets.And secrets didn’t just sit quietly in the dark. They grew roots. They spread. They consumed.Ava dragged her nails across the paper, the sound harsh and grating. Every time she replayed her mom’s laughter at dinner, the way she dodged questions about her dad, the forced cheer in her voice when Ava pressed too close—something inside her twisted tighter.Her mom knew. Maybe not everything, but enough. Enough to make Ava feel like the ground beneath her wasn’t ground at all.She thought of the letters, the warnings, the fire. She thought of Eli’s face when he realized she’d been keeping something from him. She thought of Rick’s grip on her arm, his words: there are things your mom ha

Ava didn’t remember deciding to move.One moment she was staring at the fractured mirror, the jagged web of cracks catching the last gold light of dusk — and the next, she was halfway down the hall, her hands shaking, her breath coming too fast.Her reflection’s voice still rang in her ears.Run.It hadn’t sounded like a warning anymore. It had sounded like an order.She stumbled into her room, slammed the door, and pressed her back to it. Her chest ached with every heartbeat.The mirror hadn’t just cracked — it had shimmered. Like it wasn’t solid, like it could’ve opened if she’d stayed another second.Her gaze darted to her desk. The letters lay there like open wounds, paper edges curling.The first one: Tomorrow, do not take the shortcut home.The second: Someone you love is lying to you.And the last, the one she’d found that morning: Go to the mirror. Alone.She had done exactly what it said. And now the mirror had spoken back.She didn’t know which terrified her more — the thoug

It had been two days since Ava ran.Two days of half-sleeping in borrowed corners, of coffee-shop bathrooms and bus stations, of watching the sky turn that bruised color right before dawn and wondering if it meant she was still inside the same day.She’d left her phone on, but the screen kept flickering — text threads scrambled into unreadable symbols, Eli’s name appearing and vanishing. Once, a call came through that sounded like her voice breathing on the other end.She’d hung up.Then turned the phone off.Then back on again, because being alone was worse.Now she sat at a diner counter on the edge of town, staring into a chipped mug of coffee gone cold. The TV above the register hissed with static between news clips. Every so often she thought she heard a word slip through — something soft, like her name.She pressed her fingers to her temples. “You’re just tired,” she whispered to herself.But when she blinked, the reflection in the chrome napkin dispenser didn’t blink with her.

The hum of the machines was deafening.Ava stepped forward, each footfall echoing against the concrete floor like a warning. The walls around her were lined with cables, blinking lights, and screens showing streams of code she didn’t understand but felt like they were staring at her.Eli followed closely, his face tense, every sense alert. He had been quiet since they entered the sub-level, and Ava didn’t need him to speak — her own thoughts were screaming loud enough for both of them.“This… this is insane,” she whispered, moving closer to a console. Her fingers hovered over a panel that pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat.Eli shook his head. “Not insane. Controlled. Every light, every hum — it’s alive, in a way. Responds to us.”She glanced at him. “Alive? You mean… it’s sentient?”He nodded slowly. “Not human. But aware enough to adapt. We move, it watches. We pause, it learns. Every step we take, every choice we make, it predicts — maybe even manipulates outcomes.”Ava’s

The shattered mirror lay cold and lifeless on the apartment floor. Ava knelt beside it, her hands hovering over the jagged edges. The hum of the system had vanished. The letters were gone, leaving only faint traces of ink that seemed to shimmer like memories.She breathed slowly, trying to convince herself the nightmare had ended. But the weight of choice still pressed against her chest. She had broken the loop. She had faced herself. But now came the question she had avoided since the very first letter arrived: what would she do with the knowledge? With the system? With the power that had been handed to her?Eli’s hand on her shoulder jolted her from her thoughts. “We’re safe,” he said. His voice was low, exhausted, but steady. “For now.”Ava nodded. “Safe… but it’s not over. Not really. We can’t just leave this.”He frowned. “What do you mean?”“The system,” she whispered. “The experiment. My mom’s work… the letters. They were meant to protect, to warn, but also to control. I can’t