David did not return to his room after leaving the hall.
He stood in the hallway with his thoughts in disarray as the other participants' footsteps gradually faded behind their respective doors. Elena's name still hovered clearly in his mind. ELENA ARYANA. Engraved inside a stone bowl he had never even seen before this morning. It couldn't be a coincidence. Not after the ring had been found in front of his room. Not after Mara had said that not everyone came to Sanctuary for the first time.
David walked toward the reception desk. Mara was arranging several files on the wooden counter when she saw him approach.
“I want to speak with Adrian.”
Mara didn't look up.
“All participants will have their turn.”
“I don't want to wait.”
“David.”
“I want to speak with him now.”
Mara finally looked at him. There was no surprise on the woman's face. As if she had expected David to come.
“Then go upstairs to the second floor.”
David followed Mara's gaze. A wooden staircase stood at the end of the room.
“His room?”
“His office.”
“Is he expecting me?”
Mara was silent for a moment.
“I suppose so.”
The answer made David even more uncomfortable.
The second floor was quieter than the one below. There were no participants up there. The hallway stretched long, its walls covered with old photographs. David walked slowly, studying the pictures. Some showed groups of people sitting in a circle in the yard. Others showed the Sanctuary building across different years. The photographs looked old. Some had faded colors and yellowing edges.
Then David stopped.
One of the photographs showed a group of participants standing in front of the main building.
A year was written beneath the picture.
2014.
David studied their faces.
No one was smiling.
They were all wearing white.
Adrian stood in the middle of the row.
David moved closer.
Adrian looked the same age in the photograph as he did now.
Maybe a little younger.
David narrowed his eyes.
That was impossible.
He looked at the date again.
2014.
Fourteen years ago.
Adrian should have changed far more than that by now.
David was about to approach the photograph when a voice came from the end of the hallway.
“Interesting, isn't it?”
David turned.
Adrian stood in front of an open door.
“Come in.”
David didn't move right away.
Adrian smiled.
“If I wanted to hurt you, do you think I'd invite you into a room with the door open?”
David didn't answer.
He went inside.
Adrian's office was much simpler than he had imagined. There was no large desk or luxurious bookcase. Only a wooden table, two chairs, a tall cabinet, and a large window overlooking the forest.
Adrian pointed to a chair.
“Sit.”
David sat down.
Adrian picked up a teapot and poured tea into two cups.
“I don't drink.”
“I know.”
David looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“You don't drink coffee after six in the evening. You rarely drink tea, either.”
David felt his body tense.
“How do you know that?”
Adrian smiled.
“You wrote it on the form.”
David tried to remember the form he had filled out.
There had been questions about allergies, medications, sleeping habits, food, his treatment history, and several personal matters. Maybe there really had been a section about beverages.
But that didn't explain everything.
“The form didn't ask about my wife.”
Adrian's smile disappeared.
“That's true.”
“So how did you know?”
Adrian leaned back.
“Because you keep talking about her.”
“I've never talked to you about my wife.”
“Not directly.”
David stared at him sharply.
Adrian picked up a small book from the table.
“People always leave traces.”
He opened it to several pages.
“The way someone walks. The way they hold a glass. The way they avoid questions. The way they choose their words.”
David gave a short, humorless laugh.
“Are you a psychologist?”
“No.”
“A doctor?”
“No.”
“Then who are you?”
Adrian closed the book.
“Someone who once lost something very important.”
For the first time, David saw something in the man's eyes that didn't look like an act.
Grief.
Only for a fraction of a second.
Then it was gone.
“What did you lose?” David asked.
Adrian looked toward the window.
“Myself.”
The answer left David silent.
“Years ago, I came to a place like this,” Adrian continued. “I arrived with anger, guilt, and hatred. I thought the world had destroyed me. Then someone taught me that the world hadn't done anything. I was the one who kept holding on to the pieces.”
“And now you teach the same thing to other people?”
“No.”
Adrian looked at him.
“I teach something more important.”
“What?”
“How to let go.”
David didn't understand what he meant.
Adrian stood and walked to the bookcase. He took down a small wooden box.
“Everyone who comes here has something they can't let go of.”
He set the box on the table.
“Memories. Guilt. Anger. People who've left them.”
David looked at the box.
“And you can get rid of it?”
“No.”
Adrian opened the box.
Inside were dozens of small objects.
Photographs.
Rings.
Watches.
Letters.
Necklaces.
Personal belongings.
David immediately recognized one of them.
A thin silver bracelet.
The bracelet Elena had once worn.
David's breath caught.
He stood.
“Where did you get that?”
Adrian didn't answer.
David picked up the bracelet.
His hand trembled.
He remembered it.
Elena had worn it on their last wedding anniversary.
“What is this?”
“A memory.”
“This belongs to my wife.”
“Yes.”
David looked at Adrian.
“Why do you have her things?”
Adrian remained calm.
“Because Elena came here once.”
David's world seemed to stop.
The sound of rain outside suddenly seemed very far away.
“What?”
“She came here.”
“No.”
David shook his head.
“Elena never told me.”
“Maybe she didn't want to tell you.”
“When?”
Adrian didn't answer.
“When did she come here?”
Adrian looked at David for a long moment.
“A few weeks before she died.”
David took a step back.
No.
That was impossible.
He knew everything Elena had done during that period. At least, he thought he did.
“You're lying.”
“Maybe.”
David glared at him angrily.
“Don't mess with me.”
“I'm not playing.”
“If she came here, why didn't I know?”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Because there are things even the closest couples don't tell each other.”
The words struck David harder than they should have.
Then Adrian said quietly,
“Your argument that night wasn't the first time Elena wanted to leave you.”
David froze.
“Don't.”
“She'd felt unheard for a long time.”
“Don't talk about her.”
“She came here because she wanted to let go of something.”
David closed his eyes.
Fragments of memory surfaced.
Elena growing increasingly quiet.
Elena saying several times that she wanted to go away for a while.
Elena once asking whether David really knew her.
David had always thought it was just a marital problem.
“Did she say anything about me?” David finally asked.
Adrian didn't answer.
“What did she say?”
“Not everyone comes here looking for answers.”
“Then what for?”
Adrian looked at him.
“Some come to disappear.”
David felt cold spread from the nape of his neck down his back.
Adrian took the bracelet from David's hand and put it back in the box.
“Tomorrow we'll begin your first ritual.”
“I don't want to.”
“That's all right.”
Adrian smiled.
“You will.”
“I said no.”
“And that's all right, too.”
Adrian walked toward the door.
Before David left, Adrian said without turning around,
“David.”
David stopped.
“If you truly want to know what happened to Elena, don't leave Sanctuary before you remember everything.”
David looked at him.
“Remember what?”
Adrian gave him a faint smile.
“The part that makes you guilty.”
The office door stood open.
David walked out with his chest tight.
But before he descended the stairs, he looked at the old photograph on the wall again.
The photograph from 2014.
Adrian was still standing there.
The same face.
The same gaze.
And this time, David noticed something he had missed before.
At the very back of the row stood a young woman.
Her hair was long.
Her face was partly hidden in shadow.
But David recognized her.
It was Elena.
And beneath the photograph were the words:
SANCTUARY — THE NINTH RETREAT.
David stared at the photograph without blinking.
Then, slowly, he realized something far more horrifying.
Elena had never told him that she had come to this place.
But someone at Sanctuary had preserved her trace for years.
As if they had known that one day David would come looking for her.