"Do you remember when we exchanged our vows? We promised to love each other no matter what... It was a magnificent day, the best of all I've ever lived. I hope that, in our new home, we can keep creating beautiful memories, darling. Hahaha."
—Serena...
My eyelids slowly opened, pulling me out of the first dream I've had in a very long time.
—I still can't remember many things, but I'm sure of one thing. Serena is involved, and I need to find her.
I pulled myself away from the softness of my bed. Wandering through the apartment until I reached the front door...
—Forty-nine marks...
I looked through the peephole. Nothing.
I walked through my apartment. Nothing.
I was looking for something, but it was impossible for me to know what. I wasn't thinking. I was only moving, following the echoes of silence.
—The hole...
A thought, the only one I had. With every step, the apartment became less real in my eyes, until everything ended in front of the hole in the bathroom.
Every time I see it again, it's bigger and perfectly circular. However, now there was a difference. It was no longer impossible to see the other side.
Perfectly visible. A room rested at the end of the tunnel. Dimly dark...
Without thinking, I stepped inside, advancing until I reached that room. Faint traces of darkness. The hole faced a wall, and on the other two sides were stairs leading up to an open door from which rays of light spilled.
On the wall opposite the hole was a closed door. I turned back to look through the hole at my bathroom, but what I saw...
A completely black male figure moving violently, from right to left. From one extreme to the other, from top to bottom. With every movement it emitted the sound of a caw and a thud...
Its appearance changed brutally with every motion—the black bird with a smile, and the indescribable man, shapeless, faceless, nothing but a silhouette.
—No...
The creature began to contort grotesquely. The hole started collapsing in on itself, sealing the tunnel.
Leaving me trapped.
—No way out.
I was forced to explore, realizing at that moment that I still had all my belongings with me. The flashlight, the gun...
I illuminated the room and checked the closed door, hoping to find an exit, but there was nothing. A wall. A door leading nowhere, only a damned wall.
I climbed the stairs to inspect the source of light, and found a hallway. Bright, illuminated—it was a house.
—I was in the basement...
I continued down the short hallway. It turned at a corner with a door at the end. The house was L-shaped. And from what I could tell... it had a second floor. On the first floor, seven doors lined the corridor, not counting the one at the end and the one I had come through.
—It's a very beautiful and bright home.
It was modern, minimalist, cozy.
But empty...
—Hello?!
My shouts went unheard. No one answered, no one replied. It was clearly like the other places I had explored before.
But it felt different. Familiar.
—I have to remember...
I opened the doors one by one as they appeared before me. A calm, ordinary kitchen. A normal bathroom. Two bedrooms, one with a double bed and the other empty... a locked door that wouldn't budge. A serene living room made for relaxing in harmony with tranquility. And the entrance of the sweet home.
—Warm...
A warm home where love and happiness could be felt in the air without effort. I went back to explore the house again. I didn't like the idea of leaving, but I had no other choice. A stranger in a house that wasn't his.
But the moment I crossed the exit, I ended up in a dimly dark room. It was very familiar... it was...
The basement.
—I walked through the exit. How did I end up back in the basement?
The same room, the hole completely blocked, the stairs, and the door behind me through which I had arrived now connected to a wall, with no path beyond it.
—No...
...
At that moment, the transmissions returned.
—Zzz
—Zzzzzzzzzz
—I missed you so much...
—Zzz
Now I recognize the voice. That serenity, warmth, tranquility—they weren't irrelevant.
They were Serena's feelings...
—I missed you too, darling...
Even if my mind couldn't remember, I... knew it perfectly.
Wherever you are, I'll find you.
It was then, while walking down the hallway, that I noticed one of the lights flickering, illuminating a piece of paper on the floor.
"Darling, if you're reading this, then I'm at work. It's been a long time since I wrote you a letter. It reminds me of our first years of dating—I still remember them. But I'm getting sidetracked. I just wanted to tell you I'm going to be late. Take care of yourself, darling. Remember that I loved you, I love you, and I will love you."
—A... letter...
I immediately put it away.
I checked all the doors again, but they were locked. Allowing only one path.
—The exit...
I crossed it.
Only to end up back in the basement.
...I examined the room. It was exactly the same. I walked the hallway; the doors remained locked. Except for the one that reset this path.
This journey was marked by an unsettling buzzing coming from behind me. Yet every time I turned around, there was no sign of any presence.
The buzzing never stopped.
At least, not until I crossed the final door... in the basement.
The same room.
The same hallway.
But this time, the buzzing was gone.
Instead, the lights began flickering violently until I crossed the final door.
The same basement.
The same hallways.
But this time, the bathroom was open...
I checked inside. There was nothing except a sink completely clogged and overflowing, where a...
Pregnancy test floated.
Negative...
—Shit...
The faster I could escape this place, the better.
I crossed the final door...
The same basement.
The hallway...
The bathroom open again.
The sink clogged and overflowing, but now with a positive pregnancy test.
I crossed the final door again.
I repeated the bathroom events over and over.
Negative...
Negative. Negative. Negative...
Positive...
!!!
At that instant, a noise echoed through the entire hallway.
What I found were the remains of a ceramic plate.
Now shattered, broken into pieces.
—Looks like it fell from the second floor.
The lights remained on, and there was no sign that anyone else was in the house.
I continued my usual route.
Another trip down the hallway, crossing the reset door.
But...
This time, the lights on the second floor had begun flickering...
Revealing a silhouette hidden in the darkness.
Or maybe I'm seeing things that aren't there...
Another loop.
The bathroom door was locked, but the kitchen door was now open.
A smell escaped from it and lodged itself in my nose.
Delicious...
A complete dinner sat there, two plates placed side by side.
I knew perfectly well that something was wrong. In this world, nothing is normal.
But my thoughts, my desires...
Longed to take a bite.
I brought a spoonful of the exquisite meal—a simple serving of rice with omurice—to my mouth.
However, the moment my tongue touched the food, I felt a change in texture.
Slimy.
Crunchy...
Fu-... Furry?
Movement!
Nausea surged through me.
I spat out whatever was in my mouth.
Frantically, I searched the floor.
There it was.
A cockroach crawling across the ground, trying to recover.
A single stomp was enough to crush it.
—Disgusting...
When I checked the rest of the dish, only dead cockroaches remained.
In both plates.
—Shit!
I crossed the final door of the hallway.
Another loop...
The same—...
It wasn't the same.
Something had changed...
The second-floor lights were still flickering, but above all else, the empty room was now open.
I entered.
Only to be watched.
On the walls, the ceiling, the floor—everywhere...
They were watching me.
Their pupils fixed on me.
Eyes everywhere.
Watching endlessly, without pause.
—Ahhh!
They judged me.
Their pupils tracked my movements in unison, all at once, perfectly coordinated.
I fled the room as fast as I could, only to find more.
Eyes.
Eyes everywhere.
In the hallway.
On the second floor.
In the darkness.
Endless.
—Leave me alone, damn it!
Noise. Buzzing. Chaos.
My head could no longer endure the stares, the noise, the eyes.
All watching.
All punishing...
My head felt like it was exploding.
The pain was unbearable.
With no other escape, I threw myself through the final door of the hallway, slamming into it with my whole body.
I ended up in the same basement as always...
Heavy breathing.
Panting...
—I need to get out soon.
I crossed the same hallway, now back to normal.
But with that damned buzzing that never stops.
I checked the doors.
All locked.
!
—Another plate...
I found the shattered pieces of that ceramic dish.
And there, on the second floor...
A dark silhouette.
It seemed feminine.
But hidden in the darkness, it wouldn't reveal its appearance.
It looked like it was smi... ling...
I quickened my pace to get as far away as possible and crossed the final door.
Another loop.
The same basement.
Once in the hallway, the master bedroom was open, inviting me inside.
I investigated from a distance.
I couldn't ignore it.
Two lumps beneath the sheets, lying on the double bed.
Motionless.
I approached slowly to avoid being caught off guard in case they were creatures.
But when I lifted the sheets...
Only flesh and blood lay there.
Fresh red meat...
Dried, rotten blood...
I backed away as quickly as possible and continued on my path.
The same buzzing.
It wouldn't stop.
It only grew louder...
All I could do was endure it and keep moving.
I crossed the final door.
Repeat the same route.
Without pause.
Without end.
But this time, a sound.
An open room.
That empty room.
Now it emitted a lullaby...
A normal lullaby.
—"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are."
I didn't dare enter.
I didn't have the strength.
I simply crossed the door.
I ended up in the bathroom.
Staring blankly at the sink.
There rested a ring.
The same one I found in my apartment...
—Darling...
I kept it.
When I raised my gaze and looked into the reflection, I could see myself perfectly.
And behind me...
A silhouette.
Smiling.
Emitting buzzing sounds.
I spun around immediately.
But nothing...
Only the bathroom wall.
No presence.
I left as quickly as possible and continued down the hallway.
But now all the doors were open.
Their number had increased drastically.
And so had the hallway's length.
I walked.
With every step, closer to the exit.
Every footfall, a memory.
The zoo...
The wedding...
The house...
My life.
My moments with her...
Our honeymoon...
Trips, moments, experiences together...
Together with her.
When I reached the end, standing before the door with my hand gripping the knob, a buzzing sounded behind me...
My lips hesitated.
But finally expressed what I had wanted to say ever since I remembered her.
—Forgive me for forgetting you... Serena.
At that moment, the buzzing stopped.
Ceased.
Vanished.
—I need to know what happened...
—I need to remember...
My hand tightened around the doorknob and turned it.
Opening the way to another loop or a new destination.
Dim. Simple.
A solitary tear fell to the floor after tracing its way down my face.
—I love you.
With that, I crossed the door.
A massive beam of light blinded me.
Leaving me vulnerable to whatever surrounded me.
I could only hear the sound of wheels trying to brake and an engine...
Then I felt an impact.
Across my entire body.
Metal striking something.
My body breaking apart.
In the end, the relentless noise of an ambulance arriving too late...
Was the last thing I experienced before losing consciousness...
...
…