2025-11-28 03:10:41Uche didn’t sleep.
Not for one second.
He sat on his bed with his back to the wall, eyes fixed on the wardrobe like it was a living thing. The room felt heavier, the air colder. Seyi slept like a dead man, unmoving, unbothered—almost too still.
Every sound in the hostel became a threat.
A cough from outside.
Footsteps in the hallway.Distant laughter.A metal bucket scraping against the concrete floor.By 5:00 a.m., Uche’s eyes were red and burning.
What kind of room is this? What program? Why me? Why the time 2:13?
He looked at the folded note again.
WELCOME TO THE PROGRAM.
No explanation.
No meaning.Just a threat disguised as a greeting.He didn’t even realize he was trembling until he tried to stand. His knees felt weak, his body stiff from fear.
Seyi finally shifted in bed, stretching as if he’d had the best sleep of his life.
“You look like death,” he said casually.
“Because this room is possessed!” Uche snapped. “Something knocked inside the wardrobe. The handle moved. Then the—”
Seyi raised a hand, not in defense, but in warning.
“Don’t talk too loudly.”
“Bro, what exactly is going on here? Why did the wardrobe open? Why was that note there? Why this room?”
Seyi looked away. “You’re asking too many questions too early.”
“This is not the kind of place you adjust slowly to!”
Seyi sighed, rubbed his face, and finally sat up. “Listen carefully. Whatever you saw last night… you didn’t see it.”
“What?”
“You heard me. You saw nothing. You heard nothing. You read nothing.”
“Guy, are you okay?”
“No,” Seyi said bluntly. “But I know the only way to survive here.”
Uche stared at him.
“Don’t ask the wrong questions,” Seyi continued. “Don’t talk to strangers about this room. Don’t bring anyone here. Don’t open the wardrobe again.”
“Why not?”
“Because the last guy who did… didn’t finish the semester.”
Uche felt his heartbeat spike. “What happened to him?”
Seyi hesitated. “He disappeared. No one knows how. Or maybe some people know, but they won’t talk.”
“Did you see it happen?”
“No.”
Too quick.Too sharp.Uche narrowed his eyes. “Why are you in this room if it’s that serious?”
“I didn’t choose this room,” Seyi said quietly. “Nobody chooses it.”
Uche stepped closer. “So why haven’t you disappeared?”
Seyi finally met his eyes.
“Who said I haven’t?”
A chill moved through Uche’s entire body.
Before he could ask anything else, Seyi stood.
“I need to bathe. We have registration today. Try to look normal.”
“Normal? After last night?” Uche scoffed.
Seyi paused at the door. “Whatever you do, don’t mention what happened to anyone. No matter how friendly they seem.”
He left the room.
Uche exhaled shakily.
This school is mad. Completely mad.
Registration day was chaos.
Hundreds of students crowded the multipurpose hall, shouting, complaining, pushing. Lecturers in oversized suits shouted instructions nobody followed. The place smelled like sweat, paper, and stress.
Uche moved through the lines like a ghost. He couldn’t concentrate. Every shadow made him flinch. Every face looked suspicious.
Everywhere he went, he felt eyes on him.
From behind pillars.
From classroom windows.From the balcony above.He couldn't tell if he was imagining things or if someone was actually watching him.
While standing in line for biometrics, a voice beside him said:
“You’re from Block C, right?”
Uche turned. A tall, muscular guy stood next to him wearing a red hoodie and a blank expression. His eyes were sharp—too sharp.
“Yeah,” Uche replied carefully.
“What room?”
Uche hesitated. “Why?”
The guy ignored the question. “Room number?”
Uche swallowed. “Forty—”
Seyi suddenly appeared from nowhere, grabbed Uche’s arm, and pulled him out of line.
“Come,” he said through clenched teeth.
“But I haven’t registered—”
“Come. Now.”
The tall guy watched them leave, expression unchanged, but his gaze was intense… memorizing.
Once they were outside, Uche jerked his arm away. “What is wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Seyi retorted. “Why did you answer him?”
“Because he asked me a normal question!”
“That guy is not normal. Don’t talk to anyone about Room 49. I told you.”
Uche frowned. “You know him?”
“Everyone knows him. Red hoodie. His group controls half the hostel. They’re not the kind of people you talk to.”
“Why? Cult?”
“Something like that.”
Uche sighed. “This school is insane.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Seyi said. “Or you’ll leave.”
Before Uche could respond, their faculty announced a break. Students scattered to get food or shade.
Seyi tapped Uche’s shoulder. “I need to handle something. Stay in open places. Don’t go anywhere empty.”
“When will you be back?”
“Soon.”
Another answer too quick.Seyi walked off.
Uche walked to a quiet corner under a tree and sat. He finally opened his bag to bring out a biscuit when something small and metallic fell out.
A USB flash drive.
He frowned. “What’s this?”
He didn’t own a flash drive. But the drive had masking tape on it with a handwritten message:
FOR THE NEW OCCUPANT OF ROOM 49.
His heart dropped.
“How… how did this get in my bag?”
He had locked his bag. It had been beside his bed all night. Nobody had touched it.
His throat tightened.
He looked around to see if someone was watching. Everyone seemed busy—some eating, some chatting, some sleeping on benches.
He held the flash drive like it might explode.
Should I open this? Should I even carry it?
Before he could decide, a girl approached.
She looked normal—jeans, simple top, bag on one shoulder. But her face was unreadable. Neutral. Too neutral.
“You’re the one in Room 49, right?” she asked.
Uche froze.
He didn’t speak. He didn’t blink. He barely breathed.
The girl sighed like she expected this reaction. “Relax. I’m not here to threaten you.”
“Then why did you come?”
“I’m here to warn you.”
Uche’s heart raced. “Warn me about what?”
She leaned in slightly. “Don’t plug in that flash drive anywhere on campus.”
Uche gripped it tighter. “Why?”
“Because the last person who did… got taken.”
His stomach churned. “Taken by who?”
She looked around, then whispered: “The Program.”
He stepped back. “What is this Program? Why do people keep talking like they’re being watched? What is happening?”
The girl sighed. “You’re asking questions too publicly. If you want to survive, keep your head down.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone who doesn’t want to see another freshman disappear.”
“That still doesn’t answer my question.”
She glanced over his shoulder suddenly, eyes widening. “I have to go. Just don’t open it. And whatever you do—”
Footsteps.
She stopped speaking, turned, and walked away quickly.
A group of three guys walked past immediately after—hooded, silent, scanning faces.Uche stood frozen.
“What the hell is this school?” he whispered.
He didn’t plug in the flash drive.
He didn’t even open it.He hid it deep in his bag like a cursed object.The rest of the day felt tense. Seyi returned but acted normal—too normal. He talked about classes and lecturers as if nothing in the world was wrong. As if the room they lived in wasn’t haunted by secrets.
By 8 p.m., Uche decided to take a walk to clear his mind.
Big mistake.
The campus at night felt different. The paths were dim, the trees too still, the buildings too quiet. He walked near the faculty block, thinking it would be safer.
He was wrong.
As he approached the courtyard, he heard footsteps behind him. When he turned, nobody was there. He walked faster. The footsteps quickened.
His breath sped up.
He turned again.
Still no one.
He started jogging. His skin crawled. The night air felt thick. He could hear whispers—far away yet close.
Then a voice came from the shadows:
“Room 49.”
Uche stopped dead.
A figure stepped out—a tall guy in a black cap. He wasn’t the one from earlier. This one had a scar across his jaw.
“You’re the new one,” the guy said.
Uche’s heart pounded. “What do you want?”
The guy smiled slowly. “Nothing. Just wanted to see if the rumors were true.”
“What rumors?”
“That the Program finally found another candidate.”
Uche’s breathing hitched. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, you will,” the guy said. “Soon.”
He took a step forward.
Uche stepped back.
The guy’s smile widened. “Relax. If they wanted to take you, you wouldn’t see it coming.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you better pray you fail their test.”
“What test?”
The guy didn’t answer.
Instead, he turned and disappeared into a side path like he melted into the darkness.
Uche stood there shaking. His shirt stuck to his body with sweat.
He hurried back to the hostel, almost running.
When he reached Room 49, the door was slightly open.
His heart dropped.
“Seyi?” he called softly.
No answer.
He pushed the door open.
Everything was normal… except the wardrobe.
The door was open again.
On the floor inside, a new piece of paper lay waiting.
Uche forced himself to pick it up.
His vision blurred for a second.
The message was short:
YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO PROVE YOU’RE WORTH THE ROOM.
His hands trembled.
He slowly looked up at the wardrobe.
Another piece of paper was taped on the inside wall.
A second message:
OR YOU WILL BE REMOVED.
Uche stood there in the cold silence of Room 49, realizing something terrifying:
The wardrobe wasn’t haunted.
The room wasn’t cursed.Someone was watching him.
Testing him.Tracking him.And they had just started the countdown.
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CHAPTER 18 — THE BOY WHO WALKED OUT
The ground didn’t stop shaking when they reached the tunnel.It got worse.Concrete split open behind them, the Origin Wing folding in on itself like a dying animal. Fire alarms wailed. Emergency lights popped one by one, plunging long stretches of the passage into darkness.Uche half-carried, half-dragged his father forward. Obiora was conscious now, barely, his weight heavy but real.Alive.That single fact anchored Uche.“Keep moving,” Uche said, voice steady even as his chest burned. “We’re almost out.”Obiora coughed, a weak sound. “You… you’re inside it now.”Uche didn’t deny it.“I know.”The hum followed them—low, constant, like a distant engine. The fear-feedback systems were collapsing, but fear itself wasn’t gone. It bled through the tunnels, thick and metallic, soaked into the walls.Uche felt it all.Every panicked technician.Every soldier realizing the guns weren’t enough.Every system screaming because its center no longer obeyed commands.He wasn’t controlling people.
CHAPTER 17 – THE DAY FEAR TURNED
The alarms didn’t just scream.They howled—a raw, metallic shriek that clawed through the underground facility, rattling glass, steel, and bone. Red lights spun violently, casting the halls in pulsing blood-colored flashes.Uche stood still in the center of it all.Calm.Terrifyingly calm.The mark on his wrist burned, spreading heat through his veins, syncing with the pounding hum beneath the floor. He felt the facility the way one feels their own heartbeat—every corridor, every door, every moving body.Fear wasn’t flooding him.It was feeding him.“LOCK DOWN THE ORIGIN WING.”The Director’s voice echoed through the speakers, sharp now. Controlled—but strained.Steel shutters slammed down across corridors. Armed units poured in from every access point, boots pounding in perfect rhythm.Uche turned slowly, eyes glowing faint gold.“Too late,” he whispered.1. THE FIRST STRIKEThe first Purge unit rounded the corner—six men, rifles raised, visors glowing.“TARGET ACQUIRED!”They opened
CHAPTER 16 – THE TRUTH THEY BURIED
The light burned.Not just his eyes—his mind.Uche stumbled forward as the white glare swallowed him whole, stripping away sound, gravity, even time. His thoughts fractured, memories slipping through his fingers like sand.Then—Silence.Absolute.Heavy.Oppressive.His feet touched solid ground.Uche blinked hard, vision slowly returning.He stood inside a glass chamber.Walls, floor, ceiling—transparent, spotless, cold. Beyond the glass stretched a massive underground facility, far larger than anything he had seen before. Rows of observation decks circled the chamber like a coliseum. Screens flickered to life one by one.Every screen showed him.Heart rate.Neural activity.Adrenal spikes.Fear response metrics.He staggered back.“No… no no no…”This wasn’t ancient.This wasn’t supernatural.This was designed.A voice echoed calmly through hidden speakers.“Welcome to the Origin Wing.”Uche’s blood ran cold.That voice.Older now. Colder. Controlled.“The Director,” Uche whispered
CHAPTER 15 – THE FALL AND THE FACE
Uche expected the fall to kill him.The wind roared past his ears as he plummeted downward, darkness spinning around him in a dizzying spiral. His arms flailed, reaching for anything—air, light, a ledge—nothing existed. Just the void.He screamed until his throat burned.Then—FWOOOM!He hit something soft.Not ground.Not water.Something… alive.He bounced slightly, tumbling onto a cold surface, gasping. His hands gripped the floor, feeling the strange texture beneath his palms—smooth, rubbery, pulsing faintly.Like skin.He jolted upright.He wasn’t in the chamber anymore.He was inside a long, dimly lit corridor—narrow walls arching overhead like the ribs of a giant creature. Blue veins glowed faintly inside the walls, pulsing in rhythm… like a heartbeat.An entire underground hallway made of a living organism.His stomach churned.The air smelled metallic, sharp enough to sting his nostrils. The floor beneath him vibrated softly with each pulse of the glowing veins.He forced him
CHAPTER 14 – THE WHISPERING STAIRS
The darkness swallowed Uche instantly.No lights.No walls.No sound except the faint echo of his own footsteps spiraling downward.The staircase felt endless.Cold, damp air wrapped around him like a second skin, making every breath heavy. The deeper he went, the more he felt the pressure—like an invisible hand was slowly tightening around his lungs. There was no turning back; the floor above had already sealed shut, cutting him off completely.Step.Step.Step.His footsteps sounded wrong—too loud, then too soft, as if the space around him kept changing size with every turn of the spiral.Then it began.The whispers.Faint at first.So faint he wasn’t even sure they were real.“Uche…”He stopped.The voice drifted from somewhere behind him.Or ahead?Or inside his skull?He listened.Silence.He kept moving.Then—“Uche… turn back.”He froze again. This time the voice was clearer, too clear.A voice he recognized.His father’s.His throat tightened painfully. “Dad?”A whisper moved
CHAPTER 13 – THE ROOM THAT BREATHES
Uche woke up gasping.Not because of a dream… but because Room 49 was breathing.The walls rose and fell like lungs expanding, slow and heavy, releasing a deep, vibrating hum that crawled across the floor and into his skin. For a moment he sat frozen, his chest tight, unable to tell if he was awake or trapped in another layer of the Room’s illusions.Then he felt it—a cold draft brushing his ankles.He looked down.The floor tiles had shifted halfway open on their own.A thin line of pale blue light spilled out from the cracks, pulsing like a heartbeat.No.Not a heartbeat.A signal.Uche swallowed hard, shoving off the bed. “Not now… not today…” he whispered, but Room 49 didn’t care. It never cared.The Program wanted him downstairs again.He crouched slowly and pressed a palm against one of the tiles.It was warm.Alive.As if something beneath the floor was waiting.Suddenly—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!Three violent knocks slammed into his door, loud enough to rattle the frame. Uche jumped
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