Beyond The Barrier - THE EMPTY APARTMENT

67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbnIF330HR1

67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3cMIETKfm

The city no longer sounded alive.

Sirens echoed somewhere in the distance.

Military helicopters circled above the skyline, disappearing behind the shimmering blue barrier before reappearing moments later.

Every television inside every shop displayed the same emergency broadcast.

GLOBAL EMERGENCY DECLARED

ALL CITIZENS ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN CALM

Nobody looked calm.

People crowded supermarkets, filling trolleys with bottled water and canned food. Parents held their children a little tighter. Streets that had once been filled with laughter now buzzed with whispered conversations.

Everyone wanted answers.

Nobody had any.

Amara barely noticed any of it.

Her feet carried her automatically through familiar streets.

She wasn't going home.

She was going to Ivana's apartment.

The apartment building stood exactly where it always had.

A six-storey brick building with climbing ivy covering one corner and a tiny bakery across the road.

The smell of fresh bread drifted through the cool afternoon air.

Everything looked...

Normal.

Too normal.

Amara climbed the stairs two at a time.

Apartment 406.

She didn't bother knocking.

Ivana always forgot to lock the door.

She reached beneath the flowerpot beside the entrance.

The spare key.

Exactly where Ivana always hid it.

A tiny smile appeared.

"See?"

she whispered to herself.

"I knew I wasn't imagining things."

The key slid into the lock.

Click.

She pushed the door open.

"...Ivana?"

Silence.

The apartment was spotless.

Almost...

too spotless.

She stepped inside.

Something felt wrong immediately.

Not because anything was broken.

Because something was...

missing.

She couldn't explain it.

Her eyes swept across the living room.

Grey couch.

Bookshelf.

Television.

Coffee table.

Everything looked exactly as she remembered.

Yet somehow...

it didn't.

She walked toward the kitchen.

Two mugs sat beside the sink.

One white.

One blue.

The blue one belonged to Ivana.

She smiled.

"There you are."

She picked it up.

Then froze.

The mug was brand new.

No tiny chip near the handle.

No faded sticker on the bottom that Ivana had been too lazy to peel off.

It wasn't Ivana's mug.

It was just...

a blue mug.

Amara slowly placed it back down.

"Okay..."

Her voice sounded smaller now.

"This is getting weird."

She hurried toward the bedroom.

Only one bedroom.

She stopped in the doorway.

"No..."

The apartment had always had two bedrooms.

Hadn't it?

One for Ivana

One guest room that had slowly become a storage room.

She remembered helping Ivana paint the walls.

She remembered complaining about how crooked Ivana hung her curtains.

She remembered—

Her thoughts stumbled.

The room before her wasn't Ivana's.

It was an office.

A neat desk.

A computer.

Books lined perfectly on floating shelves.

No bed.

No wardrobe.

No photographs.

Nothing.

"No..."

She whispered again.

"This isn't right."

She searched anyway.

Drawer after drawer.

Cupboard after cupboard.

Nothing.

Not one photograph.

Not one hairbrush.

Not one pair of shoes.

Not one jacket.

Nothing.

It was as though nobody had ever lived there.

Amara sank onto the floor.

Her breathing became uneven.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Think."

"Come on..."

"Think."

Ivana loved leaving her socks everywhere.

She hated mushrooms.

She laughed too loudly at terrible jokes.

She—

The memories came.

Clear.

Sharp.

Real.

They were real.

She knew they were.

So why...

Why couldn't she prove even one of them?

Something creaked behind her.

Amara spun around.

Nobody.

Just the apartment settling.

She let out a slow breath.

Then...

A faint electronic chime echoed from somewhere nearby.

Beep.

She frowned.

Again.

Beep.

The sound came from the office desk.

She walked over carefully.

The computer was asleep.

No...

Not asleep.

Waiting.

Its screen suddenly lit up.

Black.

Then white letters slowly appeared.

WELCOME BACK.

Amara frowned.

"What?"

The words disappeared.

Another sentence replaced them.

YOU SHOULD HAVE STOPPED SEARCHING.

Every hair on her arms stood up.

"...Who's there?"

No answer.

Instead...

The cursor began typing by itself.

One letter at a time.

Slowly.

As though someone wanted her to read every word.

SHE IS SAFE.

Amara's heart pounded.

"Ivana?"

Another pause.

Then—

LEAVE HER WHERE SHE BELONGS.

The screen went black.

The room fell silent.

Amara stared at the reflection in the monitor.

She wasn't alone anymore.

Behind her...

Someone was standing in the doorway.

She spun around.

Nothing.

The hallway was empty.

Her pulse hammered inside her ears.

She looked back at the computer.

Dead.

No power.

The monitor wasn't even plugged into the wall.

Outside the apartment...

High above the city...

A surveillance drone hovered silently.

Its camera remained fixed on Apartment 406.

A small green light blinked once.

Then twice.

Far beyond the glowing barrier...

Inside a room where no human had ever been allowed to enter...

Hundreds of monitors flickered to life.

One screen showed Amara standing inside the apartment.

Another showed the police station.

Another showed the crowded streets.

A final screen displayed a single word beside Amara's name.

REMEMBERS.

Then, without warning...

The word changed.

PRIORITY.

67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9CFWq55ZX4

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