Chapter 1:
Static
Eli came to slowly, like surfacing from a dream he couldn’t remember.
First came the cold. Then the brightness. Then the buzzing—low and constant, like electricity humming through the walls. He blinked several times before his vision sharpened.
Fluorescent lights glared down from a white ceiling. He was lying on a smooth concrete floor, his head throbbing, body stiff. Everything smelled sterile, like bleach and ozone. Somewhere nearby, something ticked.
He sat up too fast and immediately regretted it.
His hands trembled. On his left wrist was a smooth silver band, featureless and tight. He tugged at it, but it didn’t budge. Panic bloomed in his chest. He looked around.
There were others.
Four teens—boys, girls, someone in between—scattered across the room like dropped dolls. All slowly coming to. All with the same dazed expression.
The walls were white. Seamless. No door, no windows, no signs. Just an unbroken square. Except for the clock.
A digital timer glowed in bright red above them:
71:59:57
Seconds ticked away with an almost hypnotic rhythm.
Eli’s throat was dry. “Hello?” he croaked.
The red-haired girl closest to him stirred, her curls tangled like seaweed. She blinked up at the ceiling, then flinched at the brightness. Her eyes met his.
“I—I don’t…” She trailed off. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know,” Eli said. “Do you remember anything?”
Her brow furrowed. “I… my name’s Juno. That’s all.”
“Eli,” he offered, rubbing his forehead. “I think.”
Across from them, a tall boy with dark skin and bruised knuckles groaned and pushed himself upright. He wore a hoodie and a crooked grin that didn’t match the fear in his eyes.
“Well,” he muttered, “this isn’t a rave.”
“Who are you?” Eli asked.
The boy shrugged. “Ash. I think. Unless someone stole my face.”
“Not funny,” Juno whispered.
A low moan came from the other side of the room. A sharp-boned teen with a buzzcut and dark clothes sat up, clutching a small leather notebook like a lifeline. They looked around without speaking, their gaze sharp.
“Cam,” they said finally. “Don’t touch my journal.”
“No one wants your diary,” Ash muttered.
The fifth teen stirred last. Short black hair, streaked with green, and a defiant set to their jaw. They looked at the others, then at the room.
“…This isn’t right,” they said. “None of this is right.”
“What’s your name?” Juno asked gently.
The teen hesitated. “Rowan.”
They didn’t elaborate.
Silence fell between them—five strangers, or were they?
Eli felt a tug in his mind, like something half-remembered. They weren’t complete strangers. He was sure of it. Familiarity clung to the edges of their faces, just out of reach.
Then, a loud crack.
A speaker embedded in the ceiling burst to life, and a distorted voice buzzed through the static:
“Memory compromised.
Lies contaminate truth.
Time remaining: 71 hours.”
The voice fell silent.
Juno pressed her hands over her ears. “What the hell was that?”
Before anyone could answer, a section of the floor began to shift. A square tile receded and slid open with a hiss, revealing a recessed hatch beneath the concrete. Inside were five vials, each glowing faintly under the artificial light. No labels. No instructions. Just glass and waiting.
“I’m not drinking anything,” Rowan said immediately. “I don’t care what kind of Saw trap this is.”
“Could be clues,” Cam said calmly. “Could be poison. Either way, someone wants us to decide.”
“We don’t even know how we got here,” Eli said, staring at the vials. “I can’t remember yesterday. I can’t remember anything. Can you?”
Juno shook her head slowly.
“Nope,” Ash said. “Nada. Not even what I had for breakfast. Wait, do I eat breakfast? Do I like waffles?”
Cam rolled their eyes and crouched to inspect the hatch. “Each vial is equidistant. It’s intentional. Whatever’s in them… it’s personal.”
Ash smirked. “You sound like you’ve done this before.”
Cam didn’t smile. “I read.”
Eli’s heartbeat thundered in his ears. He didn’t want to be the first. But if no one moved, they’d sit here for hours watching the clock bleed red.
He knelt and reached for the vial nearest him.
Inside was a folded piece of paper, nothing more.
He glanced at the others. “There’s no liquid. Just a note.”
“Read it,” Rowan said.
Eli unfolded the paper. At first, it was blank.
Then, slowly—like ink pulled from nowhere—letters appeared on the page:
“You told him you didn’t feel the same.
That was a lie.”
Eli felt the blood drain from his face.
“What does it say?” Ash asked.
Eli shook his head, folding the paper tightly in his fist. “It’s mine.”
Rowan’s eyes narrowed. “So we’re keeping secrets now?”
“I think,” Cam said slowly, “that’s the point.”
Eli looked at them. “What do you mean?”
“These notes. This place. The countdown. It’s about the lies we’ve told.” Cam lifted their wrist, showing the metal band again. “We’re being watched. Judged, maybe.”
“Judged for what?” Juno asked.
Cam’s voice dropped. “Whatever we did before we got here.”
The countdown ticked on.
71:42:19
Chapter 2:
The First Clue
The paper trembled in Eli’s hand. Words that had belonged to his guilt, his shame, now glowed in crimson light. He tried to fold it neatly, but his fingers shook too much.
“I… I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. “It’s… true.”
Ash snorted. “Of course it’s true. That’s why they picked you first. This place—it knows us.”
Rowan crossed their arms, scowling. “It’s a trap. This is all a trap.” Their gaze darted around the room. “We don’t even know who ‘they’ are.”
“They,” Cam said, voice calm but edged with steel, “put us here. We don’t know why yet. But I think these vials—they’re designed for us individually. For our secrets.”
Juno sank onto the floor, hugging her knees. “My secret…” she whispered, voice cracking. “I—I’m not sure I even remember it.”
The silver bands on their wrists pulsed faintly, as if syncing to their heartbeats. The clock ticked: 71:35:12.
“Maybe,” Rowan said slowly, “the vials are a way to remember. Or force us to remember. Maybe whatever got us here… wiped our memories on purpose.”
Eli swallowed hard. “Wiped… why?”
Cam tilted their head, flipping open the journal. They scribbled something quickly, then turned the page toward the group. A diagram—five circles, each with a name, connected by jagged lines. “Connections. Secrets. Lies. Whoever made this knew how tangled we all are.”
Ash cracked his neck, impatient. “Connections or not, I say we start figuring this out. Try one vial each. We’ll see what happens.”
“Or we die,” Rowan muttered.
Juno’s voice rose softly, trembling. “I can’t. Not yet.”
The tension thickened, punctuated only by the soft hum of the lights. Eli felt himself trembling. Fear and guilt wrapped together like iron chains in his chest. He looked at Ash, then Rowan, then Juno, then Cam. Each was scared. Each was lying. And now, somehow, every lie was about to surface.
Eli exhaled and uncorked the vial closest to him. He expected liquid, but there was nothing—just another folded slip of paper.
He unfolded it. The letters appeared instantly:
“You told him you were fine when you weren’t. You lied to protect yourself.”
His stomach dropped. He had lied. He had lied so long, even to himself, he hadn’t realized the weight it carried.
Ash leaned closer. “Mine’s going to say the same thing, isn’t it?”
“No,” Eli said, voice tight. “It’s… different for each of us.”
Rowan grabbed a vial and shook it like it would give them answers. “Fine,” they said bitterly. “Let’s just see what hell it shows me.”
The paper inside their vial unfurled like it had been waiting. Words burned onto the page:
“You abandoned them. And you think you forgot. You didn’t.”
Rowan froze. A tremor ran through them. “I… I don’t—”
“Shh,” Juno whispered, reaching out to touch their shoulder. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, we can—”
A low rumble interrupted her. The floor beneath their feet vibrated slightly. Lights flickered.
Cam lifted their wristband. “It reacts to emotion,” they said. “Not just physical movement. Stress. Fear. Anger. Even lies we tell ourselves.”
Eli glanced at the clock. 70:58:47. The numbers were moving faster than the seconds should allow. The timer was accelerating.
“What happens when it hits zero?” Ash asked, his grin gone now, replaced with a tension that made him look years older.
Cam didn’t answer.
Then a wall slid open with a hiss, revealing a long, stark hallway with five doors. Each had a name etched into it: Eli, Rowan, Juno, Ash, Cam.
“Rooms,” Cam said softly. “Each one tailored to us. To our memories. To our lies.”
Rowan’s hands shook. “I don’t want to go in there.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Juno said quietly. “If we don’t, if we wait… who knows what this place will do?”
Ash smirked again, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Then let’s get this over with.”
Eli swallowed, heart racing. His hands still shaking, he stepped toward his door. The door frame pulsed faintly with a soft red light. The countdown ticked onward: 70:52:11.
One step at a time. One memory at a time. They had no idea what was waiting behind those doors. But one thing was clear: the truth—whatever it was—was coming for them.
Chapter 3:
The Rooms
The hallway stretched before them like a wound in the white walls—sterile, endless, impossibly bright. Five doors waited, each etched with a name. Eli’s hand hovered over the smooth handle of his door, the silver band on his wrist throbbing faintly.
“This is… a test,” Cam said flatly, flipping open their journal. They scribbled something quickly, then tore the page out. “A test of memory. Of truth. Of trust.”
Ash cracked his neck. “Great. I’ve always wanted to play memory games with strangers.”
Rowan scowled. “We’re not strangers. I… I just don’t remember enough to trust anyone. Or even myself.”
Juno glanced down the hallway, then back at them all. Her voice was soft but firm. “We have to do this. We don’t have a choice.”
Eli nodded. “Step by step. One room at a time. We’ll—figure it out.”
He opened his door. Cold air rushed out, smelling faintly of damp concrete. Inside, the room was narrow, minimal—just a table, a chair, and a photograph lying face-down.
He picked up the photo. As he turned it over, his breath caught.
It was him and Ash, smiling—or at least pretending to. The background was blurred, but he could swear it was a dock at a lake. Something about it stabbed at him. Something he couldn’t name.
Then the walls shuddered. A whisper filled the room, soft at first, then louder:
“You lied to him. To protect yourself.”
Eli stumbled back. His pulse raced. He felt his band tighten around his wrist, warm now, almost alive.
Down the hall, Rowan’s door creaked open. Inside was chaos—graffiti across the walls, names crossed out, faces scratched away. A photograph lay in the center: a boy they couldn’t quite place, a girl with a sad smile. And a single word written in jagged letters: “Abandoned.”
Rowan staggered back, trembling. “I… I didn’t—no. I didn’t leave them!”
Juno’s room was worse. Water pooled across the floor, rising steadily. A hospital bracelet floated just above the surface, inscribed with her name. The whispers came again, fragments of her own voice:
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
She fell to her knees, hands gripping the floor, fighting against the panic that threatened to consume her.
Ash’s room was quiet, bare, save for a shattered mirror reflecting bruised knuckles and a crooked grin. The fragments multiplied his face into dozens of jagged reflections. A whisper tickled at his ears:
“You said you were fine when you weren’t. You lied. Again.”
Cam’s door was locked tight, smooth as if the wall had never been broken. They pressed their palm against it, eyes narrowing. “Not yet,” they said. “This one waits.”
The countdown pulsed above them: 65:12:33. The numbers seemed heavier now, like the seconds themselves carried weight.
Eli swallowed and pressed his hand to his band. The words from the photo still echoed in his mind: “To protect yourself.”
He didn’t understand it yet. He didn’t want to. But he knew one thing: the facility was alive. It wasn’t just metal and concrete—it reacted. To emotion, to fear, to lies.
And as the first screams and whispers of memory began to surface, one terrible truth became clear:
This wasn’t just about surviving.
It was about remembering.
Chapter 4:
Lies Between Us
The hallway seemed to pulse with every heartbeat, every whisper, every lie they’d ever told. The walls themselves felt like they were watching.
Eli stumbled out of his room, holding the photograph tight against his chest. Ash followed, silent for once, his usual bravado gone. Rowan trailed behind, jaw tight. Juno’s eyes were red, streaked with tears, and Cam—Cam simply observed, notebook clutched as though it were a shield.
“We can’t keep pretending this is normal,” Eli said. His voice shook. “We’re all… hiding something. And it’s making this place react.”
Ash’s fists clenched. “I don’t hide anything. I’m fine.”
“Don’t lie to yourself,” Eli snapped. The words hurt him as much as Ash. “We all have secrets. This… this place—it’s showing us. Forcing us to face them.”
Rowan’s voice was low, bitter. “I know what it’s going to say about me.”
Juno flinched. “Rowan—”
“No. Let me.” Rowan stepped forward. “I… I left someone behind. I thought they’d be fine. I thought I could forget. But I didn’t. I lied. To everyone. Especially to myself.”
The air thickened. The floor beneath their feet seemed to pulse. The silver bands glowed faintly, reacting to the confession. The walls whispered.
Cam finally spoke. “It’s not just about us individually. It’s about the lies between us. The things we didn’t say. The things we did say.”
Eli’s chest tightened. He thought of Ash. Of the photograph. Of every lie he’d buried.
“I lied to you,” Eli said, finally, voice low. “I lied about… everything. About how I felt. About what happened at the lake.”
Ash’s eyes widened. “You… what?”
Juno put a hand on Eli’s shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said, though her own voice trembled. “We’re all… guilty. That’s why we’re here. That’s why this is happening.”
The facility responded almost immediately. A low rumble ran through the walls. The lights flickered. A door at the far end of the hallway slammed open with a metallic clang, revealing… another hallway, twisting and unfamiliar.
The countdown had moved: 62:48:07
Rowan swallowed hard. “If we don’t face it… if we don’t tell the truth… what happens?”
Cam didn’t answer. But the bands pulsed red.
One by one, they realized the truth: if they didn’t confess—if they didn’t face the secrets—they couldn’t survive this place.
Chapter 5:
Countdown
The new hallway stretched like a living thing. The doors behind them vanished, replaced by an endless corridor of white, twisting and reshaping with every step.
Eli’s pulse thundered. The photograph burned in his mind. The lies, the guilt—they were all catching up.
Juno stumbled, gasping as the floor beneath her shivered. “The water… it’s rising,” she whispered.
Ash’s mirror-room memory still haunted him—the fragments of his face multiplying endlessly. He ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t… I can’t keep pretending I’m fine.”
Rowan’s scars, literal and invisible, burned as the hallway twisted. “I abandoned them. I abandoned them, and now…”
Cam’s voice cut through the chaos. “We’re almost out of time. The countdown isn’t just a timer. It’s a limiter. It’s testing our ability to remember. To admit. To survive.”
Eli looked at the digital clock above: 59:37:21. Less than an hour had passed in what felt like a lifetime.
“We have to go,” he said, voice tight. “We have to face the rooms. Face ourselves. Together.”
They moved forward as a group, shoulders tense, eyes darting to every flicker of the walls. Each step felt heavier. Each heartbeat louder.
One final room appeared at the end of the corridor, larger than the others, its door unmarked, glowing faintly red.
Ash glanced at Eli. “This… is it. Whatever happens, happens here.”
Rowan’s hands shook. “Are we ready to remember?”
Juno swallowed hard. “We have to. Or…” Her voice trailed, fear plain in her eyes.
Cam stepped forward first, hand on the doorknob. “Or we fail.”
The door swung open.
Inside, everything converged—memories, lies, truths. The lake. The party. The accident. The person they lost. The choices they made. The secrets they buried.
Eli felt it all—shame, love, guilt, fear—and finally understood: they weren’t just trapped in a building. They were trapped in themselves.
The countdown ticked on, relentless: 58:59:48
And the facility whispered, almost gently:
“Remember. Or be lost.”
Chapter 6:
Falling Apart
The final room left them breathless. Memories crashed into their minds like waves. The lake. The laughter. The screams. The person they had lost. They all remembered differently—but the truth was clawing through.
Eli’s hands shook as he gripped Ash’s arm. “We… we all remember it differently. But… it’s all us. Our fault.”
Rowan staggered against the wall. “I tried to save them. I really tried. And I failed. I lied about it. I told everyone I was fine, I told myself I was fine… but I wasn’t.”
Juno whispered, voice breaking. “I didn’t stop them. I… I should have.”
Ash’s jaw tightened. “I hit them. I thought… I thought it would make it easier. I was scared.”
Cam remained calm, scribbling rapidly in their journal. “All of you—your lies, your guilt—it’s feeding the facility. It wants us to break, to fail.”
The walls pulsed red. The air thickened. Eli looked at the clock: 46:12:03. The countdown was no longer just a number—it was a weight pressing down on their chests.
They were falling apart.
Chapter 7:
The Truth Between Us
They regrouped in the hallway. Every confession, every truth shared, made the walls shift, the lights flicker. Each step was harder, heavier.
“We can’t do this alone,” Juno said, taking Rowan’s hand, then Ash’s, then Eli’s. Cam hesitated but eventually reached out as well.
Eli looked at each of them. “We need each other. We’ve been hiding from ourselves—and each other—for too long. If we don’t face it together… we won’t make it.”
Rowan nodded, gripping Eli’s shoulder. “Then let’s end it. Whatever happens, happens. No more lies.”
The facility seemed to react. The corridor straightened. The walls lost their pulsating threat, settling into normalcy—but the air was electric, tense, expectant.
Cam flipped a page in the journal. “The final door. The one at the end. Whoever opens it first… chooses for all of us.”
Eli swallowed hard. “Then we all go. Together.”
Chapter 8:
The Final Room
The door loomed before them—larger than the others, glowing faint red. Eli’s heart pounded. They could hear whispers—their own memories echoing, accusing, pleading, blaming.
Ash stepped forward. “You go first, nerd,” he muttered, though the humor was hollow.
“No. We go together,” Eli said firmly.
They linked hands. Rowan, Juno, Ash, Cam, Eli. One step forward.
Inside, everything came at once: the lake, the accident, the night they tried to erase, the guilt, the lies, the love, the fear. Each memory was a blade, cutting, burning, reshaping who they were.
And then—the truth.
They hadn’t been kidnapped. They had volunteered. The facility was designed to restore memory to those who had suppressed trauma. The countdown measured mental endurance: too many lies, too much denial, and the simulation would consume them entirely.
The accident at the lake. One of them had died. They had all agreed to forget. The facility’s test was forcing them to face the truth.
Eli gasped. “We… we were never… here. We chose this… to survive ourselves.”
Juno whispered, tears streaming. “And we lied… even to each other.”
Chapter 9:
Choice
The room split into five platforms, glowing softly. A voice—familiar and calm—echoed:
“Remember and awaken… or stay and forget.”
They had a choice. To wake up, remember everything, and live with the guilt and love and pain. Or remain in the simulation, erase their memories again, safe but incomplete.
Eli looked at Ash. At Rowan. At Juno. At Cam. “We face it. All of it. Together. We survive ourselves.”
One by one, they stepped forward. The platforms glowed brighter. Memories solidified—not perfect, but real. The lake. The accident. The truth. The person they lost.
Cam hesitated, then smiled faintly. “It’s time.”
They all activated the choice.
Chapter 10:
We Remember
They awoke on a bench by the lake. The sun was rising. The water shimmered, peaceful, untouched. They were whole—but changed.
Eli reached out and held Ash’s hand. “I… love you,” he whispered.
Ash squeezed back, a shaky smile. “I know. And I… love you too.”
Rowan looked down at the water, breathing deeply. “We remember. Everything.”
Juno nodded, holding their hands together. “And now… we heal.”
Cam opened their journal, now empty, and closed it with a satisfied snap. “We’ll never forget.”
On the bench, five names were carved—one of them crossed out, marked by the life they had lost. A single flower rested beneath it.
And as the wind whispered through the trees, the five of them smiled, knowing:
They had faced the truth. Together. And even if the world forgot, they would always remember.