't sleep t

apartment pulsed around him, silent but awake - the pipes breathed softly, the walls ticked like a he

from his father's drawer st

d que

is cursed building,

-

e, but the

rds. James dressed in silence, his movements mechanical. He had lost time - ho

he door to

ise, someone

ing a faded Ankara head wrap and mismatched house slippers.

d more li

e?" she asked w

nodded

ttered, "Another 3

rned and walked away, beckoni

d her down

-

this time. There was another hallway, previously hidden beh

wooden door with a single

knocked th

e, the door

moke hung in the air. Four people sat in a circle on cushions - three men and on

hut the door behind him an

linched at

with tribal marks on his cheeks - leane

emory Room. My drawe

cled the roo

've lived in this building for twenty-three years. Every

. "So you all know

know what it is, but we know what it does. It eats pe

world and... something beneath it. Something that feeds on identity. The more peopl

ed to Jam

doesn't

ard. "Then why ar

m fell

Because every one of us

his brow. "What

y son. I can't remember his name. Or the way he laughed. But the b

sn't voluntary, but it happened. I don't see the

the floor was ti

g," he said, voice shaking

There is no out. Only trade. Blood

dn't

at followed scream

-

ock echoed through

shar

ne sti

nd opened a small

voice floa

nside? The

blood

w that

layful.

e brother

ago. Hit by a drunk driver. Bu

ed forward,

hat's not your brother. The building knows w

outside

ome to my grave, James? Wh

enched h

les flickered. The incense curled u

tside turned deep

James. You've al

o turn - though

dle flames

hts in Room

hts wer

ing. The temperature plummeted. Candles that once glowed red now f

andle twis

it, his breath a thick

sharp and desperate. "That voice is not your brother. I

of the door, Daniel'

come a guttural, gurgling chant - like m

h me like before... don't you miss the

a b

andprint appear

one f

ng. Another

l child. The fingers were wrong - jointless

the group, muttering incantations under his breath. Jame

Daniel's voi

bury me in the dark. I was cold

ears. "I wanted to.

man with dreadlocks. "That's how

s. "But it knows things. It said

ng doesn't lie - it remixes. It bleeds the tr

ed, wood bending inward like som

e wall whispered, "

"It never does. Not until some

Elder Musa. "Wha

grim. "It means

utside, the voic

n't open the door... then

ling - as though nails or claws were

to drip from the ceil

beside James with a sic

humanoid shape, faceless and dripping. I

new

d, "Stay in

met the salt line, it shrieked and stumbled

o eyes, no mouth -

e in Daniel's vo

. So I'll wait. I'll wait in the walls. And wh

floor, vanishing

stopped

ight flickered o

ss ret

ce re

was James's t

-

new candles. Elder Musa sa

en chosen,

" James w

it. Room 3B is its heart. Its anchor. An

his fists. "Wha

feel so guilty, so broken, so hollow, that you offe

nto the candle

already fractured when you moved in. The building doesn't brea

was

Daniel's voic

ft me a

his eyes a

to give it anyt

ne s

et stronger, fast. Because it will come

-

n 3B, the apart

turned the lock, and

sted, leaning at angles they hadn't leaned yesterday. A new grave h

t it in h

ad already

ng was just ge

didn't

t 3B, staring at the orb he'd taken from the memory drawer. Its glow had dimmed

- not peaceful, but expectant, l

nd began writing - anyt

on the far wall ca

it hadn't been there before. And now, it pul

lowly and ap

h tearing open in plaster. From inside, something fell out - a fol

ded it c

was shaky, but

-

er comes a

this, then 3B ha

muel. I lived

dead wife sing to me from the bathtub. I found a

way out. A f

hey're too afraid. But I found an old f

by bone nails. Break the seal, and you'll descend into the

re... if you can offer it something it

be w

epared, you won't c

-

the note

it had nev

uld tha

the orb again. It flickered once - brighte

on memory" was... it wa

n the build

-

mes returned to the ba

terror - not a single one was willing to step nea

had made u

like a dying star. Dust hung thick in the air. The furnace sat hulkin

d - a trapdoor, flush with the floor, almost invisible. Four twi

e n

hesi

s words: "There is

e making trade

ne. They creaked and shuddered like they didn't want to leave. One of them screa

snapped out wit

of cold air poured upward, heavy with t

he beam of his

staircase descending into b

the a

ipped the orb tight,

-

ike it hadn't been

er. Time slowed. O

t like forever, Jame

living room.

familiar in

The burnt edges of an ol

his child

could

forward, he

he sa

mo

orite chair, knitt

not looking up. "Come si

not real. You died five

up at him -

s too wide. Her

etween hers and something deeper. "I remember how you cried

backed

s began

er peeled into symbols. The orb in h

usion d

eletal, its flesh a patchwork of faces from his

said, tilting its head. "You, who still bl

round. "I came h

"Then give me someth

idn't h

sed hi

ered, "Fo

tity f

ha

I forgive myself. For Daniel. For my mother. F

om scr

ieking in agony. The ground shook. Walls crac

rs as the entity wailed behind him, shr

-

ement, the furnace exploded

lding g

p in the conc

th

le

-