the seal beneath the furna

bleed from the walls, didn't moan l

o

t wat

nce. Like something had slithered deepe

rned gray, as if even the sun was unsure of this place. Dust float

he sa

his

but unmistakably alive. They shimmered faintly, pulsing with every heartbeat.

plashing cold water on his face,

or refused t

lass showed an

Jam

e he should've been - a tall, hazy silhouette, its head b

d around, there

-

he stairs to the third floor hal

in this building, the tenants had to

ealed. Swallo

thickly nailed, chained, layered in salt

them - Apartme

sli

ock b

ut something dark and wet had been dra

s pa

e doorway pulsed

came from

what the bui

-

hed it

as no ap

lackened. But they didn't show James's reflection. In

om the eyes. In a third, held down by dozens of

ion moved independently -

nd of the hallway,

refoot, fac

hin. Hands clench

slowly. "Hey..

ld didn

oke with Danie

ere the building stores its mistakes. Places i

bile rise i

you?" he

hild

nose - only shifting shadows beneath skin, as if som

e voice p

s. You touched the root. But you d

black, slick with rot - an

rough the symbols. Throug

d away, hea

es it wa

, its form glitched, appearing and disappeari

ome its final tenant. The one who never

urched, and all the mir

rozen tears. Blood

the

o

lone in a hallway th

utside the sealed door of Apar

had nev

e, his hands

-

to Elder Mus

y the incinerator chute, tossi

usa said without lo

ed. "I saw something. I found a ha

over the flame.

it's b

of that sentence sin

ks you, it begins pulling your past out of you piece by piece, until you'

d at his bl

n his arms we

I do?"

ed into t

ou must remember something it can't consume. S

wned. "Li

et his

appiest

boxes and old notebooks. The room was dim, lit only by a flicker

s echoed li

thing the buildi

t

mories turned dark, as if something inside him -

ldhood journal, f

s, superheroes, trees, monsters. Pages stained wi

iel and I bu

I got my drawin

home dru

hat last

o

that

d someth

to the n

Mom and me. We ate oranges

. it flickere

ght

losed h

nly, he w

-

lass. Wind rustled through tall gras

s bare legs tucked under him, watching his

ne before the chemo, before the ho

id softly. "You're going to leave this to

rmth of that mome

e a bird," he whis

ed in and kisse

ing. When everything get

-

mory c

pened h

n the floor of

s no long

aked in shadow, tall and sti

ai

d like static on

didn't

ped forward, s

ut not in Daniel'

his mo

ve you. It's tainted. S

. And it was real. She believed in me.

d's head

ed, as if reje

hing, but not that day. You can feed on guilt, fear, shame

shuddered

g unnaturally. It opened a mouth that hadn't been

issed. "It was born in grief. It f

enched h

oo

-

though all the windows were shut. The walls

ls on James's arms

se - unwriting themselves

ild sc

eyes, the memory of the lake swelling larger, bright

en

le

up again, the

artment wa

y st

were no sounds from the walls. No whispers.

...

dn't dar

t

stepped to the mir

in days, it refle

. No stretched fi

a voice b

amiliar

und it, d

standing in the hallway, leani

s no

ryone who lives here finds one. A memory bright

t skipped. "

dangerous to it. The building knows it can't co

cold knot i

what

rd the floor. To

ing worse. If it can't devour you

ked every door and wi

given him in the corners, and sat in the center of the l

st

ged again ar

und. Not

he building exhaled something old. S

ir. The lightbulbs dimm

tst

dragging kind he

ere del

sur

ma

ing in his chest, and stepped in

his hand as it swep

tanding at the ed

houlders. Wearin

owly... and James dr

s him

omething that

James was older, gaunt, eyes hollowed and blac

his

t with t

ed back. "Wh

d a hand. Not in a th

wires pulled tighter. The s

hed into the pocket of his hood

rred aroun

it with s

artment, but darker. Rotten. Fungal growths on t

chair, eyes black, wh

at the figure. "Is th

lgänger n

d somethin

ht hand and tore

d. Just a crack li

in

ke

with runes that pulse

took it from the oth

losed around it, the dop

blown awa

ne final whisper crawled

es... must stay shut. If yo

n it wa

-

oor, the key still clutched

ust about the

aping destinies. Bending timelines. Pulling people into

lled

self," he sa

t respond

howed you what happ

he key. "I can'

to let you go. And right now, you're too int

at the phot

t becom

d. "If it showed you your future, then

went

ind of

e was heavy

l offer you peace. Power. A life outside these

silence

tightened a

al," he said. "I'l

ul, James. The building listens. And when it knows you won't

-

e call and sta

rd in a language he didn't rec

oo

his pillow that night and

, the hallway light

ice echoed throu

e basement wan