Chapter 5: The Trap Closes

If I called the cops, they’d find out about my surveillance setup. I’d be the one in cuffs.

And who would believe I’d seen my own dead body on a hidden camera?

"Get a grip. You have to calm down!" I rushed to the bathroom, splashing cold water on my face, gripping the porcelain sink until my fingers hurt. The water was freezing, the shock helping to keep me from falling apart.

After washing up, I stared into the mirror—and nearly jumped out of my skin at the sight of a distorted face staring back.

I shuddered, but after a second look, managed to steady myself. The reflection was mine, but the features looked warped, the skin stretched tight over bone, like wax melting under a heat lamp—grotesque, uncanny.

That was my face. But every time I looked, it unsettled me all over again.

My name is Daniel Dawson. A year ago, I was badly burned in a fire and lost my memory. Now I scrape by as a landlord, chasing down late rent and dealing with tenant complaints.

No family, no friends. I have no idea who I was before.

But I saw my own corpse in Savannah’s bathtub.

Maybe the answers were in Savannah’s apartment. For someone with amnesia, any clue to the past is a lifeline.

"I have to check it out!"

I decided to risk sneaking into Savannah’s place. My hands shook as I picked up the spare key and crept out, nerves jangling.

But what I didn’t know was that as soon as I left—

A deathly pale hand inside my apartment pressed a silver button on the doorframe. The lights flickered, and all my surveillance screens went black.

After a long, heavy silence, blood-red text appeared on the blank monitor:

[Experimental Subject No. 021 is watching you.]

05

When I slipped into Savannah’s apartment, sweat beaded on my forehead, my heart hammering in my chest.

Would Savannah come back early? What would she do if she caught me? Would I end up like that corpse?