Naina and Aarav stood frozen in the basement room. The sound of footsteps above them echoed through the silent building. Each step was slow and heavy, like someone was carefully searching every corner.
Aarav quickly turned off the flashlight on Naina's phone. The basement was instantly swallowed by darkness.
Neither of them spoke.
They could hear the footsteps moving across the floor upstairs.
Step… step… step…
Naina's heart was beating so loudly she was sure it could be heard in the hallway above.
"Do you think it's Mr. Khanna?" Aarav whispered so quietly that his voice was barely a breath.
Naina shook her head slowly, though Aarav could barely see the movement in the darkness.
"I don't know," she whispered back.
The footsteps stopped for a moment.
Then they started again, this time closer to the staircase.
Aarav's eyes widened.
"Someone is coming down," he breathed.
Both of them quickly looked around the basement. The room suddenly felt much smaller than before. There were only a few places to hide—behind the old lab tables, inside the cabinet, or in the dark corners of the room.
The staircase creaked above them.
Someone had stepped onto it.
Naina grabbed Aarav's arm and pulled him behind the large wooden cabinet they had opened earlier. They crouched low, barely daring to breathe.
The staircase creaked again.
And again.
Whoever it was… was definitely coming down.
The basement door slowly opened with a loud metallic sound.
A thin beam of light entered the room.
Someone had brought a flashlight.
The light moved slowly across the dusty floor, then across the broken tables and old chairs.
Naina squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.
If the light moved just a little further, it would reach the cabinet.
A deep voice spoke quietly.
"I know someone is here."
It wasn't Mr. Khanna.
The voice sounded unfamiliar and older.
A tall shadow appeared on the wall as the person stepped further into the room.
The flashlight beam moved closer to the cabinet.
Naina held her breath completely.
The light stopped just inches away from them.
For a moment it felt like the entire world had gone silent.
Then the person suddenly turned away.
The light moved toward the staircase again.
"Strange," the man muttered. "I could have sworn I heard something."
A few seconds later the basement door closed.
The footsteps slowly moved away upstairs.
Naina and Aarav stayed frozen for another minute, making sure the person was really gone.
Finally Aarav whispered, "That was way too close."
Naina slowly stood up, her legs slightly shaky.
But something else now worried her.
"That man," she said quietly. "He wasn't a teacher."
Aarav nodded.
"I've never seen him at school before."
Naina looked back at the photograph they had found earlier.
The picture with Mr. Khanna, the principal… and the unknown man in the lab coat.
Her heart skipped.
"What if that was him?" she whispered.
Aarav looked at the photograph again.
The shadowy face in the picture did look similar.
If it was the same man…
Then the secret experiment wasn't just something from the past.
It was still happening.
Suddenly Naina noticed something else inside the cabinet.
A small folded paper hidden behind the files.
She quickly opened it.
Inside was a handwritten message.
The handwriting looked rushed and desperate.
If anyone finds this…
The truth is hidden in Lab Room 3.
Don't trust them.
Under the message was a name written in shaky letters.
Anika.
Naina slowly looked up at Aarav.
"Anika left this," she said.
Aarav swallowed nervously.
"Which means she knew someone would come looking."
Naina folded the paper carefully.
"There's only one place left to check," she said.
Aarav already knew the answer.
"Lab Room 3."
The only problem was…
Lab Room 3 was upstairs.
And someone dangerous was already inside the building.