CHAPTER 38 — THE ROOM WITH NO WINDOWS
The door clicked shut behind Lena, sealing her inside the dim interview room. It wasn't an interrogation room exactly — just a small, windowless space in the campus security building with a metal table and two chairs. The air felt stale, like the walls hadn't been opened in days.
She wasn't here as a suspect.
She was here because the world was starting to tilt again.
The officer who escorted her — Officer Patel — gave her a sympathetic smile before speaking.
"I'll bring the others in a moment. Just sit tight, okay?"
Lena nodded, but her chest was tightening. The moment Patel's footsteps faded down the hall, the silence grew thick — too thick — like the room was holding its breath with her.
She sat slowly, her fingers tapping anxiously against the table.
She wasn't supposed to feel afraid anymore.
Maya was gone.
The rooftop was behind her.
She'd survived.
She'd grown.
So why did her skin crawl as if someone stood just inches behind her?
Lena closed her eyes and pressed her palms together, trying to ground herself. But grounding didn't help when the fear wasn't entirely in her head.
A soft knock made her flinch.
The door opened — but it wasn't Elias, or the officer.
It was Dr. Ramirez.
Her face was tired, her dark hair pulled into a loose bun, stress lines etched deeper around her eyes than Lena remembered. She moved slowly, like every step carried the weight of the last few months.
"Lena," Ramirez said gently. "I'm glad you came."
Lena swallowed. "I didn't know who else to talk to."
Ramirez sat across from her. "Officer Patel told me you received another message."
Lena nodded and slid her phone across the table.
On the lock screen glowed the newest text:
**YOU THINK IT'S FINISHED. IT NEVER WAS.**
Ramirez stared at the words for a long moment. Her lips pressed into a tight line.
"This isn't Maya's handwriting anymore… not exactly," she murmured. "Whoever sent this is mimicking her."
Lena felt blood drain from her face. "So someone else is—"
Ramirez held up a hand, stopping the spiral before it started. "We don't know that yet. But we're going to figure it out."
A deeper chill settled in Lena's bones.
If it wasn't Maya… then someone was keeping her ghost alive.
"Does Elias know?" Ramirez asked softly.
Lena shook her head. "I didn't want to worry him."
Ramirez gave her a sympathetic look. "He's going to worry anyway. You're important to him."
Important.
The word settled over Lena like warm sunlight fighting through cold fog. But the warmth couldn't stay long — not when the fog was thickening.
The door opened again.
Elias stepped inside.
He looked like he had run through a storm — hair disheveled, chest rising sharply, eyes wide with fear before he saw her. And then relief washed through him so powerfully it almost hurt to witness.
"Lena," he breathed.
She stood. He reached her in three long strides, hands gently gripping her arms as if making sure she was real.
"You didn't answer my messages," he said, voice shaking. "I thought—" He cut himself off, jaw tightening. "Are you okay?"
For a moment, Lena couldn't speak. The worry in his eyes, raw and exposed, softened something deep inside her.
"I'm okay," she whispered. "I just… didn't want to drag you back into this."
His eyes flashed with something like disbelief. "Lena. I chose to be in this. You're not dragging me anywhere."
Her throat tightened.
Ramirez cleared her throat softly. "We need to talk about the message."
Elias turned, stone-faced. "Show me."
Lena handed him the phone. He stared at the message for a long, silent moment.
Then his voice dropped into something cold and dangerous.
"This wasn't Maya."
Ramirez nodded. "I agree."
Lena felt the room tilt. "But then who—"
Before she could finish, Officer Patel stepped inside, holding a file.
"We may have an answer."
She placed a printed screenshot on the table. A blurry image — campus hallway security footage.
A figure standing at Lena's dorm door.
Late at night.
Hood pulled low.
Not Maya.
Someone taller.
Broader.
Still as a statue.
Lena felt her heart stop.
"Who is that?" Elias demanded.
Patel exhaled. "We're still identifying. But…"
She slid another photo forward.
A close-up of the figure turning slightly — enough to show a jawline, a nose, a faint scar.
Lena gasped.
She knew that face.
Not intimately.
Not personally.
But she'd seen him before.
A student.
One of Maya's friends.
Quiet.
Always in the background.
In every photo she had ever taken with Maya… he was there. Just behind. Just off to the side.
Watching.
And now?
He was watching her.
Ramirez whispered, "Maya wasn't working alone."
Lena staggered back as the air left her lungs.
Elias caught her instantly, steadying her against his chest.
But Lena's eyes stayed locked on the photo — the stranger in the hallway, standing where Maya used to stand, picking up her shadow like a dropped coat.
Maya's obsession hadn't died.
It had simply found a new keeper.
And whoever he was…
He believed he was finishing what she started.