Episode 47 — Died for a Moment

Episode 47 — Died for a Moment
“What does this message mean?”
“Is it a warning… or an invitation?”
Rae whispered softly, her voice fading into the quiet living room.
Her hand was still holding the old memo she had found earlier in her jacket pocket. The paper felt slightly damp and smelled musty, like it had been hidden for too long in some forgotten place.
She turned it over. Nothing on the back. Just fold lines and a small ink spot in the corner, maybe from a leaking marker.
She lifted the jacket again and checked every part. The inner pocket. The collar. The seams. Nothing. No other clues, no initials, no time, no symbol.
“There’s nothing else… Just this memo. Who put it here, really?”
She looked at the note once more.
'Don’t get too comfortable. This house has more than one door.'
She paused. Trying to imagine what kind of door it meant.
“Whoever gave this… it must be important. And maybe something Kenny doesn’t want me to find out. I’ll try to figure it out…”

Night fell quickly....
Outside the window, rain began to fall, heavy and random, like nails thrown onto metal. The wind moved the curtains slightly, casting shapes on the wall like hands trying to take form.
Rae sat at the edge of her bed. The memo now rested on the small table beside the reading lamp. But her eyes kept going back to it.
'More than one door… ' she whispered.
She couldn’t sleep. Her eyes were still open when the clock showed two in the morning. The rain hadn’t stopped, and the air felt more humid. Outside, lightning flashed. For a second, everything went white.
And then......
Click.
Darkness.
The lights went out. Not just in her room, but the whole house. The sound of the AC stopped. The alarm system was silent. Complete stillness.
Rae stood up quickly. Her hand reached for the table, grabbed her phone, and turned on the flashlight.
“What now?” she muttered.
She stood at her bedroom door. The phone’s light lit up the hallway. No one was there. No footsteps. Only her own heartbeat, pounding too loud in her ears.
And then she remembered.
The memo.
'This house has more than one door.'

With slow steps, she went downstairs.
The wooden stairs creaked quietly under her feet. The phone’s light danced along the walls. Every room looked dead. No emergency lights. No sound from the kitchen or the working room. As if the whole house was holding its breath.
But at the end of the hallway, one thing was different.
A small door in the corner, the one that had always been locked and never questioned, was now slightly open.
The flashlight caught the narrow gap.
Rae swallowed hard. Her hands were starting to feel cold. But she stepped closer. Slowly. No sound came from behind the door. No movement.
“Is this the door the memo meant?”
With shaking fingers, she pushed the door open a little more.
Behind it… was a staircase.
Leading down....
A narrow, old wooden staircase. The air coming from below was damp and cold, like the air from a place that had been buried for a long time. The smell of rusty metal and old dust filled her nose.
She pointed the light down. The stairs kept going, maybe five or six meters, before ending in a space she couldn’t see yet.
“If I go down… I don’t know what I’ll find. But I want to know,” she whispered.
And finally, her feet began to move.

The stairs creaked under her weight. The narrow walls brushed against her shoulders. Below, the room slowly came into view.
A small emergency light glowed dimly in the corner. Just enough to show what was inside, and what Rae saw made her blood feel like it was flowing in the wrong direction.
“Wh… What is this?”
A plain concrete room. A metal table in the middle, cold and clean, but with signs that it had been used before. In one corner, there was a dusty wooden shelf.
On the wall, old marks from chains that used to hang there, rusty metal, darkened with age. A worn rope hung from a nail. The floor had faded stains, but the shapes were still clear.
Bloodstains…
Rae stepped closer. Her fingers touched the floor.
Cold. And dry. But real.
“This place… who has been brought here?” she whispered.
She didn’t dare to imagine.
“He is… really a monster.”

The emergency light began to flicker. Rae looked up, her breath fast and shallow. No sounds around her, but her chest felt tight.
And then..... 
the main lights came back on.
In a flash, the whole room lit up.
Rae closed her eyes for a second from the brightness. When she opened them again, she turned around…
At the top of the stairs, someone was there.
A figure. Standing still. Not moving.
The face couldn’t be seen. The light behind him turned him into a long, dark shadow. heavy and silent.
“Who's that…?”
The figure didn’t reply.
And in just a few seconds, it was gone.
Only an empty hallway remained.
Rae gasped. Panic rushed into her chest. She ran up the stairs, almost slipping near the top, and slammed the door shut with both hands.
Click....
She locked it from the outside.
Then she stepped back, breathing hard.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the door, like it could open again at any second. But no sound came. No movement.
She was alone again.
Or at least… that’s what she wanted to believe.

Rae went back to her room, but peace didn’t follow her....
She closed the door and leaned against it. Her hands held the memo again, like it was the only proof she wasn’t imagining things.
She sat on the edge of the bed, her body still tense.
“So this is what it meant… more than one door?” she said softly, almost like a prayer.
Her thoughts spun.
How many other doors were in this house? How many could she see? And how many were made to stay hidden?
And more than that, who knew about them? Who controlled them? Who was still living inside the shadows?
She had no answers. But now, she had one thing: 
A fear that finally had a shape.

The next morning, the sky looked brighter than usual.
Rae walked downstairs, her steps still unsure. The smell of coffee came first, and when she entered the dining room…
Kenny was already there.
Neat. Cold. Calm. Wearing a clean white shirt and a silver watch. In his hand was a thin book, and in front of him, a cup of tea still letting out steam.
He didn’t turn to look at her. He just spoke in a soft, almost casual voice,
“If you’re still bored… you may come with me to the library. I need something to read. Something two people can pick together.”
Rae stood in the doorway. She didn’t answer right away.
She looked at Kenny’s back. At the table. At everything that now looked too normal, too perfect, after a night that nearly broke her mind.
And in her head, her own voice whispered:
'Last night… this house showed me its darkest side. But today, he invites me to read. Is this a trap? Or… an escape in disguise? This man is completely unpredictable.'
She gave a small nod.
And without saying a word, she walked toward the door.

To be continued…