2025-11-28 03:11:29Uche didn’t blink for almost a full minute.
The two papers in the wardrobe stared back at him:
YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO PROVE YOU’RE WORTH THE ROOM.
OR YOU WILL BE REMOVED.His breath came out in short, broken bursts. Removed? Removed how? Removed where? By who?
“Seyi?” he whispered.
Silence.
He checked the bathroom. Empty.
Checked outside the room. Nothing.Seyi was gone.Again.
His chest tightened. “This is madness. This is real madness.”
He closed the wardrobe slowly. The metal hinges squeaked like they were laughing at him.
24 hours.
24 hours for what?
He sat on his bed, hands in his hair, trying not to panic. His phone vibrated suddenly. He jumped.
A message from an unknown number:
1/24.
Just that.
Nothing else.He almost threw the phone in fear.
“God, what have I entered?”
By morning, Uche’s head felt heavy. His eyes stung. His body vibrated with restless energy. Every second felt like a countdown he couldn’t stop.
He reached the faculty building earlier than everyone else. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the room. The campus was already awake—students rushing, lecturers shouting, cleaners sweeping—but it felt like everyone moved in slow motion.
He kept hearing his own heartbeat.
When he got to the hallway, someone suddenly blocked his path.
A tall, bulky guy. Same red hoodie from yesterday. Same cold stare.
“You didn’t finish your answer,” Red Hoodie said. “What room are you in?”
Uche hesitated. His pulse quickened.
“Room 10,” he lied.
Red Hoodie stepped closer. “Say it again.”
“Room 10.”
The guy stared so intensely Uche felt his skin prickle. Then Red Hoodie smirked.
“You’re a bad liar.”
Uche moved back.
Red Hoodie whispered, “They’re already watching you. Don’t disgrace yourself.”
“Who is watching me?” Uche asked.
“You’ll find out. Maybe today. Maybe tonight.”
Red Hoodie moved away without another word.
Uche stood frozen.
They? Who is they?
Registration continued. Uche tried to focus. Every lecturer he met sounded distant. Every face looked suspicious.
His phone vibrated again.
3/24.
His heart dropped.
Another hour.
Wasted.And he still didn’t know what “prove yourself” meant.“Are you okay?” someone asked behind him.
Uche turned sharply.
A guy he recognized—short, muscular, always joking in class.
Chidera.
“Guy, you look like you saw demon,” Chidera laughed. “You okay?”
Uche forced a smile. “Just stressed.”
“You sure? You look like you’re about to faint.”
“I’m fine,” Uche lied.
Chidera shrugged. “If you need anything, let me know.”
He walked off.
Uche watched him leave, suspicious of even kindness.
Then his phone buzzed a third time.
This wasn’t a message.
It was a video.
Sent via Bluetooth.No sender.His heart pounded as he opened it.
The video showed…
His room.
Room 49.Shot from above, like a hidden camera.The footage was from 2:13 a.m.
It showed the wardrobe door opening on its own.
Uche standing in fear.Him picking the note.Him backing away.His blood ran ice cold.
The video ended with a caption:
PROVE YOU’RE WORTH THE ROOM.
He closed the phone so fast it almost flew from his hand.
He couldn’t breathe.
Someone had access to his room. Cameras. Surveillance. They watched him all night. They saw everything.
This wasn’t a curse.
This was a controlled test.
He stood up immediately and ran toward the school library. It was empty enough to hide but public enough to feel safe.
He sat in the corner and tried to think.
What do they want? What do I prove? Courage? Obedience? Intelligence? What?
“Uche.”
His head snapped up.
It was the girl from yesterday—the one who warned him about the flash drive.
“You’re not supposed to talk to me,” Uche whispered.
She sat anyway. “I know what they want.”
His breath caught. “Tell me. Please.”
“You need to survive the day.”
“What does that even mean?”
She lowered her voice. “The Program wants to see if you break. If you run. If you fear easily.”
“I fear everything right now!”
She shook her head. “But you’re still here. That’s what they’re testing.”
“So what exactly do I do?”
“You face everything today without flinching. No matter what happens.”
“No matter what happens? What does that mean?”
She leaned closer. “Someone will try to provoke you. Someone will try to trick you. Someone will try to scare you. Or hurt you. Or follow you.”
Uche’s heartbeat soared.
“Hurt me? Follow me? How—”
She grabbed his wrist. “Listen to me. Act like you expect it. Act like you’re not afraid.”
“How does that—”
“If you panic… you fail.”
He felt sweat gather on his forehead.
“And if I fail?”
Her eyes softened. “People don’t fail Room 49. They disappear.”
Uche swallowed hard.
“Is that what happened to the last guy?” he whispered.
She didn’t answer.
His phone buzzed.
7/24.
Time was moving too fast.
He left the library praying in his head nonstop.
When he stepped outside—
Someone was waiting for him.Red Hoodie.
The guy walked up slowly, confidently, like a predator approaching prey.
“Why are you following me?” Uche asked, voice shaking.
Red Hoodie smirked. “The Program needs pressure. I’m pressure.”
He stepped closer.
“You’re the type that breaks,” Red Hoodie said. “Soft face. Soft eyes. No scars.”
Uche balled his fists. “Leave me alone.”
“Or what?” Red Hoodie asked. “You fight? You run? You scream?”
He leaned in until their noses almost touched.
“You’re not built for 49.”
“Stay away from me,” Uche said again—stronger this time.
Red Hoodie laughed. “If you want to prove yourself, punch me.”
“What?”
“Punch me. Right here.”
He tapped his cheek. “Or go back to your room and pack.”Uche froze.
“If you walk away,” Red Hoodie continued, “I’ll tell them you’re weak.”
People were staring now—students pretending to mind their business but clearly watching. Some phones were out. Some whispers started.
This was public humiliation.
A planned public humiliation.
They’re testing me.
Punch him?
Walk away?Both could be failure.He thought fast.
He stepped back—not in fear, but in control.
Red Hoodie smiled, thinking he won.
Then Uche spoke clearly, loudly:
“I don’t need to punch you to prove anything. When the time comes, you’ll know what I can do.”
A few people gasped.
Red Hoodie’s face tightened. “You think you’re smart.”
“I think you talk too much,” Uche said.
The crowd stirred.
Red Hoodie’s jaw clenched. He wanted to hit Uche. Badly. Uche could see it in his eyes.
But he didn’t.
He only smirked darkly and whispered:
“They’re watching. You bought yourself time.”
Then he walked away.
Uche exhaled shakily.
His hands still trembled. His body felt like jelly. His brain felt like fire.
But he hadn’t broken.
His phone buzzed.
9/24. GOOD.
He almost collapsed from relief—and fear.
Someone was controlling this game minute by minute.
Hours crawled by.
Everywhere Uche went, someone watched him.
When he entered the cafeteria, three people stared.When he walked to class, two guys in caps whispered.When he bought water, the vendor froze like he recognized him.The entire campus suddenly felt like a stage. He moved through it, acting normal though every muscle in his body wanted to run.
At 14/24, he was approached again.
Not by a student.
Not by Red Hoodie.But by a lecturer.A female lecturer in a brown gown and glasses.
“Are you Uche Obi?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said carefully.
She handed him a brown envelope.
“For your test.”
Uche almost dropped it. “Test?”
She gave him a cold smile. “Don’t open it here.”
“Who sent it?”
She walked away without answering.
Uche stared at the envelope like it could bite him.
He took it to the far back of the faculty building, opened it slowly, and gasped.
Inside was a single sheet of paper:
PROVE YOU CAN FOLLOW ORDERS.
Below it:
GO TO THE ABANDONED CLASSROOM BEHIND BLOCK F.
BE ALONE.BE THERE BY 17/24.His stomach twisted.
Block F? Abandoned classroom? Alone?
He looked at his phone.
15/24.
He had two hours left.
He reached Block F exactly at 16/24.
The building was old, quiet, almost forgotten. Tall grass grew beside it. The windows were dusty. The hallway smelled like mold.
He pushed the door open to the abandoned classroom.
Empty.
Silent.Dark.He stepped inside.
The door swung shut behind him.
He jumped and turned—Seyi was at the door.
Uche’s heart almost stopped. “Seyi? Where have you been?!”
Seyi looked exhausted. Pale. Sweaty. His eyes were red.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Seyi said.
“I was told—”
“I know. They’re testing you.”
“Who is they?! Tell me!”
Seyi closed the door fully and locked it.
“Uche… The Program is not a myth.”
“I figured that out!”
“They pick people. People who can survive pressure. Fear. Isolation. Manipulation. They want you because of your father.”
Uche felt like the floor beneath him shifted. “My father? You don’t know anything about my father.”
Seyi exhaled. “I know more than you think.”
“How? Why?”
“Because I’m not your roommate by accident.”
The room went silent.
“I was assigned to watch you,” Seyi said quietly. “Evaluate you.”
Uche froze.
“You what?”
“I didn’t want to. But the Program doesn’t take no.”
“You’re part of them?”
“No,” Seyi said firmly. “I’m trapped by them. Like you will be if you fail.”
Uche felt anger rise like fire in his chest. “Why me? Why my father? What do they want?”
“You have 8 hours to prove you can stay calm under pressure,” Seyi said. “They want to see if you break.”
“How do I pass?”
“Stay alive.”
Seyi swallowed. “And don’t fail the final task.”“What final task?”
Seyi hesitated.
Then footsteps echoed outside.
Heavy footsteps.
Someone was coming.
Seyi grabbed Uche’s shoulders.
“I can’t protect you anymore,” he whispered urgently. “Whatever happens now, don’t scream. Don’t run. Don’t beg.”
The footsteps got louder.
Closer.
Seyi pushed Uche toward the back of the classroom.
“Your final test is simple…” he said.
A shadow approached the door.
Seyi’s voice dropped to a trembling whisper.
“…you must survive the night in Room 49.”
The door handle began to turn.
Uche’s phone buzzed.
17/24.
The test had officially begun.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
CHAPTER 11 — THE HEART OF 49
Uche stepped through the blackened doorway, and the world shifted beneath him.It wasn’t like any room he’d ever seen—or imagined. The darkness wasn’t empty. It was alive.It whispered. Hissed. Reached into him.The air was thick, tasting of iron and cold metal. His lungs burned as though he were underwater. Shadows curled and twisted around him like snakes, weaving in impossible patterns. He felt their eyes—millions of them—watching, judging, testing.And then he saw it: the core of Room 49.A massive black orb hovered at the center of the space. It pulsed rhythmically, as though it had a heartbeat. Every beat sent ripples across the void, distorting reality itself.Uche’s stomach turned. He instinctively wanted to step back, but his feet were rooted. Something deep in his mind—the same voice that had guided him before—whispered:You were born for this.His father’s voice echoed faintly in his mind."Remember, fear is your tool, not your master."He clenched his fists. His father was
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 10 — THE DIRECTORDarkness swallowed the room.Not the normal type of darkness—no.This one was alive.Uche froze. It felt like something had slipped over his eyes, his ears, his very thoughts. A cold pressure tightened around his skull, like Room 49 itself had wrapped invisible fingers around his brain.His father’s breathing beside him was ragged, shallow—he was fading.“Seyi?” Uche whispered.No answer.The lights snapped back on with a violent flicker.But the room had changed.It was no longer the small interrogation chamber.No walls. No doors. No ceiling.Just a massive empty white void stretching endlessly in every direction.And standing in the center of it—A man.Tall.Cold.Wearing a white coat that contrasted sharply with his obsidian-black gloves.His face was hidden behind a smooth metallic mask—no eyes, no mouth, no features—just a perfect silver surface reflecting Uche’s own terrified expression.The Director.Finally.Uche’s heart slammed against his ribcage.
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 9 — THE DIRECTOR’S GAMEUche ran through the campus streets under the cloak of darkness, lungs burning, heart hammering like it wanted to escape his chest. The night air was thick with smoke from the burning maintenance shaft behind him. Sirens still wailed somewhere below ground. The Director’s forces were organized, precise, and deadly—they didn’t chase blindly. They hunted.He didn’t look back. Every instinct screamed to keep moving. His father had pushed him toward the west exit, but that was no longer safe. The facility was crawling with Execution Units, and Room 49 itself seemed to pulse through his veins, whispering, judging, taunting.Seyi had vanished somewhere along the tunnels, leaving a faint trail only Uche could follow, guided by instinct, fear, and the flickering light of distant exit signs.Then the whisper came—not from the walls, not from the shadows, but inside his mind:“Stop running, Uche Obi. You cannot outrun me.”It wasn’t Seyi. It wasn’t his father. It
CHAPTER 8 – THE ESCAPE THEY DIDN’T PLAN FOR
The siren screamed through the underground facility—shrill, urgent, violent.Red lights flashed like blood splashes against the walls.Footsteps thundered.Orders barked through radios.Uche didn’t move. He couldn’t. His father’s warning froze him.Someone inside wants you dead.Seyi slammed the reinforced door shut and locked it, face tense for the first time since Uche met him.“Shit,” Seyi muttered. “They weren’t supposed to move this early.”Uche’s father stood up slowly, as if his bones hurt. But his eyes—sharp, intense—were fully alive.“We have five minutes,” he said.“Five minutes for what?” Uche whispered.“To get you out.”A pounding hit the door—violent, metallic, the sound of boots and weapons.“Open this door now!”Uche turned to Seyi. “I thought you were in charge. Why are they coming for us?”Seyi didn’t answer immediately. He pulled a pistol from his vest and chambered a round.“I’m in charge of candidates,” he said. “Not the Execution Unit.”“The what?” Uche’s stomach
CHAPTER 7 – THE INTERROGATION ROOM
Uche didn’t expect the blindfold to come off so suddenly.One moment, he was being dragged through a corridor—arms twisted behind him, boots hitting his shins—then a bright white light hit his eyes like a slap. He blinked hard.A metal chair.A table with chains.One camera blinking red.Cold room. No windows. No clock.Interrogation.Across the table sat a man in a grey tactical vest, his face unreadable, fingers drumming the metal like a countdown.“Uche Obi,” the man said. “Age eighteen. Freshman. Room 49.”He tilted his head like he was examining an animal.“You survived longer than expected.”Uche swallowed. “Where am I?”“Somewhere beneath campus.”The man leaned forward.“Tell me what you’ve figured out so far.”Uche kept quiet.He didn’t know if speaking would save him or kill him.He only knew one thing: they wanted information, and anything he said could put him deeper into their game.The man sighed, annoyed.“You think staying quiet helps you? You think silence equals stre
CHAPTER 6 — THE FIRST COMMAND
Uche knew from the moment the sun went down that something was wrong.The air in Room 49 usually felt cold.Tonight, it felt charged—like electricity humming under the walls.Seyi felt it too.He kept checking the corners of the room, looking at the ceiling, glancing at the wardrobe like he expected it to burst open.“This is the Instruction Test,” Seyi said quietly.“It always feels like this.”Uche’s chest was tight. “What… exactly happens?”Seyi didn’t look at him.“The room gives a command. You follow… or you don’t.”“And if I don’t?”“You fail.”“And if I follow?”“You pass.”“But what does ‘fail’ mean, Seyi?!” Uche snapped.Seyi looked at him with eyes that had seen too much.“You don’t want to find out.”Uche swallowed hard.2:00 a.m.The air grew heavier.The taps in the walls stopped completely—like the thing inside was holding its breath.Seyi sat cross-legged, staring at the wardrobe.“Whatever happens,” he whispered, “don’t scream.”Uche froze. “Why?”“Because screaming me
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