I froze.
The voice was so close that I could feel a cold breath brush the back of my neck. My body refused to move. Even simply turning around felt impossible.
“Welcome back.”
I swallowed.
Back?
I had never felt like I’d been in this place before.
At least, that was what I’d always believed.
With trembling hands, I tried to turn on my phone’s flashlight. The screen lit up, but it only showed a dim glow that began to flicker.
Once.
Twice.
Then it died.
“Don’t…”
I took a step backward.
The sound of footsteps came again.
This time, they weren’t behind me.
They were in front of me.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Someone slowly walked through the dark room. I couldn’t see their face, but I could just barely make out the shadow of their body moving at the far end of the room.
“Who are you?”
There was no answer.
I steeled myself and took a step forward.
One step.
Two steps.
The shadow stopped.
So did I.
Several seconds passed in an oppressive silence.
Then the voice spoke again.
“You really don’t remember?”
I shook my head, even though the person might not have been able to see me.
“I… don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A quiet laugh rang out.
It wasn’t a happy laugh.
It was the laugh of someone who had just found something they’d been searching for all this time.
“That’s how they made you.”
I furrowed my brow.
“Who are they?”
The shadow moved closer.
“The people who have been around you all this time.”
My heart began to beat faster.
I remembered the words I’d heard before the lights went out.
The people who made you forget everything.
The sentence kept circling in my head.
“What did they do to me?”
The shadow didn’t answer right away.
Instead, it raised a hand and pointed to the wall beside me.
I turned my gaze in that direction.
At first, there was nothing there.
But after a few seconds, something slowly appeared.
Writing.
As if it had just been scratched from the other side of the wall’s surface.
I moved closer.
My hand touched the surface.
The writing made my breath catch.
DON’T TRUST YOUR MEMORIES.
I yanked my hand back.
“What… is this?”
“A warning.”
“From whom?”
“From yourself.”
I fell silent.
No.
That was impossible.
I closed my eyes, trying to remember what had happened before I ended up in this room.
School.
Hallways.
Friends.
Teachers.
Home.
Everything appeared like neatly arranged pieces of a picture.
Too neat.
I opened my eyes.
For the first time, I realized something strange.
I could remember so many things.
But I couldn’t remember a single truly terrible event.
No major fights.
No day when I cried.
No reason why I always felt afraid whenever I was alone.
It was as if every bad part of my life had been deliberately cut away.
“No…”
I clutched my head.
“That’s impossible.”
The shadow stood several steps in front of me.
“You’re starting to remember.”
“What am I supposed to remember?”
“The beginning of everything.”
Suddenly, I heard something fall outside the room.
I flinched.
The shadow immediately turned its head.
“They’re coming.”
“Who?”
“You don’t have much time.”
The sound of footsteps came from the hallway.
Many footsteps.
Not one person.
Not two.
Several people were approaching.
The shadow in front of me moved to the side and pointed to a small door I hadn’t noticed before.
“Go in there.”
I stared at the door.
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because if you stay here, they’ll make you forget again.”
Those words made my entire body go cold.
I looked toward the hallway.
A light began to appear in the distance.
Someone was carrying a flashlight.
Then I heard a voice I knew all too well.
“She’s in there.”
I froze.
It was the voice of one of the people I’d trusted all this time.
The voice that often calmed me when I was afraid.
The voice that always told me I was okay.
“Find her.”
The footsteps drew closer.
I looked at the shadow in front of me one more time.
“Who are you, really?”
It was silent for a few moments.
Then it slowly moved closer.
For the first time, the light from outside fell across part of its face.
I saw a pair of eyes that felt so familiar.
Eyes I’d seen every day.
Eyes that…
should have been mine.
I backed away, holding my breath.
“No…”
The shadow gave a faint smile.
“Now you’re starting to understand.”
The door behind me opened on its own.
Darkness.
Far darker than this room.
But from inside came the sound of a woman crying.
A quiet cry.
Soft sobs.
Like someone who had been waiting for a very long time.
I stared inside.
Then the voice called my name.
Once.
Twice.
And on the third call, I recognized it.
It was my own voice.
I covered my mouth to keep from screaming.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
The voice from inside the door spoke again.
“You promised you’d come back.”
The footsteps in the hallway drew closer.
I had no choice.
With trembling hands, I stepped into the dark room.
Before the door closed, I turned around one last time.
The shadow was gone.
All that remained was a new message on the wall.
IF YOU WANT TO REMEMBER EVERYTHING, DON’T BE AFRAID OF WHAT YOU’LL FIND.
The door closed.
Darkness swallowed everything again.
And for the first time, I realized that maybe it wasn’t my memories that had been lost all this time.
Maybe…
I was the one who had once asked someone to erase them.