2025-11-28 03:16:48Uche 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 means surrender. And the room loves when you surrender.”
Uche could feel his heart thudding against his ribs.
2:05 a.m.
Silence.
Stillness.A kind of quiet that felt alive.2:07 a.m.
The mattress under Uche vibrated faintly.
Seyi didn’t react.
He just said: “It’s noticing you.”2:10 a.m.
The wardrobe breathed.
Not tapped.
Not creaked.Breathed.
Cold air drifted out through the gap under the door, brushing over Uche’s bare feet like icy fingers.
His body stiffened. Seyi grabbed his wrist.
“Whatever it shows you… don’t touch it.”
2:12 a.m.
The wardrobe handle twitched.
Then twisted.
Slowly.
Deliberately.Mockingly.Uche’s throat closed.
“This is it,” Seyi whispered. “The command is coming.”
The wardrobe door opened.
No slamming.
No violence.Just a smooth, silent swing… like someone invisible had calmly stepped out.The air in the room turned freezing.
Uche held his breath.
A piece of paper slid out of the wardrobe and landed at his feet.
Seyi hissed.
“No. Not this test.”
“What test?” Uche whispered shakily.
Seyi didn’t answer.
He looked… terrified.
The paper lay facedown.
Uche’s hand trembled as he reached for it.
“Wait,” Seyi said sharply.
“Once you flip it… the command starts.”Uche hesitated.
Then flipped it.
Just four words:
TURN OFF THE LIGHT.
Uche froze.
“That’s it?” he whispered.
Seyi’s voice shook. “Yes. But don’t obey.”
“Why?”
“Because that seems harmless,” Seyi said, “and the harmless commands are the traps.”
Uche’s heartbeat went wild.
“What happens if I obey?”
“You’ll see something you’re not meant to see.”
“And if I refuse?”
“The room escalates. Hard.”
Uche’s body felt like it wasn’t his.
The light bulb above him flickered—once… twice… like it was getting impatient.
Then the voice came.
A whisper that seemed to crawl directly into Uche’s ear.
“Turn it off… Uche…”
He nearly jumped off the bed.
It knew his name.
His voice.His fear.Seyi grabbed his shoulder.
“Don’t respond.”
Then the voice came again.
More urgent.
Lower.Hungrier.“Off.… now…”
Uche’s throat felt like sand. “Seyi, I can’t—”
“You MUSTN’T obey,” Seyi warned.
The light flickered violently.
Then…
CLICK.
The switch on the wall moved downward by itself, halfway.
The room dimmed.
Seyi hissed sharply.
“It’s testing you.”
The whisper deepened.
“Uche. Turn it off completely.”
Uche covered his ears.
“I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can,” Seyi said. “Say it.”
“Say what?!”
“The rejection.”
“There’s a rejection?!”
“Yes!” Seyi whispered harshly. “Every command test has one sentence that protects you.”
“What is it??”
But before Seyi could answer—
All the taps in the walls started at once.
Dozens of fingers tapping. Drumming. Urgent. Frantic.
Like the walls were warning the voice to stop wasting time.
The wardrobe door SLAMMED shut—
then opened again.Something black moved inside.
Not a shadow.
Not smoke.Something shaped like a person crouching, long-limbed, bent backward.
Watching.
Waiting.
Uche’s mind nearly snapped.
“Seyi…” his voice cracked. “Tell me the rejection!”
But Seyi’s face twisted in horror.
“I—I don’t know which test you got! Each command has its own rejection!”
The whisper roared now, filling the room, shaking the air:
“TURN. IT. OFF.”
The light flickered furiously, begging to die.
The wardrobe creature jerked forward an inch.
Just one inch.
But that was enough.
Uche screamed and covered his mouth instantly.
Seyi grabbed him.
“You have SECONDS—decide! Obey or refuse!”
Uche’s mind raced.
If he obeyed—he’d see something monstrous.
If he disobeyed—it might attack.He had to choose.
The whisper transformed into something deeper, layered, like multiple voices overlapping.
“OFF. OFF. OFF. OFF.”
The bulb cracked slightly.
The light dimmed on its own.
The creature in the wardrobe rose slowly, its spine bending, limbs unfolding like a spider.
Uche couldn’t breathe.
Then—something snapped inside him.
He stood.
Facing the wardrobe.
Facing the thing watching him.
Seyi hissed, “Uche, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”
Uche didn’t feel brave.
He felt desperate.His voice shook as he said:
“I choose my own light.”
Everything stopped.
The whisper vanished.
The tapping died.The wardrobe froze.Even Seyi stared, stunned.
“What did you just say?”
“I—I don’t know,” Uche stammered. “It just came out.”
The room held its breath.
Then—
The light stabilized.
The switch flipped back up by itself.The wardrobe door slowly… closed.And a new paper slid out from under it.
Uche’s heart hammered as he picked it up.
Two words:
LEVEL PASSED.
Seyi collapsed to the floor in relief.
“You lucky idiot,” he whispered.
“That wasn’t even a standard rejection. You made your own.”“What does that mean?” Uche asked.
Seyi’s voice trembled:
“It means the room tested your instinct instead of your obedience.”
“And?”
“And you passed something you weren’t supposed to pass at this stage.”
Uche blinked. “Meaning what?”
Seyi looked at him like he was staring at a ghost.
“The Program will escalate faster for you.”
His voice dropped.“It already marked you as advanced.”Uche sank onto his bed.
“That’s not fair.”
Seyi shook his head.
“It’s not a school exam. It doesn’t care about fairness.”
He paused.
“Uche… nobody has ever passed their first instruction test with a self-made rejection.”
“So is that… good?”
“No,” Seyi said, voice hollow.
“It’s VERY bad.”“Why?”
“Because the room now knows something about you.”
“What?”
Seyi met his eyes.
“That you’re not easy to break.”
Before Uche could respond—
CREAAAAK.
The wardrobe opened again by one inch.
A voice—different from before—soft and almost amused, whispered:
“Next test… sooner.”
And the door shut.
Uche’s stomach twisted.
“What does ‘sooner’ mean?”
Seyi backed away from the wardrobe.
“It means the room won’t wait for midnight again.”
“Then when?”
Seyi stared at the walls like they were alive.
“It could test you anytime,” he whispered.
Morning.
Afternoon.Even in class.“Uche…” Seyi said quietly.
“You’re no longer living in Room 49.”
Uche frowned. “What am I living in then?”
Seyi swallowed.
“You’re living in its attention.”
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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