Luca paced the hallway just outside Karen's room, hands buried in his hair, eyes wild.
"The statues are bleeding," he repeated, like saying it out loud might make it make sense. "I thought it was some twisted illusion at first, but it's real. Red, thick, and they're weeping from the eyes."
Karen pulled on her robe quickly, the fear from moments ago still burning hot under her skin. Alex stood beside her, fully dressed, the laptop still gripped tightly in his hand.
He turned the screen toward Luca. "Look at this."
The red message still glowed, pulsing like a heartbeat.
The girl is awake. The system resets in 72 hours.
Luca's brows drew low. "The system? You think it's Avalon?"
Karen stepped closer, eyes cold. "I think Avalon is part of something bigger. This place isn't just haunted. It's a controlled environment, one someone tried to erase me inside of."
Alex nodded, face hard. "Project HER wasn't just about Karen. It was about what she'd do once she broke free. They built this place like a maze for minds..hers especially."
Karen sat on the edge of the bed, her heart racing. "Then what happens in seventy-two hours?"
"System resets," Luca said slowly. "If this was some kind of psychological trap, then a reset could mean they wipe everything. Memory, evidence, us."
Alex swore under his breath. "They'll erase all traces we were here. And if they still have control over things outside this resort"
"They'll make sure you're gone," Karen finished. "In every way that counts."
Luca pulled a folded paper from his jacket. "There's more, i found this under the bleeding statue."
Karen took it and unfolded it carefully. The edges were damp with red.
At the top, written in black marker:
Protocol 0: Initiate HER Reset
Then a list of stages:
Mental collapse
Isolation
Dissolution
Erasure
The last one was circled in red ink.
Karen stared at the paper, her throat dry. "They're trying to force me to fall apart."
Alex's voice was like steel. "Not on my watch."
Suddenly, the old rotary phone on the hallway wall rang.
All three of them jumped.
Karen stepped forward slowly. "Who would be calling a place like this?"
Luca blocked her with his arm. "It's probably them."
But the phone kept ringing.
Alex walked over and picked it up.
"…Hello?"
Static, then a voice, garbled, male.
"Three hours… east wing… answers… hidden in red..."
Then the line went dead.
Alex slowly turned to face them.
Karen's voice shook. "What did it say?"
He swallowed.
"We have to go to the east wing. There's something waiting there. Something… red."