Chapter 44
Chapter 44 (Eleanor’s POV)
I couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation I overheard.
Mr. Reed. The boy in my Chemistry class.
They were close. Too close. Someone in my life was working with them.
I didn’t trust anyone anymore.
My footsteps echoed through the quiet halls of the school as I walked to my locker, trying to force myself to focus on something, anything, other than what I had just heard.
I felt the weight of the file in my bag again, heavy and suffocating. Inside that file was proof of everything. Proof of what they had done to me. Proof of what they had done to Alex.
But it wasn’t enough. Not anymore.
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I needed to find Alex.
The article I had read earlier, the one about him missing a key meeting, it was still buzzing in my mind. The rumors about his health. The rumors about his memory.
If he was remembering anything, even for a second, he could be in danger. If he was feeling something, anything that connected us, then they would come for him too.
I couldn’t let that happen.
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I grabbed my things from my locker and stuffed them in my backpack without thinking. I barely registered the voices around me, the normal hustle of students heading to class, chatting about their day.
The world felt so far away. So distant.
I couldn’t be here anymore. Not with everything that was at stake.
I glanced at Lena, who was walking down the hall toward me, her expression unreadable. She paused when she saw me, frowning slightly.
“Hey, Nell. You look…” She trailed off, clearly unsure of what to say.
“I’m fine,” I muttered quickly, trying to sound convincing.
Her eyes searched mine, but I quickly looked away, not wanting to lie to her again. She was too sharp. Too close. She would see through me if I wasn’t careful.
“You sure?” Lena asked, her voice soft.
I nodded, my jaw clenched. “Yeah, just tired.”
She didn’t push it. Instead, she nodded, but her eyes lingered on me, a silent question in them.
“Talk later?” she asked, her tone light but knowing.
I managed a weak smile. “Yeah. Promise.”
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I walked away quickly, feeling the weight of her gaze on my back. The last thing I wanted was to pull Lena deeper into this mess. She didn’t deserve to be dragged into my world, into this nightmare.
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I made my way to the nearest bus stop, feeling the chill of the early evening creeping into my bones. The sun was setting behind me, casting long shadows across the streets. It should’ve been comforting, familiar, but it wasn’t. It felt like everything had changed, like everything was slipping away.
The bus ride felt endless, every stop dragging me further from my old life and closer to something unknown.
When I got off, I immediately headed in the direction of the coordinates from the file.
My heart pounded in my chest as I turned down the dimly lit street toward an abandoned building on the outskirts of town. The hospital.
It was everything the paper had described. Old, forgotten, its windows cracked and boarded up. It looked like a place that had been abandoned for years. The perfect place to hide something. Someone.
I glanced over my shoulder, but there was no one following me. Yet.
I hesitated for a second, heart racing. But there was no turning back.
I walked up to the entrance, a rusted door half-hanging off its hinges.
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I pushed it open, the creak of the door sounding loud in the quiet. My hands shook slightly as I stepped inside. The air was stale, musty. The smell of damp wood and old medicine filled my nose.
I pulled the hood of my sweatshirt over my head, feeling exposed in the silence.
The hallway ahead was dark, with only the faintest slivers of light peeking through cracked windows.
I walked slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible, my footsteps muffled by the worn linoleum floor.
I passed old offices, rooms with broken windows, doors hanging off their hinges, and dark hallways that seemed to stretch forever.
Each creak of the building made my heart race.
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I reached a small storage room, and I carefully pried the door open. Inside, there was nothing but boxes, some old equipment, and dust. It looked like no one had been here in years. But I wasn’t looking for evidence of recent activity. I was looking for answers.
I dug through a few boxes, finding nothing but old files and medical charts that seemed to have no relevance. But when I reached into the back of a corner cabinet, something caught my eye.
It was a folder, tucked under a stack of old papers. I pulled it out carefully, my fingers trembling as I opened it.
It was mostly the same: medical reports, test results, and notes that didn’t make any sense to me. But as I flipped through the pages, something caught my eye.
A familiar name.
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Alex Carter.
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My breath caught in my throat.
The name on the page was in the same handwriting as the file I had found at the library, but these were different documents, older. The reports outlined his case, the experiment he had been a part of, his memories being manipulated, wiped, and altered.
I continued flipping through the file until I found something that made my blood run cold.
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It was a list of names.
Names of people involved in the experiment.
And there, at the very bottom, was one name that made my stomach drop.
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Nathan Reed.
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The same name that had come up in the conversation I overheard at school.
My blood ran cold.
They were involved in everything. They had been in control of Alex, of me, of everything.
I closed the folder quickly, my hands shaking.
I needed to get out of here.
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But as I turned to leave, I heard something.
Footsteps.
Heavy, deliberate footsteps echoing down the hall toward me.
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I froze.
The sound was getting closer.
I ducked behind a stack of crates, pressing myself into the shadows, praying they wouldn’t see me.
I held my breath as the footsteps drew near. Two men. Their voices muffled, but they were talking.
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“This is where she was headed,” one of them said, his voice low and dangerous.
“Reed said she’d come,” the other replied.
I didn’t breathe. I didn’t move. I barely dared to blink.
They stopped just a few feet away from where I was hiding.
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My heart pounded in my ears.
I wasn’t just hiding anymore.
I was trapped.
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The men exchanged a few more words before one of them said, “She’s close. Keep your eyes open.”
I heard their footsteps retreating, but I stayed where I was, waiting until the silence swallowed the sounds of their shoes on the concrete.
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When I finally felt it was safe, I slowly crept out from my hiding place, heart still racing.
I had to get out.
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But just as I turned to leave, I heard the door creak open.
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I wasn’t alone anymore.