When the wall creaked open, a horrifying stench of blood, rust, and thick sweat slammed into them. For a few heavy seconds, silence hung in the air before Jayden cautiously stepped forward. Rhea followed him, her eyes scanning every shadowed corner as if the darkness might slap her soul into submission.
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The next room looked like a demonic laboratory steel tables, surgical tools, and bizarre photographs plastered on the walls. Some were graphic images of the human anatomy; others showed the disfigured faces of tortured individuals... but the worst ones were photographs of them, taken while they were asleep long before they ever arrived in this place.
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Jayden touched one of the pictures. It was of him, sleeping on the couch in his old apartment. He had never given that photo to anyone.
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"This person knows us," Jayden said, turning to Rhea. "Knows everything about us... before we even got here."
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Before they could speak further, a voice echoed again through the speaker system. This time it was different. Not calm like before but intelligent, smooth, and sinister. The kind of voice that delighted more in psychological torment than physical pain:
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"Everyone hides something. Some have lied. Some have killed. Some forgave those who deserved punishment. But all of you... owe a debt. And this is where debts are collected."
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Then two new doors hissed open one to the left, the other to the right. Each marked with chilling words:
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Left: "Judgment of the Heart"
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Right: "Judgment of the Mind"
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Rhea looked at Jayden. "What does it mean?"
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Jayden didn't answer. He moved toward the door on the right, slowly pushing it open. As soon as they stepped through, the door slammed shut behind them with a bone-jarring thud.
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Inside was a long corridor lined with massive glass panels but these were not ordinary mirrors. They acted like cinemas, projecting scenes from their past lives.
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Jayden saw himself at work, investigating the murder of his girlfriend. Over and over, the footage painted suspicion around him conflicting witness testimonies, lost evidence, and then... the infamous leaked video showing him near her body just minutes before the police arrived.
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"It's not true..." he whispered. But the screens didn't care they pressed on.
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Then he remembered. A detail he had buried deep. That night... he didn't kill her. But he saw the killer leaving and he said nothing.
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On the other side of the corridor, Rhea trembled. She was watching a memory of a teenage boy who once begged for her help. He claimed he wasn't a drug dealer, but had been framed. Rhea, lured by a fat paycheck, chose to work with the prosecution to ensure the boy would be sentenced to at least twenty years.
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The camera zoomed in on the boy's face-anguish, tears... then death. He died behind bars, broken by the system.
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"I knew... I knew, but I took the money," Rhea murmured, tears spilling from her eyes.
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Suddenly, the voice returned:
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"Truth weighs heavier than blood. Now, it is time to pay. Jayden, you are given a choice. One person in the next chamber can be saved. But saving one... means one must die. Either someone who deserves a second chance... or someone meant to rot in a prison of their own sins."
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A glass window slid open. Inside were three unconscious individuals strapped to metal beds, each hooked to a lethal injection system.
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Jayden stepped forward, recognizing one of them. Marcus his former colleague. The man who once risked everything to shelter Jayden during the fallout. Marcus had been arrested months ago for destroying government documents to protect Jayden.
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Jayden's hands shook.
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"Choose," the voice demanded. "But every choice has a cost."
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In seconds, Jayden stood at the edge of an impossible decision. A maze of guilt and duty twisted within him, deep as roots in a bleeding heart. Everyone has shadows. Everyone carries invisible scars.
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He closed his eyes.
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He grabbed the scalpel from the tray.
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And then... he sliced the tube feeding poison into Marcus.
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Alarms blared. The doors flew open. Jayden and Rhea sprinted into the shadows of the next chamber.
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But as they ran, a hidden camera zoomed in on Marcus's face. He was awake. And he was smiling softly, calmly as if this had been his plan all along.
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From the darkness, that same cold, brilliant voice returned this time like a whisper laced with knives:
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"Round two is complete. Well played, Jayden. But remember... sometimes the one you save... is the one who ends you."
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Jayden's eyes flickered with something new: doubt.
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He no longer knew if he was playing a game... or trapped inside a war of minds with someone who knew him better than he knew himself.
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To be continued......... 🔥🔥
